Riding the bicycle gives me time for reflection as long as I’m not busy spitting my lungs out or pretending that nothing hurts. Last Sunday was no different. I had a dozen ‘deep thoughts’, and one of them made me sit here and create this post. I suddenly realized that maybe I should be grateful for three years during which the roads of Anoia. They allowed me to enjoy themselves and the beautiful places they cross. And that now it is just a new stage, the time for Bages and its roads, paths, or off-roads even. And that instead of looking back, I should look ahead and discover what’s hidden behind the next bend of the road.
An excellent thought, isn’t it? Verbalizing it gave me a short-term boost on the uphill even. Or maybe it was just a bit less steep section of the road? I’ll never know.
Tiny plan for tiny ride
I was supposed to work a bit that Sunday. You know the work gives you income. It also protects you from slipping into the darkness. As long as you don’t take nightshifts, which makes things more tricky. It’s also not a surprise that sometimes, when you start working with a strong will to stay focused, the temptations appear just out of the blue. It could be… I don’t know… something like: ‘why not take a bicycle and ride’? I was able to overcome this temptation! For a quarter, maybe. Then I looked at the map.
I did not ride much this year. Well, frankly speaking, the last year when I did so little was 2013. Knowing that I did not look for the hundred-km-long trip. I was planning something way shorter. The nature park Sant Llorenç del Munt i l’Obac cought my eye.
Finally, the loop had 800 m of elevations at a distance of 55 km. The relatively light trip as for Catalunya. Did I expect any attractions? Well – maybe an ancient bridge over the Llobregat River in the town of Navarcles. And that’s it.
How wonderfully mistaken I was!
A girl with balloon
Everyone knows her. She’s already 19 and has a beautiful heart. Who’s not dreaming about meeting her? I was the lucky one that day. I spotted her in a dark, neglected alley, unfairly named Carrer de Montserrat. When I entered the narrow passage, surrounded by industrial buildings from the full sun, I did not expect to see any beauty there. But it was. She was. I saw her thousands of times on the Internet before. She manifests herself on many walls around the globe, like a saint or something. And maybe she is, by the way? Anyway, I met her that day, and instantly the alley seemed to be brighter. And in my mind, the thought appeared that it may be just the first of many surprises that wait for me on the roads of Bages?
The river, which wasn’t there
Contact with an unexpected beauty gave me wings for a moment, which was welcomed, as next couple of kilometers, I spent on the uphill. On the top, the small but charming village was waiting for me. They say it is 1100 years old, and now many houses here are weekend and summer residences. There’s a historic church here, and everything is so tidy and in good condition that I just needed to find some scratch on this picture. And it was! The sundial was not working correctly 😀
From Rocafort, the road was leading down into the valley of the Mura River. Although I planned the route course quite carefully, I did not research the places on my way. This approach sometimes causes me to miss something important, some ‘must see’ site. Not being prepared for sightseeing also has its advantages – it is much easier to be surprised or even delighted.
One of the second cases was when I went down to the river. Except – there was no river. The riverbed – yes, but the river itself – not. But what kind of riverbed! Not the stony one, like in Beskidy (Poland). More like the magnificent Mumlava, close to Harrachov (Czech Republic), but still different.
The valley and all the surroundings are made of conglomerate rocks. When exposed to elements, they have a tendency to create round, soft shapes, like here, where the river has carved draining canals and basins. Water’s remnants have survived here and there, although the current stopped. It’s been too long since the rainfalls feed the river sufficiently.
As I was not expecting such attractions, I did not carry walking shoes, which was the case with some previous trips. As a result, I had to tread the rocks very carefully in the road shoes. But it was worth it! As you can probably guess, I added this place to my wishlist to revisit it when the river flows.
Why Mura is so famous?
The road continued along the river until it reached the village of Mura. What immediately catches the eye, apart from the well-kept houses and walkways, which I have already gotten used to a bit that day, are parking lots. I bet that the area of car parks here is larger than the area of houses and gardens! I will not bet on farmland because it’s a village, after all, so it would be difficult to defend that thesis.
As soon as you enter the central part of the village, the road slope increases dramatically. Now it winds through quite steep serpentines through the whole settlement. So you have time to take a look. At parking lots, mostly. Of course, I also asked myself why they all came here in such numbers that the village had to prepare so many parking spaces? I found the answer when I returned home: the caves. So now I have one more place on my list to revisit. This time without a bicycle.
Above the Mura, the road continues to go up, but it is not steep anymore. There are, however, beautiful views of the Sant Llorenç del Munt mountains. Similar rounded shapes, the effects of erosion I could see down on the riverbed are also visible on the highest peaks.
Down the valley for another heart
Soon I had reached the farthest point from home, and it was time to go back. Most of the next section was descent but in the Catalan style, i.e., interrupted by quite steep climbs, so that you don’t get bored.
At the bottom of the road, I reached the town of Navarcles. The bridge I had spotted when planning the route is located here. Unfortunately, it turned out that you couldn’t get a nice picture of it without deviating from the road, so I took no photo.
The next city on the route was Sant Fruitós de Bages. Another beautiful surprise was waiting for me here! Wanting to avoid busy roads, I went along the alleys to a narrow bridge to continue the local road through the fields. And in one of those alleys, I met someone again. The first delight the day was a girl with a heart; the last one was a boy sitting under a tree, close to the door of the former nursery.
Browsing the Internet, I found information that in 1890 this building was given to nuns to run a nursery. It was intended for children of women employed in a nearby textile factory. Later, the nursery was open to the public, and now there is a music school. This place is of great sentimental importance for the local community. The city wants to buy the building to make it an essential point on the cultural map of the town. And where’s the heart? The place was called ‘The Nursery of Sacred Heart of Jesus’ (Llar d’Infants Sagrat Cor de Jesús).
Going home
And so the story creates a loop, marked with a heart, unexpectedly. There is only the ending left – the road through the fields to the picnic site on the outskirts of Manresa. Parc de l’Agulla is the place I’m talking about. It was established in 1977 around an artificial reservoir built several years earlier. Today it is a place of rest and home to many species of plants and animals. At the same time, if necessary, the reserve accumulated here is sufficient to supply the entire Manresa with water for about a week.
It’s hard not to look back. I have a lot of memories related to the roads of Anoia and even more associations. But as it was said, there can be only one direction: straight ahead. And the bends, although they can be dangerous, may lead us to surprises waiting behind them.
Thank you.
My Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/56667879.
My Komoot: W jedną stronę (komoot.com)