Detour #129: Llosa del Cavall, Catalunya, Spain
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Imagine if all your favourite features were found on one single stretch of road. Twists, turns, climbs and falls, forests, tunnels, bridges and vistas to make you brake to standstill and grab your camera. It’s the smash hits of road trips: an incredible compilation album.
That, in a nutshell, is the road to Llosa del Cavall in Catalunya, Spain.
Beginning in the fortified old town of Solsona, itself just an hour and a half inland from Barcelona, you pick up the C462 heading north. It’s a swift, gently sweeping road cut into the hillside, a gentle build up for what’s ahead.
Stop at the Masia Cavall if you’re peckish and you’ll be treated to excellent locally-sourced food with octopus and duck being particular specialities overlooking the river Cardener.
Photo Nik Berg
As you continue onwards, tracking the river in a seemingly ever-deepening valley, out of nowhere the road dives into the hillside itself, the first tunnel curving and concealing its dramatic exit until the last moment. Emerge into the light and you find yourself atop the 100m-plus high Llosa del Cavall dam.
Supplying drinking water and hydro-electric power to the region the brilliant blue reservoir is barely 30 years old. Adrenalin-junkies can bungie jump over the side if they dare, while more sedate water sports are offered on the wet side of the dam.
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You’ll stop for the de rigeur photo before heading on into the darkness of a second tunnel. This one is longer, curvier and brings you out into the flooded valley that houses the reservoir. Tracking the water’s edge you meander on, the road as smooth as the water’s surface.
Round a tight left-hander you go and you’re lined up for the first photogenic bridge for a brief trip on the reservoir’s west bank before crossing back over a second bridge to join the LV 4241. The last leg tracks the source river again before climbing up into thick pine forests, the strong scent and looming tall trees changing the mood completely.
The final section on the narrower BV 4241 becomes even twister than before, exercise for muscles and mind as you concentrate turn by turn until your arrival at Berga.
Now that’s what I call driving.
Photo Nareeta Martin / Unsplash