Stage 3:

Mantet – Núria

The third section starts with a fairly sustained climb on fairly open ground to the Mantet gate; it continues with a long crossing (descents by comas and ascents to hills of altitude) by lands and landscapes of high mountain.

 

Vallter 2000

Mountain station in the municipality of Setcases, on the left of the Carlat valley, in the Pla dels Hospitalets, near the source of the river Ter.

Opened in 1975, the Vallter 2000 winter sports resort has helped to increase the tourist attraction of the area and the flow of visitors to the villages of the Camprodon valley. Framed by the peaks of La Dona, Bastiments and Gra de Fajol, it has 20km of ski slopes. Vallter is located near the Portella de Mantet, which has always facilitated human contacts -family, leisure, pastoral, economic and also smuggling- with the valley of Mantet.

Origin of the name: “Ter”, like “Tet” and “Tec”, other rivers in the area, probably comes from the old Indo-European root tē, which means “crack”, amplified here, and which we find in Sanskrit.

 

Eye of Ter

“The pigeons that nest in Roca Colom flee in flight, alas !, as they do. Before long they pass over Ulldeter ”. Canigó, Cant VIII – Jacint Verdaguer

Ull de Ter designates the sources of the main river Ter, in the mountain circus of the same name. In the area, next to the Gra de Fajol massif, there is an important mountain refuge.

The Ulldeter refuge, promoted by the Center Excursionista de Catalunya (CEC), is the first in the Iberian Pyrenees. The first building, Noucentista, was inaugurated on July 25, 1909, 500 m from the current one, built 50 years later. The old refuge was partially blown up by the Francoists so that the maquis would not take refuge there. One of the symbols of Catalan hiking, the refuge has a capacity of 57 places and is a crossing point for several trails, and a base for crossings to the valleys and natural spaces on both sides of the state border for the high Pyrenean route.

Origin of the name: “Ter”, like “Tet” and “Tec”, other rivers in the area, probably comes from the old Indo-European root tē, which means “crack”, amplified here, and which we find in Sanskrit.

 

Sanctuary of Núria

“Oh morning star of Núria and Font-Romeu! Be the Queen of our Pyrenees.” Canigó, Cant XII – Jacint Verdaguer

A very emblematic place in the valley of the same name and in the municipality of Queralbs, located at an altitude of 2000 m, it is surrounded by a set of peaks that climb up to 2800-2900 m (Puigmal, Pic de Finestrelles, Pic de Noufonts ).

The sanctuary has its origins in the Virgin Mary found in the area, one of the most popular in Catalonia, considered the patron saint of shepherds and invoked against female sterility. By 1162, there was already a chapel and a hospital, which was a refuge for pedestrians and ranchers from all over the mountain. The great earthquake of 1428, which affected the whole of the Catalan Pyrenees, destroyed the chapel and the hospice, which was rebuilt twenty years later, enlarged in the 17th and 18th centuries, and modernly renovated. The 1932 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia was drafted.

Currently, a very popular place for pilgrimage and recreation, with a hotel and a hotel.

From Queralbs, it can only be accessed on foot or by a unique transport, the Cremallera, which has a distance of 12.5 km from Ribes de Freser.

Origin of the name: “Núria” would come from the Ibero-Basque norra, and would designate a place between valleys.