This is a beautiful 12km EASY walking route in the Collserola natural park starting at La Floresta on the Valles FGC lines. The trail follows the course of the Vallvidrera river passing via a sheltered forest trail with waterfalls and variety of trees and wild flowers.
The trail gets to a village called la Rierada which has a restaurant called Can Castelvi. It is best to book a table in advance by calling +34 936 800 239. After Can Castelvi the route enters the forest again and continues following Vallvidrera river passing by the rural Can Blanes farmhouse and ruined windmill.
Nearer to Moulins de Rei town the route passes via Can Rebella farmhouse rural restaurant. This is a former wine making farmhouse that has been converted into a spectacular rural restaurant. We ate here when doing this trail! It is best to book in advance by calling.
After A hearty lunch in Can Rebella the trail swings round the back of the farmhouse and parallels the town at the edge of the forest to get to the natural rock formation of fissures called las escalates.
After exploring the inside of the fissures the trail leaves the forest and enters El Papiol town passing via some historic buildings and the castle. The route terminates in El Papiol Renfe station on the R4 Roadlies Line.
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This is a good spring Calçotada hike when started at 9 in the morning and arriving at Restaurant Can Rabella at 14h to 15h for the Calçotada set menu.
Calçots are milder and less bulbous than onions and have a length of between 15 and 25 cm (white part) and a diameter of 1.7 to 2.5 cm at the root. Planted in trenches, like an onion, as a single bulb, and successively increasing the depth of the soil around the stems throughout autumn and winter. They sprout into 4-10 shoots, roughly the shape of small leeks or scallions.
The origin of the Calçot and its cooking method is in the town of Valls, Catalonia, Spain, where an annual event celebrates the harvest of Calçots. Nowadays, thousands of eating gatherings centred around the Calçots, called Calçotada, are celebrated around Catalonia.
Calçots are harvested in early spring / late winter and served in Calçotadas in many of the rural and city restaurants in Catalunya. In these events, they are grilled over a hot fire, wrapped up in newspaper, served on terra cotta tiles and eaten, after peeling with bare hands, by dipping them one by one in salvitxada sauce (sauce made with almonds, garlic, tomatoes and olive oil).
At a Calçotada you are served with a bib, gloves and wet wipes because eating them the traditional way is a messy but fun affair.
This is a short walking route not far from roads so I always do it with a small rucksack of the essentials. Emergency waterproof jacket is optional depending on the weather forecast.
Take 1 to 2 litre of water because it is not advisable to drink the water from the river. It is however possible to buy water along the route at Can Castelvi and Can Rebella farmhouse rural restaurants.
Address: Avenida Castellvi S/N, Moulins de Rei. 08750
Start at La Floresta on the Valles FGC S1 and S2 lines. Trains run every 10 minutes aprox.
Finish at El Papiol Renfe on the R4 Rodalies line. Trains run every 20 minutes aprox.
Because all these stations are in Zone-1, use a T-Casual or Hola-Barcelona travel card for metro, Renfe train and FGC Train services.
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beautiful 12km EASY walking route in the collserola natural park following the vallvidrera river via sheltered forest trail with waterfalls and variety of trees and wild flowers.
Distance: 12 Km
Difficulty: Easy
Return Travel Fare: T-Casual Zone 1
Transport Network: FGC & Rodalies
Mountain Forecast weather for Serra de Collserola
TRAIN
FGC
