Plank Road: els Ports

The els Ports massif is really quite dramatic and it offers exhilarating views in all directions. We really busted it today by working our way up to a high ridge to get the contrasting views of both the east and west side of els Ports.

After a walk up to Cova dels Andells, which is a large cave in the cliff, we could hear some Catalan voices coming from somewhere down below, sound carried incredibly well. Then we heard drilling into the rock and assumed they were climbers preparing a route. We saw this group leaving the parking lot as we drove up.

After the cave, route finding was rather difficult as the trail was indistinct. The cattle that pasture up in the mountains have paths everywhere, which adds to the confusion. They must be used to people as they wouldn’t even move as we walked by. There are also electric fences which we had to pass through by grabbing the handle on the fence wire to unhook it. The cattle up here will have legs of steel as they graze on really steep terrain. We also noticed that more than a few signposts were knocked over, we think the cattle are the culprits, as the signposts looked rather recent and we know what cattle like to do with posts.

We met a group of three trail runners, also with legs of steel. Further along we met two other men dressed in sports attire, but they were walking and that was it for the remainder of the day, we did not encounter any other walkers.

Anyway, we overshot our turn as the guidebook mentioned the fact that the zigzag trail that we needed to find to gain the ridge was without landmarks and could be missed, we missed it. So we basically followed a cattle path to the ridge and ended up adding 3 km and a couple of extra hours to an already arduous walk. We had to do a bit of doubling back, but then we figured out how to get back on track without going back down the steep ridge.

The views on this walk were stunning and it was an airy walk that required a bit of a head for heights as a lot of walking was on steep terrain along the ridge and it was high up. There is quite a difference between the east and west sides of els Ports. The east side is very steep with a lot of plunging cliffs while the west side is more forested but there are dramatic drop-offs as well.

The other interesting thing is that farms and farm houses were really high up in the mountains in the past, there are a lot of dry stacked stone walls, ruined buildings and animal enclosures. The people who inhabited the area would have been hardy and fit people who walked the mountain paths.

The descent down the west side was through forest and it took forever. In a clearing we encountered a Refugi, which is a mountain hut. Then it was onward and downwards on a really rocky and rough trail, we have never encountered such rocky trails.

The walk was 17 km and we were on the trail for seven hours, but is was spectacular, this is a fantastic area to hike.

Cattle grazing up high