Post-deluge exploration & sightseeing around Gandesa...

After the torrential rain all day yesterday we made a decision not to even try and climb today. Serious amounts of water fell out of the sky over the previous 24 hours, so we figured that instead of heading out with the intention of climbing and being disappointed when everything was wet, we'd go out just to explore some new crags and climb if they were dry. That way it wouldn't be a wasted day either way - can't fault the logic eh?!

I've been meaning to have a look at the crags around Pinell de Brai / Gandesa (about an hour south-west of us) for a while now, so when Pete mentioned the place again recently it reminded me that I needed to go and I thought this would be an ideal opportunity. We drove down there and first went to Pinell de Brai village, as I'd read online that the most up to date topos were kept at a certain bar there. We couldn't find this bar for love nor money, despite there being about six different ones in what was a pretty small village! Even when we asked for it by name they didn't know of its existence, or of a bakery where they were also supposed to keep the topos - so it looked like that was a red herring! Fortunately I'd found a map just with the location of the crags on someone's blog last night, so we drove there and managed to find the crags easily enough. Suffice it to say I was pretty impressed!

The sunny Mirador sector.

The Cova sector - home of some amazing looking steep tufa lines (all soaking wet today!)

Looking out from the Cova to the Mirador sector across the valley.

As we didn't have any information about the routes we decided not to climb, plus most of the good looking routes were wet today, but it was definitely good enough to warrant a return visit, especially as the best crags were shaded all morning so it'll be good for when it wams up. It still amazes me how many crags there are within the immediate area that I haven't even been to!

 

On the drive back to Montbrió we found this across the road.
I've always wondered when these normally dry river beds ever had water in them - after 24 hours solid rain it seems!