Length of walk: about 5.5km
Time: Stated time 1h 45 mins (but see last paragraph)
Level: Easyish
Starting point: Village of Pradell de la Teixeta
This walk is one of the routes featured in the new walking leaflets produced by the Priorat Tourism Dept
The village of Pradell de la Teixeta is a small village of around 200 inhabitants which is tucked in a valley at the Eastern boundary of the Priorat. Above it to the East is the cliff which separates it from the Costa Dorada and this walk takes you from the village through groves of olive and almond and then up to the ridge on a series of short,steep climbs eased by some gentler climbs in-between. At the ridge there are alleged to be panoramic views towards the Mediterranean. I’d like to be able to vouch for that but yesterday when we did this we did it in quite a thick fog!
It is not unusual at this time of year to have a mist over the river in the mornings which usually burns off within an hour or so. Yesterday, I have to confess, it was a thick fog. Even so we fully expected that by the time we had driven over the mountain pass to Pradell we would rise above it. We didn’t . Pradell was also enveloped in a thick grey shroud. Undeterred, we set off, in the optimistic belief that we would climb above it or that the sun would burn it off. Neither of those things happened entirely!
In the end we completed almost the entire circuit in swirling mists and dripping vegetation. It didn’t stop us enjoying the walk at all. In fact, we enjoyed it enormously as it lent an air of mystery and atmosphere to the walk. The smell and feel of damp earth and vegetation made it reminiscent of walking in the Lake District! At the ridge we were almost out of the mist. We also met the wind there, which played games with the fog giving us ever-changing and tantalising glimpses of blue skies and the views towards the coast. The photographs turned out to be some of my favourites from any of the walks we have done in blue skies and sunshine!
An atmospheric walk in the mist
This photo and the one above are my favourites
Swirling mists
Tantalising glimpses of blue sky from the ridge
We want to try this walk again on a clearer day. Not least because we want to check the timing. The leaflet indicated that the time needed was 1 hr 45 mins. It took us 3hrs 30mins! We always take about an hour longer than the stated times as we like to stop, have a picnic, birdwatch etc. We only stopped briefly for a coffee and a donut, so we either went terribly off route in the fog or we were in a time-warp! We will report back on this one once we’ve done the walk again
