Fustanyà

Itinerary that takes us to Fustanyà, probably the oldest town in Vall de Ribes.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

We start the route at the entrance of the village of Queralbs, in Plaça del Raig, and go down the path of La Costa.

We continue along this path, which soon becomes a cobbled path and where we are surprised by the chapel of La Costa, dedicated to the Virgin of Núria.

We continue downhill and find the level crossing where the rack railway that goes to Núria passes. We cross it carefully and continue down the winding path.

We reach the road from Ribes to Queralbs, cross it carefully and follow the bridge to the Central del Molí.

The Central del Molí, built in 1914, stands out for its modernist style architecture.

We follow the path to the right of the power station. At first it climbs sharply and as we move forward it softens. We enter a place with lush vegetation.

We go up the path until we find a paved track. As the route sign indicates, we continue down this path and after a few meters we are surprised by the church of Sant Sadurní de Fustanyà, a Romanesque church built in the ninth century.

One of the most characteristic elements of the church is the access door, formed by three semicircular arches in gradation and where much of the Romanesque ironwork made of wrought iron is still preserved.

We go back along the paved track where we came from and continue up until we reach the beautiful town of Fustanyà, which is probably the oldest in the Vall de Ribes.

We continue along the track, now paved, and exit onto the road to Serrat. We continue along the road to the right and after a few meters we take the paved track on our left, as indicated by the route signs.

We continue along this track that climbs gently and from where we can admire the exceptional views of the town of Queralbs.

We continue along the track surrounded by stalls that at certain times of the year we can find grazing cows or straw bales that store animal food for feeding during the winter.

Further on, the paved track becomes a dirt road that we follow until we reach a retaining wall. At this point we see an indication of the route that takes us down a path that is on our left, following the Torrent del Forn. Pay attention to the first section of this descent, as it descends sharply.

We descend parallel to the Torrent del Forn through a humid and shady environment until we reach a lock.

We cross the torrent and continue down the path where after a few meters we find another indicator of the route that leads us to the left.

We continue along the paved track and cross the river Freser over the Ielles bridge, where just before we find the Ielles power station, one of the various hydroelectric power stations in the municipality.

We continue carefully along the road that leads to Queralbs and at the entrance of the village we find a chapel dedicated to the Virgin of Núria.

Finally we arrive at Plaça del Raig, the starting point and destination of this itinerary.