Before going into describing a few of the runs some geography for those who want to visit the area or have already been there and to get an idea of the elevation.
North of Llança upto the french border
Just south of Llança the St. Pere de Rodes area and Serra de l'Estela
Southeast of Llança the National Park Cap de Creus
The routes shown and described below are the following:
Llança - Puig d'en Jordà - 33k - 4 to 5 hours
As can be seen the area north of Llança is dominated by the the border mountain range north and a double mountain range on the west with some lower ranges going up from east to west. Both wide easy paths and more narrow and sometimes overgrown paths can be taken here leading to the same point with different difficulty.
Llança - St. Pere de Rodes - 15k - 2 hours
This run has some rather steep slopes even on the GR11 route. From the monastery many option are open to go in other directions. The paths are well maintained, though rather technical at some stretches.
Llança - Puig Vaquer - Serra de l'Estela - 12k - 2 hours
This run is mainly along very narrow not so much maintained paths, so wear long pants or be prepared for some scratches. It also has some very steep slopes.
Llança - Cap de Creus - 43k - 5 hours
Just a beautiful run along well marked and well maintained paths with rather easy climbs in it and many options to vary the route.
Going to France
wikiloc - Llança - Puig d'en Jordà (737m)I got up before dawn and soon left Llança crossing underneath the railway up to Coll de les Portes. The first part is a very wide path that goes steadily. At the base of the Puig Tifell (409m) I looked for the way straight up but the only clear path took me around. The next top in the range is Puig del Llop (454m). The narrow path that goes over the top is rather steep both up and downhill. Just before halfway a path goes left taking you around to the base of Puig d'Esquers(606m). Here you can choose to go steep uphill and climb Puig d'Esquers or go right and around which is much easier and probably quicker to advance. On the stretch to St. Miquel de Colera, a small roman church, the sun came out playing with the clouds, the sea and colours.
Depending on the time of day you can see St. Miquel de Colera from far away on the slope of the mountain...
St. Miquel de Colera
or you have to really run up to and see it from up close, which is well worth it and it will take you less than 5 minutes to get there and back.
St. Miquel de Colera
The path continues going slightly up untill Coll de les Artigues. There is no path straight up to Puig d'en Jordà, so I took the narrow path to St. Quirze de Colera a big roman monastery behind the range of mountains on the picture below. This path takes you the more easy west slope. I guess at times it can be hard to run here. I got lucky since it seemed they had been doing maintenance only a few days ago. At some point really near a fountain it seems the path has disappeared. The area near the fountain is really wet and swampy and with some difficulty I find back the path again. It actually goes up just before the fountain but there are no indications here.
Coll de les Artigues
Nature as always is beautifull
And soon I am on the french-spanish border near the goal of this run. Puig d'en Jordà itself is just left from here, but for some really nice views I first went right
Coll del Teixò
I took my time here to rest and enjoy the views and the silence of some birds, bees and a ligth breeze.
Early morning sunshine
Thorny and beautiful
View of Llança and Cap de Creus
The ridge that leads up to here
The actual Puig d'en Jordà from his "twin"-summit
On top of Puig d'en Jordà
The best views of the St. Pere de Rodes Monastery
wikiloc - Llança - St. Pere de Rodes
This route is partly following the GR11 that starts near the local footbal field. The first part is a wide path full of loose stones but with an easy uphill overall to Coll del Perer. Instead of following GR11 here I went down to a small village called la Vall de Santa Creu. The descent is steep and rocky and once in the village passing a small bridge to the right the from time to time steep climb to the St. Pere de Rodes Monastery starts. In my opinion this routes gives you the best views of both the monastery and the ruins of the Sant Salvador Castle above it.
St. Pere de Rodes Monastery
For more longer runs you can go up to this castle and down along the ridge or just go down to Port de la Selva or la Selva del Mar. You can also down to the other side or like I did go right and go back by the GR11 path. The first part is almost flat on a paved road and then continues on a wide well maintained path untill it goes down very steeply back to Coll del Perer.
Llança Xtreme
wikiloc - Llança - Puig Vaquer - Serra de l'Estela
This training run is excellent for some extreme uphill training. After going up to the neighbourhoods Cau del Llop and Super Ferrer you will find a narrow path on the right that goes up just along the edge of town. Even if it looks like it is not there persist and you will eventually pass the last house and be on a more marked though still narrow path.
Llança from the slopes of Puig Vaquer
Port de la Selva
The path to the very top of Puig Vaquer was totally overgrown when I was there, so I tried to push through the bushes for a while, but since I was wearing short trousers I certainly would have my lower legs full of scratch wounds before making it so I turned back and headed for Coll del Perer and went up the steep slope and once up I went right to explore new territory. The first part is over a very wide path that goes slightly down first and steep down later on untill you can go right again onto a narrow path from time to time overgrown with bramble bushes.
At some point having come back to the seaside of la Serra de l'Estela I went left and ended up running a few hundred meters alongside the N260. I recommend going in direction of Mas d'en Gifre and make it a full trail training round.
The long and winding road to Cap de Creus
wikiloc - Llança - Cap de Creus
I got up very early and started easy along the Cami de la Ronda to Port de la Selva. The picture below is taken another day, it was too dark to make pictures, but this way you get an impression of the path.
Cami de la Ronda
In Port de la Selva I made a slight mistake going right where I should have gone left for the shortest way, but anyway, soon I left town and entered the National Park Cap de Creus. Slowly day was breaking and by the time I passed Sant Baldiri I no longer needed my headlamp.
Sant Baldiri
The area is has much more forest than I expected and only when coming to the very end of Cap de Creus the vegetation mainly consists of bushes and herbs.
The landscape of near Cap de Creus
Lighthouse with backlight
The last part to the firehouse of Cap de Creus I ran over the paved road. The area near the lighthouse is nice to walk around too, but I saved that for another day.
The lighthouse from up close
With the sun still behind the rocks the many sculptures people made here stood out sharp against the sky.
Rockpile-creativity
After making it to the outmost point of the rocks I took a pictures of myself with the firehouse in the background, a bit skew by lack of a photographer at that time of day and only inclined rocks nearby.
After a last pictures of one of the nice bays near the lighthouse I headed back at a somewhat higher pace now I knew what to expect.
And soon I was back at Cami de la Ronda with Llança in sight from the harbour of Port de la Selva.
Port de la Selva harbour and Llança in the background
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