Dry stone route-Llers. Route 21 Alt Empordà

The Garriga d'Empordà is made up of the municipalities of Avinyonet de Puigventós, Biure, Llers, Pont de Molins and Vilanant. In this territory there are numerous dry stone constructions. The dry stone huts of the Garriga certainly have a historical value, as they are an element that allows us to explain the ways of life, agricultural exploitation, and economy in general, and the forms of ownership of this entire geographical area. They have an architectural, ethnological, documentary and technical value, as examples of popular construction techniques and their evolution in a specific place. Likewise, they have a landscape value, since they configure a characteristic landscape, and an identity value for the entire area where they extend.

There are various initiatives to preserve and explore this architectural heritage. Since 2014, numerous shacks have been declared BCIL (local cultural interest) to protect them and promote their restoration. From the Observatori del Paisatge de Catalunya has also been created a collaborative initiative called Wikipedra to collect information on dry stone constructions throughout Catalonia; currently, moret han 600 constructions are inventoried in the Garriga d’Empordà area.

We propose itineraries to explore dry stone constructions in these municipalities. We identify the constructions with the Wikipedra code or with the local name by which they are known. In some, you will find a QR code from ubi.cat that will provide you with more information; we have highlighted them in bold.

We start the route in Llers at the parking of the sports area, where we find the Itinerànnia LLE5 sign. In addition to the orientation signs, the path is marked with yellow paint marks.

It is also possible to start from inside the town, starting at the intersection of Itinerànnia AE50, located on the road in front of the Ramal square, following the yellow marks, at the LLE6 Carrer Església intersection, continue straight to the sports area where we find the start of the route at the LLE5 intersection.

We continue along the road and turn left at the LLE7 Camí dels Enamorats intersection. Continuing along this track before reaching the crossing LLE4 Castell de Desvinyol, we find the dry stone wall of the Camí dels enamorats. At the crossroads we turn right, after a few meters, we find the first hut of the route in the Horts de l'Oratori area, the 12159 hut. A little further on, at the LLE8 Horts de l'Oratori intersection, we turn right.

Since the route from this point is circular, we could also go left, but our recommendation is to turn right towards the Oratori area, where we will see more huts. We find the first hut of en Vilert (9931); a few meters ahead, we must pay attention to the yellow marks, as the path turns left, we follow a small stretch along the shoulder of the road. We continue straight; we are in the Avalls area, the first hut we find is  en Tritxu hut (6828); we continue straight to the next intersection LLE9 Camí de Mas Molar. At this intersection, we coincide with other Itinerànnia paths. The one that continues towards Les Brugueres and Llers by Mas Vidal, or the one that goes to Vilanant following the Camí ceboller.

Our proposal goes straight, circling the Clotes area. We continue until, paying attention to the marks, we turn left; already in the area, we see the huts 9923 and 9919 a few meters from the main path. We follow the path, and a few meters ahead, we can go to the Vayreda hut (9921)  which is located a few meters from the main path. A few meters beyond and also a little away from the path, we see the hut 12989 until we reach the LLE10 intersection. At this point, we have the option to shorten the route by going on the left path, where we will find information about the huts 9962 and 6831 and the Picapedrer hut (6830), and reach the LLE11 intersection.

Our proposal extends the route a little more. We follow the path that turns slightly to the right to go to the cattle road, this is a termener wall, in recovery process, which borders to the municipal district of Vilanant. Again, paying attention to the yellow marks, we turn left and turn left again we find hut 10101 we follow the route of cattle road, after a first section we find the VN6 cross.

We continue straight for a short stretch and go left along the Camí Ceboller, which is recovering. Continuing straight along the Camí Ceboller, we find the barraca d'en Pot (6832)   and the recently recovered section of the path. A few meters ahead we find the Gran hut (6829) next to the LLE11 intersection. At this point, to the left is the path of the huts 9962, 6831, and the Picapedrer (6830), which we haven't seen on the longer route. We can do a short walk to see them and return.

We continue straight before turning right as indicated by the markings, we find the second barraca d'en Vilert (12104) and d'en Font (6833), and we return.

We follow the marks again, crossing the Pla de Vinyers paratge and we find hut 26926; a few meters ahead, the l'Olivet petit (11879). We surround the field and continuing a few meters, we find the QR with information on the two Rafela huts, the large (11881) one and the double (11880) one, which can be seen between fields. A little further on, on the other side of the road also between fields, we can see the Pau family hut (10067).

We arrive at the paved road. On the right we find the path that leads to huts 6834 and Can Xacó (10068). We can go to see them and return. We continue to the left, after a few meters along the shoulder, on the other side of the road we take a track to the right, in the Terres Blanques paratge. Further on we stop to walk along a small stretch of cattle road with beautiful views over the Garriga and we return to the path. When we reach the LLE8 Horts de l'Oratori junction, we return along the same path from the beginning passing through the LLE4 and LLE7 signs.