STAGE 11
SANTA CRISTINA D'ARO - CALONGE
- Distance: 21.6 km
- Difficulty level: DIFFICULT
- Maximum altitude: 399
- Minimum altitude: 21
- height gain: 1477
- height loss: 1495
Stage 11: SANTA CRISTINA D'ARO - CALONGE
We will leave from in front of the church of Santa Cristina d'Aro following the avenue of the church uphill and then along Rec dels Tords street, taking care to see the yellow and white signs for the local PR C 110 footpath. At the end of the street, we will follow the dirt track, the old path that was used to go to Romanyà de la Selva (Camí Vell de Romanyà).
We will follow this path for 4 kilometres until you reach the Romanyà al Masnou road, where we will turn left.
We will continue along this road, which we will see is still marked with yellow and white paint on the local path for 1 kilometre, where it makes us leave it to our left.
In this case we will not follow the PR C 110, which would take us to Puig d'en Ponç, but we will continue along the road for 400 metres more until we see a dirt track on our right, again with the yellow and white painted signs of the PR C 110.
We will follow this path for 2 kilometres, passing the Castanyeda d'en Cama spring, until we enter the pretty village of Romanyà de la Selva along Mercè Rododera street, named after a well-known Catalan-language writer born in 1906 who lived in this village from 1972 to 1983, the year of her death, and is buried in its cemetery.
Archaeological evidence has been found both in the village and in the surrounding area, proving that it was inhabited by the Indiketes.
The church of Sant Martí dates from the 10th or 11th century, a transition between pre-Romanesque, a style that can be seen in the ground plan and the horseshoe arches, and the full Romanesque, which is expressed, for example, in the windows with double thick sloping windows. It is documented as early as 1019.
After visiting the temple, we will leave the village following the same street we came from and, after crossing the GIV-6612 road, we will follow the signs of the megalithic itinerary towards the Dolmen de la Cova d'en Daina.
Before we will see a stone cross (La Creu de Romanyà) built in 1904 and paid for by the inhabitants of the village following the call made by Pope Leo XIII who recommended the faithful to build crosses on the peaks or high points of the landscape in homage to Christ.
The part of the altar added in 1945 depicts an image of Christ of the Sacred Heart with the signs alpha [α] and omega [Ω] (beginning and end).
If we followed the entire Megalithic Route we would have the opportunity to see a large number of prehistoric monuments (dolmens, paradolmens, menhirs and some cists).
Following our itinerary, we will only see some of them, focusing on the Dolmen de la Cova d'en Daina, which we will find a little after passing by the cemetery.
This dolmen, discovered in the year 1900, was built by the ancestors of the Indiketes about 4,500 years ago (dated between 2700 - 2200 BC).
This is a 7-metre-long covered "catalan gallery type" tomb in the shape of a U, built with granite slabs and originally covered by a tumulus and protected by a cromlech (small menhirs) in the shape of an outer ring 11 metres in diameter.
The rectangular-shaped burial chamber is separated from the gallery by three pieces that form the entrance door. It is one of the most important prehistoric funerary monuments in Catalonia.
After the visit we will go to the GIV-6612 road (where there is a parking lot).
We will cross it and continue along the path that we will see in front of us, which leads us to visit the “suro xato”, a monumental tree (and after a few meters we will be able to see the so-called Calonge road cist, another Neolithic tomb).
We will continue along this path and after a few meters, when we reach a crossroads, we will continue to the left.
The one on the right takes us to the "suro xato" which we can visit in 2 minutes and return to this point.
So, following the dirt track to the left, we will see different detours and crossroads, and we must always follow the one that goes downhill the most.
The last of these paths is very little trodden, almost getting lost due to the vegetation that is invading it.
We will follow it until you reach a more open space where wewill see a dirt track.
Here we will turn left and further on we will see that this track crosses another more travelled one and we will continue along this new downhill track that after 300 metres will take us to Mas Riera.
There we will turn left along the Mas Riera stream, which we will have on our left for 1.5 kilometres until we reach the GIV-6612 road. We will continue on the right along this road for about 800 metres until you reach Vall de Molins, where on our left we will see a wide dirt track that we can distinguish by the wooden telephone poles and by the signs of the short-distance path (PR-C 116).
Cyclists will have to continue along this route, as they cannot pass along the path that walkers will follow.
Those on foot will follow the GI-6612 road for another 100 metres and take the next path they see on the left, which will take them to an area where there are many caves.
Note: It should be noted that the "Ruàs caves path" (1.5 kilometres) is very poorly signposted and is not easy to walk. Therefore, if someone is very tired or does not want to risk losing their way from time to time, they can reach the indiketa settlement of Castellbari following the route for those who go by bicycle.
We will go up this dirt road and after 200 metres we will take a detour to the left. After about 340 metres, we will turn right at a new turning. Little by little we will see that the path becomes more and more covered with vegetation until it turns into an intricate path.
In order not to get too lost, we must bear in mind that in general we must advance with the mountain drop on our right, although on some occasions we will go down and up passing by rocks, many of which are small caves.
A total of 23 caves have been located, but on our tour we will probably see no more than 8 (depending on how many times we lose our way and find a random one or two).
These cavities were not inhabited by the indiketes and their ancestors, but were used as funerary chambers (burials) with dry wall closures and/or frontal tumuli, and in two of them (sa Guilla and Gamarús) with a megalithic architectural arrangement made with slabs on a large granite block that can be considered paradolmenic.
The antiquity is very diverse, ranging from 5100 to 650 BC (from the Early Epicardial Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age).
At the end of this complicated path we will reach an open space, in front of which there is an agricultural field.
We will carefully skirt it to the right, taking care not to spoil anything if it is sown, until we see a dirt road that we will follow to the right, and at the end of it we will have reached the indiketa village of Castellbarri (an oppidum).
A oppidum is a Latin term for a high place whose natural defences were reinforced by human intervention and which contained dwellings.
This Iberian settlement was inhabited from the 7th century BC until 218 AD. Unfortunately, we will see very little, as it is very abandoned and the vegetation is covering everything. If we are lucky we will be able to make out a small wall of a rampart.
To follow the route we will retrace our steps and continue along the path that climbs up to our right and a little further up we will have a fantastic view of the whole coast.
Continuing along this path, we will soon reach the PR-C 116 short distance footpath, which we will follow to our right and shortly afterwards we will reach the Can Mont farmhouse, which we will leave on our right.
After 900 metres we will reach a crossroads with a signpost indicating the Creu de Castellar and here we leave the PR-C 116 and soon we can enjoy the view of this viewpoint.
Then we will go down the path that follows the Segrià street and in 1 kilometre we will reach the centre of the village of Calonge, entering through the Bitller street. Then we will continue along the left side of the GI-660 road and we will go up a ramp to the castle. From there, passing through the main square, we will arrive in front of the church of Sant Martí, the end of this stage.
accommodation and practical information stage 11
ROMANYÀ
The village of Romanyà de la Selva belongs to the municipality of Sant Cristina d'aro, so you can find information on its tourism website:
CALONGE
As it is an eminently tourist town, it has various establishments for accommodation, restaurants and other services. You can visit its website here:
