Cap de Creus – Catalonia – Spain

To read more see my Cadaques post.

Having spent the last two days in Cadaques town, today we decided to venture further afield.  Cap de Creus is a National Park around the headland from Cadaques and as everyone was getting itchy feet we decided to plan a hike to go and see what it had to offer – we were looking for a beautiful, quieter beach with a more secluded feel than the main one in Cadaques.  There were plenty of hiking trails all mapped out already so we set off to see what we could find.  Unfortunately by the time everyone was ready we were walking in the midday heat so we took some water with us but it was pretty hot out!

Setting out the first town we hit was Port Lligat – just over the first hill from Cadaques and where Salvador Dali lived.  After that, the track became less of a road and more of a trail finally becoming a little worn-out path through the vegetation.  The tracks were obvious and not overgrown, but they were definitely rustic with lots of loose shale and rocks so you had to watch your footing. It was very easy to work out where to go though as the track to Cap de Creus was marked out every 20m or so with green and red paint so you always knew that you were on the right path.

Happy Hikers!

The scenery was beautiful.  It was so nice to be up in the hills looking down over the landscape and seeing the beaches and sea in the distance.  We could see some beautiful beaches and kept trying to find a way down to the sea but it was too overgrown and precarious to leave the path.

The hike itself wasn’t hard but there was a lot of up and down and some clambering over rocks and it was very hot and dusty, we all wished that we’d brought more water with us!  Having looked at the map, there were lots of secluded beaches around but to get to them you had to leave the trail and fight your way through thick vegetation and some pretty precarious cliffs etc.  Eventually, after about an hour of walking we were greeted with the most amazing site.  We had found the most perfect bay surrounded by rocks and as luck would have it there was a small, overgrown but passable track down to it!

We made our way down to the bay and everyone immediately jumped in the water to cool off after the long sweaty walk.  It was so refreshing and just what we needed to rejuvenate ourselves.  We found a spot on the rocks away from everybody else and sat for the afternoon, reading and playing in the water and sunbathing (snoozing) until it was time to move on.

We could’ve spent all afternoon there, but after a couple of hours we were in desperate need of some water – I don’t think we’d anticipated quite how hot it was and we could only carry a bottle each on the hike.  We headed for a restaurant we could see at the highest point of Cap de Creus – probably another 2km away or so.  (You can see it in the picture captioned ‘Paradise’ way up on top of the hill.)  It was a fairly steep climb, but so worth it for the amazing views from the top.

We found a table in the shade on a cliff top and ordered ice cold drinks which tasted like nectar after our long hot walk!  Cold beers and sangria all round.  Everyone ate some tapas to gain some sustenance for the walk back and after an hour or so’s break up there we headed back on the long walk home.

It was sunset by the time we arrived back in Cadaques worn out and sun-kissed but having had a really fabulous day.

To read more see my Cadaques post.

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