La Ruta Minera. La Pedraforca ( Des de Vallcebre)

Vallcebre-Saldes-coll de la Trapa-Gósol-coll de Josa-Tuixent-coll de Port-Sant Llorenç de Morunys-Guixers-coll de la Mina-Berga

In 2014, a group of cycling enthusiasts established a cycling tour called La ruta minera in honor of the municipalities that were in some way linked to mining activity, such as Guardiola de Berguedà, Cercs, Fígols, Vallcebre and Saldes. Similarly, the demands of the proposed route and the spirit of cycling, as a sport that implicitly carries the idea of ​​sacrifice and hardship, allowed for a parallel to be established between the hardship and sacrifice of working in the mine. Thus, from a recreational, sporting perspective and for the pleasure of achieving a personal challenge, the Mining Route was born with the aim of paying a humble tribute to the men and women who suffered and fought to make a living in the mines of Alt Berguedà for more than a hundred years.

The route of the first edition was 166 km and 4150 meters of accumulated positive elevation gain. In 2017, to expand the offer, the short version of the test was created with a distance of 116 km and 2800 meters of elevation gain. A year later, this short version of the test took the name of the “Pedraforca route”.

The route presented coincides with the route of the short walk of the Mining Route, called “La Pedraforca”, but starting from Vallcebre, one of the mining municipalities par excellence (route number 2 is the Pedraforca Route in reverse). It is a mid-mountain route where we will find the unique landscapes of the Catalan Pre-Pyrenees.

Together with the Vuelta el Cadí, it is the hardest route in this collection.

Description

The route begins at Plaça de Vallcebre where we will take the B-401 which will take us to the junction with the B-400 road which goes up following the Saldes river. We will take the road to the left to ascend to the Maçaners pass. Once at the pass we will go down to Saldes and start the second pass: the Trapa pass which will take us down again to Gósol where we will start the second pass: the Josa pass. Here the road becomes the C-563. To take us to Josa and Tuixent. Either place is worth a visit.

Once below Tuixent, we will take the C-462 road towards the town and to climb the ascent to the Port pass having previously passed the Buc pass, shortly after starting the climb.

Once we have reached the summit, we begin the long descent that will take us to Sant Llorenç de Morunys.

Once past the town we will turn left to cross the Llosa del Cavall reservoir and take the LV-4241 to follow the Aigua de Valls river and go up and down. As always, the change of province will lead us to the change of name of the road which, after the Llinars bridge, becomes the BV-4241. This is where the climb towards the mine tunnel or Jouet pass begins, which we will reach in just over 8 km. Here begins a long 12 km uninterrupted descent to the Santa Magdalena pass, just above Berga.

At this point we will turn left to follow the old Cercs road (C-1411z). After the town of Cercs, we will follow the C-16 (we could continue along the old road passing through Sant Jordi and up to La Consolació, next to the thermal power plant) in a northerly direction to the pass, near Guardiola. Here, we will leave the C-16 to take the B-400 on the left towards Saldes. 7 km further on, we will find the fork on the left that will take us back to Vallcebre following the road we had taken at the beginning of this long journey.