Puig de L'Àliga - senderisme autoguiat

Introduction

An eagle’s eye view of the bay.

Leaving from the Mas Oliva residential development, we’ll enter the Alzeda valley and climb Pic de l'Àliga (463 metres). At noon, the silver sea of the great Bay of Roses will be lit up before us. To the north, with an eagle’s eye view, we will see the more modest Bay of Port de la Selva, enclosed between valleys and mountains of the coast of Cap de Creus.

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Typology

Anti-clockwise circular
Difficulty

Median
Duration

2 hours 30 minutes
Slope

461.00 meters

Distance

7.00 km
Theme

Flora and fauna

Environment

Landscaping
Activity

By foot
Rating

Description

An eagle’s eye view of the bay.

We start in front of the Rescator padel tennis club at Mas Oliva in Roses and climb gently along a track that leads into the Alzeda valley. Just before arriving at the farm that gives its name to the valley, we will find an enormous olive tree on a curve in the road that was planted several hundred years ago. We reach the farmhouse which is uninhabited and in ruins, with only some sheep and goats grazing in its meadows giving life to this solitary location. The path climbs steeply, flanking a grove of cork oaks which have grown quite large as the cork hasn’t been removed for many years.

We will soon have a good view over the valley and the town of Roses. While we climb steeply, the scrubland is dotted with wild olive trees, mastic trees, heather, rock roses, thorny broom, gorse, etc., which leave exposed the dark and rusty-coloured schist covered with multicoloured lichens. We will arrive at Pla de Can Causa, another ruined farmhouse in an imposing location. The first thing that strikes us is the spherical dome of the military base that crowns Puig del Pení (607 metres). This is the highest point within the Roses and Cadaqués area. To the north, delimiting the boundaries of Palau-Saverdera and Selva de Mar, Sant Salvador (670 metres) is the highest peak in the Serra de Rodes.

We will turn towards Poniente and climb along the ridge. Here the conditions for the vegetation are extremely harsh: with strong winds, drought, grazing, fires, etc., the plants take on prostrate shapes and are protected between the blocks of stone of the Cim de l'Àliga (463 metres). From here we can see a wide view of the Bay of Roses to the south and Port de la Selva to the north.

We descend following the ridge, losing height quite rapidly until we reach a hill where gnarled cork oaks grow on the terraces of some barely recognisable old vineyards. When we arrive back in the vicinity of Mas Oliva, we find the olive groves from which the precious oil of the argudell and verdal varieties is extracted.

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