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SUMMARY OF THE GETAWAY TO VALLESPIR

• • Days: 3 days, from Friday afternoon to Sunday
  • Dates we have made the getaway to Vallespir: From August 17 to 19, 2018
  • Towns visited on the route through the Vallespir: Cantallops to Arles sur Tech- Gorges de la Fou to Prats de Molló to La Preste Bains
  • Places to spend the night: AC area of ​​Restaurant Can Pau de Cantallops -> Parking for AC in Preste-Les Bains. All areas can be found https://www.park4night.com/
  • Total getaway expenses approx: 160 Euros calculated round trip (tolls + gasoline approx € 60 / Tickets visited places € 27 / Overnight areas € 0 / Restaurants and supers or bakeries 70)
  • Summary of visits and activities carried out on the Vallespir getaway:
    
    • Cantallops (1 night)
      
      • Can Pau restaurant dinner
      • Visit to the town
    • Arles-sur-Tech
      
      • Gorges de la Fou excursion
    • Prats de Mollo
      
      • Visit to the town
      • Visit to Lagarde Fort
      • Visit to the church and hermitage
      • Participation in the town festival
    • La Preste le bathes
      
      • Visit to the spa, although without being able to enjoy the baths because it is closed
      • Excursion through the natural reserve of Prats de Molló with ascent to the peak of the Costabona, passing through the Coll del Tech, the Cabaña del Pastor, the Cabaña de Piedra and the Coll del Siern.
  • The best of this getaway to Vallespir
    
    • Discover the AC area of ​​Cantallops and the Can Pau restaurant that offers you part of eating super well, swimming pool and a place of 10 for your AC.
    • The gorgas de la Fou, the narrowest gorgas in Europe and super well prepared for children of any age.
    • Prats de Molló, a beautiful fortified town that surprised us with its charm.
    • The underground access tunnel to the Lagarde Fort in Prats de Molló, hard to climb but very curious to see and undertake the climb to the Fort.
    • The Preste les Bains park, a haven of peace in the middle of nature where many trails start.
    • See from the Costabona peak the Massís del Canigó, the Cap de Creus and the Pyrenees at your feet.
    • Discover the wonder of the Coll del Tech and the lost stone cabin in the valley before the Collbona ascension
  • The worst of this escape to Vallespir
    
    • The 2, 5 hour queue on the AP-7 motorway from Figueres to La Jonquera, by the controls of the French anti-terrorist police, who finally made us detour to Cantallops for the night.
    • The tramontana blowing in Cantallops that added to the motorhome was the same as being on a boat in a rough sea! a night of everything but placid.
    • Not having found out that the theatrical guided tour of Fort Lagarde was every day at 15:30 except Saturdays! Just the day we were going with all the enthusiasm!
    • Not having known before that the Terme de la Preste les Bains are closed on Saturdays at 14pm and on Sundays!
    • Having lost ourselves during the ascent to Collbona in an area of ​​grimpada and sandboxes, it is hard to ascend (and we have gps and a downloaded trac!)

TIPS FOR THIS GETAWAY TO VALLESPIR

• General tips for this route through the Vallespir
  
  • Before going on a trip to cross the French border of La Junquera-El Pertús, look at the tweeter of Infoautopistas or transit or dgt, make sure there is no 18 km queue for checkpoints, it can take 4 hours to cross the border only. If you go out to La Junquera before 2 hours until you cross the border and you see Cantallops in its free and great AC area that the Can Pau restaurant maintains. Take the opportunity to pay tribute, drown the sorrows of the queues made and eat at the restaurant. It is spectacular and if it is not too late you can even take a dip in the pool and discover the Albera and Cantallops landscapes. Hopefully you won't run into the Tramontana, which is the worst there. Stay to sleep or wait until later than 01:00 in the morning (which is when the restaurant told us that the traffic begins to decongest) and before 7:XNUMX in the morning cross the border (there is no queue at this time ).
  • If you want to visit Fort Lagarde with a dramatized guided tour, it is every day in July and August at 15:30, except Saturdays!
  • If you want to bathe in the thermal waters of the spa of La Preste-Les Bains, remember that they close on Saturdays at 14pm and on Sundays.
  • The Lagarde fort in Prats de Molló closes from November to the end of March, and in mid-September and October they only open on weekends.
  • The prices of these Vallespir towns are cheap or reasonable when it comes to eating or having a drink outside, take advantage of it and remind them that you are in AC and that you thank them for the specific areas and parking lots for our motorhomes.
  • For hiking and hiking in the mountains remember to equip yourself with good footwear that does not slip, is comfortable and holds the foot well.
  • For the hiking excursions from La Preste take GPS and download the corresponding trac you want to do before going. We always look at Wikiloc.es for excursions with trac, in this case looking for La Preste as the starting point where we will go. We download the trac we want and with a garmin mountain gps watch we do the routes, it is much safer than going to the mountain with nothing.

• Specific if you travel with children to Vallespir:
  
  • You can visit the Gorges de la Fou with children of any age, no problem there is a lot of security, although as always do not lose your eye. You cannot carry a cart to the gorgas, if it is a child of less than 3 years it will get tired in the 3, 5 km route, especially when climbing, it will be better if you have a mountain backpack, otherwise you will have to take it in your arms for a long time.
  • Visiting Fort Lagarde de Prats de Molló with small children under 4 years of age can be hard since there is a 20 minute climb (there are two routes, one that goes through a cool and sheltered tunnel with many steep stairs, very curious to see, or a path that is less steep but it is longer and there are parts less shaded. We went up through the underground gallery and down the path and I think it was a good choice. Either way, do not take a cart to go up or you will have to carry it by hand more child in arms too.A mountain backpack can help you or you can go up by coach from 14:30 to 15:15 only and you have to register at the Prats de Molló tourist office.
  • In Prats de Molló you have the parking for the ACs under the bridge, there you will also find swings for the little ones, they will love it, that along with a bath if it is hot in the municipal pool that has a very cool big slide.
  • The path that we recounted on Sunday to the peak of Costabona des de la Preste is not for children. What we recommend if you want to go with children on a hike through the Preste-Les Bains area is to go up to the Les Conques refuge, which you can even go in a 4 × 4 taxi. Or go up to the Coll del Tech (although for older children of 7-8 years this last excursion because there are very narrow trails with hard and boring high slopes and with cuts on the side). Also what you can do with children from La Preste is to go looking for mushrooms in its forests, they are full and they are beautiful forests. And bathing in a little piece of the Tech river is also a great option close by, in addition to the parking lot to come and go there is a great mini beach, past the J farm-camping. If you want to do the Costabona with children on the Spanish side of Setcasas from Ull del Ter there is the easy path of only 400 meters of unevenness, excellent to start the kids to do mountaineering.

• Specific if you travel with dogs to Vallespir:
  
  • In the Gorges de la Fou they have gabies where you can leave your dog for free, great!
  • Many restaurants in Prats de Molló have bowls of water for dogs on the terraces, it is appreciated.

• Specific if you travel by motorhome through the Vallespir:
  
  • The Gorges de la Fou parking lot in August, in principle, AC does not have preference over cars, you will see that it is crossed out, now if you go early before 10am there is no problem in parking (they have given us permission whenever we left after the visit). Go early, they open at 9 am and it is perfect because you will make the visit in peace and without crowds, you can also make a coffee for 1,20 at the entrance. If it is full or they do not let you, you can park on the road before the entrance in some parking lots that are on the sides without problem or you can go in one of the free shuttle buses that leave Arles sur Tech, Amelie les Bains and others points.
  • To access the Preste-Les Bains car park, you will go along a road that will narrow at some points and the bus passes, use caution, but rest easy since it is a road that does not have large unevenness and has many wide sections.
  • In Prats de Molló you have parking for ACs under the bridge, it has toilets, a picnic area and barbecues and if it is very hot and you fancy a bath nearby you have the municipal swimming pool and the town center 2 minutes away.

THE ESCAPE TO THE VALLESPIR IN DETAIL DAY BY DAY

The owner of the restaurant recommends that we do not go out with the AC to the border yet, that until 1 in the morning the queues do not escape, that it is best to sleep and leave at 6.

We see that in the sign of the motorhome parking the sign is like crossed out with chains, as it is all empty we park and we are going to ask if we can or not. The boy in the parking lot tells us that there is no problem in parking, which is more because of preference, because as it fills up with cars, the AC car parks become cars if they are not occupied. But what if we leave after the visit without any problem.

Prats de Molló surprises us is a beautiful walled town with charm. There is a party, so we join in and make a vermouth before going to the kucavana and eat the tortillita and salmorejo that I had already prepared on Friday.

And after a pleasant nap that is appreciated with the dream dragged on Friday, we are going to visit the Fort Lagarde, 15-20 minutes walking. We go up its curious underground galleries to see, visit the fort (€ 3,5 for adult admission) and finally go down the path.

It is around 18pm and we decided to go to the area where we will spend the night in the Preste-Les Bains car park, where multiple trails depart from the southern part of the Pyrenees and from where our excursion will depart tomorrow.

So we walked for a while along the path that tomorrow we will start towards the Costabona peak and then we decided to take refuge in the Kucavana to write this story and watch a movie while we had dinner and then to rest.

At 9:30 we get out of the car and make our way to the Coll del Tech, we pass by the farm that sells goat cheese and they have a small campsite and we always walk near the Tech river.

And so we go through different forests until we reach the Coll del Tech, impressive, a magical place, where there is also no soul, incredible, almost virgin. If it weren't for the two shepherd's huts there are, we would say that nobody passes by. We love the place, we make a stop to eat something at mid-morning, it is already 11 o'clock.

  

Coll del Tech with the shepherd's cabin (bottom right inside photo) and stone shelter next door.

We decided to continue to the next landmark, another stone cabin in a valley before beginning the ascent to the Costabona.

Cabanya de Pedra, abans de l'ascensió al Costabona

We started the descent around 15 pm. A sign tells us that it is 3 hours until the Preste. On the way down, we see the Costabona peak all the time behind us, imposing and beautiful.