La Devesa and Caxurma caves. Route 1 Montagut and Oix

Baumes de Caxurma are a series of natural caves formed in the sedimentary rocks that lie to the south of the basalt cliffs of Castellfollit de la Roca. The largest cave is around 400 m in length.

  • Modality
    • By foot
  • Region
    • Garrotxa
  • Towns
    • Castellfollit de la Roca
    • Montagut i Oix
  • Time
    • More than 4 hours
  • Difficulty
    • Medium/ High
  • Estimated duration
    • 4h15min
  • Distance
    • 12,8Km
  • Hide elevation maximum
    • 570m
  • Hide elevation minimum
    • 220m
  • Ascent
    • 474m
  • Descent
    • 474m

We propose two route starts to go to Les Baumes de Caxurma

From Montagut

Start at signpost G49 Montagut and head for ‘La Mare de Déu de la Devesa i Baumes de Caxurma’. Pass by the swimming pool and then after a while pick up a bike lane. Continue along this bike lane, past signpost MiO8 Carretera de Montagut and on to the first houses of the residential area of La Cometa. Pass through the houses following the yellow Itinerànnia waymarking until you come out to the N-260A road; here, turn right until you reach the turning to the hamlet of Els Angles. Take this road, pass under the main road and the A-26 dual carriageway and continue as far as a ford over the river Fluvià.  Continue straight on and after a little while you will come to signpost MiO1 Camí de la Devesa: turn and pick up a dirt track that heads into a splendid mixed oak forest. Continue along this track until where, at the first bend, you should take a footpath that begins to snake uphill, slowly gaining height. The deciduous oaks begin to give way to the holm oaks as you approach the small church of La Mare de Déu de la Devesa. Once at the church, turn right along a forest track until it starts to climb, at which point you should turn right along a path that heads into a thick forest. Continue on through a mixed forest of oaks and pines until you begin to come across a number of large rocks: at this point you have to be careful not to miss the caves (baumes) as they are hidden away to your right, well camouflaged between the oaks and rocks.

Attention! The entrance to the baumes is prohibited since it is a highly sensitive area.

Start to drop until you come to signpost MiO2 Torrent de Santaló, where you should turn right following the yellow Itinerànnia waymarking. Pass over the dual carriageway tunnels and pick up a service track until you are indicated to drop down to the left towards Castellfollit de la Roca.

After a while you come to signpost MiO3 Les Hortes: turn right and follow the path alongside the allotments that gradually approaches the river Fluvià. Continue under the dual carriageway viaduct until you reach signpost MiO1 Camí de la Devesa again. From here, just retrace your steps back up to La Cometa and on to Montagut.

 

From Castellfollit de la Roca

We leave the Itinerànnia crossing that we find at the end of the village, on the cliff, next to the old church of Sant Salvador CF2. We go down the Camí de la Rossolada to the medieval bridge where we find the CF1 indicator, continue in the direction indicated Baumes de Caxurma and a little further on we find the MiO3 Les Hortes indicator. We will go right and follow a path until we reach the service track and pass over the A26 tunnels. We must be attentive to the yellow markings to take a path that takes us to the crossing MiO2 Torrent de Santaló and we will continue through this forest full of mosses, which looks like a forest of fairies, until we reach the Baumes de Caxurma camouflaged between oaks and rocks.

Attention! The entrance to the baumes is prohibited since it is a highly sensitive area.

We can continue through the thick forest alternating oaks and pines until we reach a forest track, we will go left until we find the hermitage of the Virgin of the Devesa. To return to Castellfollit, we will follow a trail between oaks that descends and meanders to an area of oak trees until we reach a dirt track. We find the crossing MiO1 Camí de la Devesa. We will go to the right towards Castellfollit. We follow this track that passes under the A26 viaduct and we pass by the Broken Bridge. After a few meters we take the path that borders the orchards, and that runs parallel to the river Fluvià and we reach the crossing MiO3 Les Hortes, from where we return to the town. A few meters away we find the C2 crossing, cross the bridge and climb towards Castellfollit along the Rossolada path, where we had descended at the beginning of the route.