Sant Feliu-Girona-Olot bike path Part1

The Sant Feliu to Girona and on to Olot bike path or “carril bici” or just “carrilet” is an old railway line which has been converted into a great bike path. More suitable for mountain bikes or hybrids than road bikes because it is made mostly of compacted gravel and sand.

From Girona it is 58km but starting in Sant Feliu on the Costa Brava adds another 36kms to the trip. One crucial point to remember is that going from the coast toGirona only involves climbing about 50m from sea level but from Amer for the next 20kms it is a solid climb to nearly 700m before the descent to the valley of Olot.

So it is recommended to actually start from Olot as this way there is only some 5-7 kms of hard climbing before enjoying a long, steady downhill. The best way to get toOlot from Girona is by bus from the bus station (in front of the train station) and they take up to 5 bikes in the hold for a cost of 7.25€ per person one way. Just as easy is to get a bus from Girona to Sant Feliu de Guixols or to catch one from there if you want to cycle to the coast and end up with a cool swim which is highly recommended in the hot summer months.

Bikes can be rented in Girona, ask at the tourist information offices or send me an email to arrange it: discovergirona@gmail.com

This guide will give you the main sights and places to visit along the way.

View Sant Feliu-Girona-Olot bike path in a larger map

Croscat volcano Garrotxa

In the area between Santa Pau and Olot is the Garrotxa Volcanic Natural Park and well worth a visit it is too, especially if you are looking for a contrast from the beach or city. How many places do you know where you can you walk into a volcano and see what the resulting geology looks like? There are plenty of easy, well marked paths through the park but one of my favourites is to the Croscat volcano (extinct I hasten to add) where mining activity over many years has basically revealed the interior in cross-section.
There is a visitor centre and the areas flora and fauna as well as the history of the mining operation is explained but seeing the colours and scale of this carved out mountain are deeply impressive.
This area is perfect to visit in the hot summer months because it is quite high with cool breezes and the mountains are densely covered with mature trees so walking on cool sheltered paths is a joy.The recent storms have caused a lot of damage but all the main routes have been cleared of fallen trees.

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Camprodon- foodie town

Camprodon is about an hour's drive from Girona up into the Pyrenees and only some 20 kms from the French border. It is also close to Vallter 2000 the nearest ski resort so at weekends in winter lots of skiers are wandering around shopping and looking for places to eat.
We are here to shop for local specialities too- on offer there are some mouth watering displays and quaint old shops which seem to be from several centuries back and still going strong.
One of the so called advances of our age is that we can get everything anytime and we take for granted being able to consume food items which are linked to an area or region at any time without really putting them in context. Camprodon is a market town in a mountainous region where the local foods reflect what they produce, and they have made sure to promote and preserve their local products which is fantastic.
So what are they? Well, you can find all types of pork sausages, a variety of cheeses made from goat, cow and sheep milk, pastries made with walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds and honey from the high mountains. The animals are left to roam free eating what is available in the different seasons and consequently are leaner and more flavourful than the bland intensively farmed alternatives we are so used to.
Shopping becomes a pleasurable, exciting event as each shop you enter has their own way of making sausages or pastries that have passed down through the generations and which they insist you try and will explain in detail if you show the slightest interest and language is not an insurmountable barrier.
Once you have loaded up these foods lend themselves to picnics along some of the walking paths or next to some of the clear streams marked all around the area so head for the hills!

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Posted via email from gironaJ