A weekend with nothing special planned. I woke on Saturday morning with the idea ‘ let’s pack the tent and go off somewhere for the night!’
Somewhere not too far away, but in the hills……
So we took the road to Vic and then went a little bit further on, in the area called Osona, famous for its sausages.
Once you are away from the frenzy of Barcelona/Granollers, the roads get quieter and you pass through wide open plains and then climb up round spectacular curvy bends.  There are huge rocks and hills with flat tops and vertical markings.  It’s not so far to go but suddenly you are in a different world.
Saturday was hot. We waited till late afternoon to walk but it was still steamy. Looking for a place to swim we ended up climbing down to the Gorges of Bartomeu. In some places you needed a rope to descend

Luckily the trees gave shade and the sound of water far below beckoned us on. Duna went wild with delight when we finally arrived at the bottom.
I decided to sit and snooze on the rocks and so missed finding the best part – a large pool  with deep clear water for swimming, brushed by swallows wings as they dipped down for a drink.  It was a bit of a clamber to get there and when the two adventurers went off to explore I was left in a totally quiet and peaceful place, only slightly spoilt by my anxiety when I realised that man and dog were well out of earshot and calling distance.

There is nothing quite like that silence which echos back to you when you call…and call….and there is no reply!
We camped near Rupit.  The site was OK but a bit expensive….and they didn’t speak Catalan……but peaceful and close to the magical town

    Rupit by night
It’s a medieval town built on a hill surrounded by water.

 There’s a hanging bridge which wiggles when you walk across.

 The sign tells you not to wiggle too much and that only ten people can cross at once.  But if you walk with legs splayed you get a good swing as you go!
In spite of being a bit touristy it is lovely

The church is dedicated to Sant Miquel so perhaps the St Michael energy line crosses here – there certainly is a good feeling and the people were very friendly

It had one of those little shops that sells lots of strange and interesting things.
Cowbells. Trumpets. Honey
In the window are Pets de Monja

Translation – Pet is the Catalan word for fart, a Monja is a nun!
 Sunday was hot again

We passed by the large reservoir that holds the water destined for Barcelona – El Pantà de Sau.
In the 1960’s a small medieval village was flooded and now lies under the lake. On our visit only the top of the church steeple was visible.
Here is a BBC video showing what it looked like when there was a drought in 2008.
On Sunday there were people swimming and sunbathing and fishing in the reservoir but the huge quantities of rubbish that lay around the edges put me off diving in. The water itself seemed clean but I collected a large bag full of plastic and glass, tampax applicators and fishing line and it made no dent in the horror of the scene.
So we went uphill and bought tickets to swim in a hotel pool.
We had it all to ourselves!