04 - Casserres

 Casserres Square, a focal point where livestock fairs, summer dances or popular breakfasts are held to celebrate the passing of a cycling race, is also the origin of this route. In addition, being in the center of the town, it allows us to make coffee or have breakfast in one of the nearby bars and, even, to buy bread, meat or sausages made in Casserres so that we can take home a souvenir linked to this land and its people. The fountain in the square will allow us to fill our water bottles, as the many cyclists who cross the village do every weekend.
The exit of the route is in a southerly direction, crossing Casserres until the exit where we immediately leave the asphalt to follow a track almost parallel to the asphalted road that we leave on our right. On the left, on the other hand, a small forest of oaks and holm oaks hides the panorama drawn by the course of the Llobregat. It is not unusual to pedal on a sunny day while we see how a thick fog covers the sky of the villages settled in the river valley. This geographical composition has led more than one to call Casserres "La Toscana berguedana".

Far from parallels, our route continues to take us along a grateful path, with uneven tracks up to this point. The terrain does not present any complications but, in a twist, it suddenly begins to descend until you find the paved road that goes from Casserres to Puig-Reig. Making sure that no cars pass, before crossing it we can make a stop at the hermitage of Sant Marçal, a magnificent example of early Romanesque architecture. It is a construction of a single nave, possibly from the 11th century and one of the crossing points of the GR-176, the Ruta de les Ermites Romanèques that connects 21 churches between Berguedà and Bages.
We resume our march crossing the road and, immediately, the Riera de la Sala, which usually flows down with very little water. Now comes the biggest effort of the start with a few hundred meters with a steep gradient that may force us to put our feet on the ground. Arriving at Vilarrasa, a large farmhouse, we have already completed a good part of the climb but not yet all of it. We have one last effort left until the Roques de la Madrona, a unique and unique space, where we certainly deserve to stop to take photos. Now, don't put your camera away because we still have to reach the Alzina grossa or Alzina dels Colls, a thousand-year-old tree and one of the widest in Catalonia. Now yes, the return to Casserres is completed very quickly to close an escape with some demanding section but which hides some surprising gifts.