Witty Walks have shown the above to be true over the past fifteen years with anything from a dozen to over fifty friends among the English speaking community walking and talking their way across the Catalan countryside within easy reach of Barcelona.
Over the years the walks have taken us as high as 3000 metres to the Puigmal in the eastern Pyrenees, along the umbrella pine-clad cliff tops and calas of the Costa Brava, a splash and swim through the gorges of the Parrisal south near Tortosa, strolls in the peaceful quiet of the Colsacabra with its table-top hills and alpine flowering meadows, streams and waterfalls, scrambles around the twin-toothed 2400-metre Pedraforca, and, nearer to Barcelona, wandering among the crags of Montserrat, and Sant Lorenç de Munt, the vineyards and lesser-known hills of the Penedés, and, to Montseny again and again, always a favourite.
The walks usually take place once a month on a Saturday and as a general rule are all within two hours by car of Barcelona.
Although the walks can be led by anyone willing to lead, they are co-ordinated by Michael Witty who emails details of when and where to meet plus a short descripion of each walk. To be added to the Witty Walks e-mail list, click here.
Celebration of the 100th Witty walk
The 100th Witty walk was held on 5th November 2006 in the Parc Natural de Montseny, when two groups of around 30 were determined to celebrate despite the abnormal grey and rather cold conditions. One group, led by Mike Thom, disappeared into the clouds and drizzle to crown the Matagalls (1697m) with nil visibility. On the way up they held a One Hole Golf Tournament, which was won by a beginner at golf, Victoria Harris, aged 12! (Incidentally, her brother, Edgar, was the first to reach the top of the mountain). The other group opted for a relatively relaxed stroll nearby, just under the cloud level, through beech woods surrounding the lake by Santa Fe. Both groups joined afterwards down below at Viladrau for a hearty lunch.
Quite surprisingly, the weather conditions on the 100th Witty walk were identical to those on the first walk in the Collsacabra 15 years previously, also held in November. Of the 100 walks, however, at least 95 have been under clear blue skies!
Planned walks:
Date: to be decided
Time: to be decided
Location: to be decided
Lunch: to be decided
