Spectacular landscapes await you
The river Noguera Ribagorzana has historically served as a natural boundary for separate Catalonia from Aragon. In the Pre-Pyrenees, where it marks the limit between Lleida and Huesca , rises, on its shores, the Terreta Valley, as unnoticed as amazing.
It is formed by mountains of wild stone where the birds Raptors and the neighbors who still defy their depopulation, between the rocky cliffs, the extensive plains and the pine and oak forests.
wild stone mountains
The population centers of Valle de la Terreta administratively belong to Tremp (Lleida), although many of them are best accessed from Aren (Huesca).
The poverty that the area suffered and its Hard access caused the gradual depopulation since the second half of the last century, although in recent decades their houses have once again been inhabited by tenants who have found their place in the tranquility that its mountains offer.
We are about to cross this valley from Rocamora, the service area on the outskirts of Arén, between the N-230 and Noguera Ribagorzana. A few meters later, heading north towards Viella , we take the exit on the right. After about twenty minutes by car through the forest track (the state of the road is far from optimal, so caution ) we arrived to sapeira , a small village around a church now converted into purely holiday destination. From there we will already obtain a great panorama of the Earth.
These roads keep beautiful secrets
Here we can undertake on foot a circular route along the crest of Castellet pass in an easterly direction, although we continue with the car for another 20 minutes along the track, turning the last section to the left until we reach classrooms.
In the vicinity of a oak grove, Its urban core is basically reduced to a cobbled street that crosses the town from its old church through the square to the high parking lot, and is complemented by the various houses that are scattered around.
It was totally depopulated in the seventies and began its resettlement in the mid-nineties, counting today with fifty neighbors of the most diverse nationalities.
It is also common to see people there performing wwoofing , that is, learning the work of an organic farm in exchange for shelter and food, or looking for a retreat in the various accommodations that are offered in airbnb , from log cabins to lofts through conditioned buses.
Also doing one of the horse trails of one or two hours that offers Riedler Willy (Information can be requested at [email protected]).
Panoramic view from Tremp
We start from here our hiking route , cresting above the mountain until arriving in a matter of 40 minutes to the next town, Castellet , where, without counting the people who visit it in the summer periods, there are hardly any three inhabitants.
It is magical to get to its outskirts and see the enormous mountainous cobblestone behind it and its houses still submerged in the morning mist.
It is not difficult to think that its name refers to one of the stone formations which has above similar to a castle, although the etymology seems to point officially to the remains of some nearby fortress , probably that of Castellet de la Terreta.
The route continues along the forest track until Espluga de Serra, locality that gave name to the municipal term of the valley until it was added in 1970 to Tremp , and which also maintains a population around 50 inhabitants, with the difference that it was never completely abandoned.
Shortly before arriving, we will find a idyllic picnic area with a fountain on the slopes of the mountain where we can refresh ourselves and recharge our water bottles. We will soon see the panorama of the town, with their houses built around a huge rock and the green of its forests surrounding everything.
Here we will be able to account for a snack, a sandwich and even homemade food in the social venue. The meatballs with wine or the spinach with cream that Ana and Manolo prepare are more than worth tasting.
The circular route option from sapeira would have brought us to Espluga de Serra above the Castellet pass, returning to classrooms undoing the path that we have made and going up again until Sapeira.
For our part, we undertake the return route in the "broom car ", not without first stopping at the Tower of Tamurcia to discover why they call the Terreta the valley of the vultures ; in its Casal dels voltors (the house of the vultures) we find a center of interpretation with all the information about raptors. We can also see live through two video cameras placed at strategic points or directly with binoculars from a lookout
A perfect place to spot the majesty of the vultures
SWAMPS AND BEACH BARS
But not everything has to be mountains. In the vicinity of La Terreta we can enjoy priceless turquoise blue water swamps.
Following the course of the Noguera Ribagorzana river upstream along the N-230, we will soon find, next to the municipality of Sopeira (not to be confused with Sapeira), the Escales Reservoir , with its cold crystal clear waters that hide among the nooks and crannies of the rock, ideal for fishing or water skiing.
Across the valley, north of Tremp, the Sant Antoni Reservoir dams the water of the Noguera Pallaresa River along 11 kilometers, and in the vicinity of Rooms of the Pallars there are beaches where you can enjoy alone your hot waters.
Also, if we zoom in to the town of Segur, the beach bar on the road towards Aramunt (commonly known as ' Xiri ’) gives us the option to tour the reservoir In canoe at a rate of five euros an hour. Also, his two terraces They are the ideal place to have a beer and order dishes as original as the falafel croquettes with hummus and salsika , the vegetable wok or the giosas (vegetable or meat) with sweet and sour sauce.
The Escales Reservoir is ideal for fishing or water skiing
For its part, on the other side of the Ribagorzana, in the vicinity of Graus (Huesca) is the Barasona Reservoir , which we will surely have seen from the car on the way to La Terreta.
A good place to account for him is his yacht club , with a beach bar where eat paellas and fideuás custom and vibrate with Musical performances weekends. It also offers the option of renting canoes for an hour, and puts at our disposal a green meadow where we can lie down and enjoy this unique enclave.
A unique enclave