Keith's Globe Trotting Blog: ROAD TRIP TO MALLORCA - PART 4 - ESPANA - Monteserrat & The Ebre Delta

Monteserrat

Ibis - Ebre Delta

Flamingo - Ebre Delta

MONTESERRAT

Chatting to a Spanish youth (relatively) in the restaurant in Taull the previous night, who was actually from Barcelona, he recommended Montserrat (and to come, the Ebre Delta) I’d heard of the monastery, but wasn’t aware of the mountain range and National park….a good three hour drive, but wow! well worth it….some stunning rock features, like a huge serrated saw (which is what SERRAT sort of translates to)….I got wet in the tent through the night, in pouring rain (why did I leave Taull?) - think if this is longer term, I need a replacement tent!

The next day I planned a route from the Monastery, but on arriving there, it was unbelievably rammed (Barcelona is only 45k away and it was May Day weekend)….so I wizzed back and found a spot by the Iglesias Cecilia and found a Komoot route from there, how lucky!

NOT! It took me up a gully, which became more and more difficult, with eventual Via Ferrata (iron works on the rock faces and ledges to aid climbing!)…in places I definitely crossed the scrambling line to rock climbing, and eventually came across a Frenchmen, Lauren….who was coming down? 🧗🏼‍♂️

Apparently it was impossible to reach the top, because “the chains had been taken away”….I had a one minute panic, knowing that descending is so much more difficult than climbing…take it easy and slow, I told myself….I followed Lauren….we made it, thank goodness!

I offered to buy him a beer….and he knew a bar, in the mountains after a 45 minute EASY walk! And bizarrely there was a bar, right up in the middle of these stunningly tremendous rock features. And now I was more relaxed admiring them!

DELTA EBRE

I wanted to check out the Montserrat monastery before if left, but decided as it was May Day, it would be packed out again…so decided to head further south.

Soon I saw the Med for the first time, and before long I was at an AirBnB on the delta in the aptly named Deltebre - an urban sprawl that seemed rather less than salubrious. The apartment was fine though, although even this was a “treat” I really missed elements of camping! I did a recce on the first afto / early evening…Basically it was a mega sized Albufera, so I could’ve missed this and waited until Mallorca!

Although after a bike ride the following day, I went back to a section where there seemed more activity, and that included clocking a Wood Sandpiper and a few Squacco Herons - wowzer!

The area was quite featureless, with lots of lagoonal areas, and even paddy fields! 🤷‍♂️

At least I had the comfort of watching a couple of Premiership footy matches!

I planned to balance the flat featureless experience with a visit to the local Park Natural Del Ports - the photos on Google looked super impressive, so I planned a hike and possibly find a campsite. However, after driving an hour to get there, it became apparent that the places to see were some distance down dirt roads….for some reason too I’d lost the enthusiasm, probably because Id booked the ferry for the following day.

So I returned away from the area and drove towards Denia….three hours! It occurred to me that I could possibly switch the ferry to the one today as I drove south, and that is what transpired….and now while I write this, I am looking at the first port of call, Ibiza!

So that is the cessation of the outward journey, a few weeks now in Mallorca, then the return back to Blighty, but which way?