Our group walking holiday to Coma-Ruga in Catalonia was a 'Tracks and Trails' trip to an area between Barcelona and Tarragona.
In spite of the weather we had a lot of fun on this holiday and we all enjoyed the experience. The hotel was excellent. The weather was mixed with some of the wettest October weather in the Barcelona area in recent years, but we still completed 3 of the 4 planned walks and we had a visit to a restored cistercian monastery on the day that was too wet to walk.
We were based at the Estival Maramar Hotel in the beachside resort of Coma-Ruga.
The trip was organised by Joy Johnson and the holiday was run by Involved Holidays with a local walking guide Meritxell (aka Mary). The holiday featured three walking days led by Mary, a visit to the Santa Maria de Poblet monastery and a three-hour guided tour of Tarragona.
The walks consisted of: a train journey followed by a circular walk around the village of Reus and the surrounding area; a walk from the hotel towards the El Vendrell heritage and viticultural corridor following recently restored paths and past the thousand-year-old Via Augusta; and a train journey to the start of the walk in Altafulla followed by a coastal walk past a castle and an old battery from the civil war, a long and wide beach area where we had lunch and the ruins of a Roman villa.
The Royal Abbey of Santa Maria de Poblet is a restored cistercian monastery consisting of the church, the cloister and the monastic facilities and was a good alternative for a day that was too wet to walk.
On our free day some of the group visited Barcelona and others went to nearby Sitges.
You can see more photos on the WhatsApp Photos group and the Facebook page but here are a few samples:
View from the hotel
On the beach after a walk
Walking around Reus
Group photo on Reus wak
At the cathedral in Tarragona
The Cloisters at Santa Maria de Poblet
La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona on a wet afternoon
Ramblers on a wet afternoon in Sitges
Crossing a flooded stream near El Vendrell
Staines Ramblers join the human tower
Altafulla in the morning
On the Coastal Walk from Altafulla
Walk leader Mary who did her best to choose a dry area for the walk each day
Many thanks to Joy for organising the whole trip