Itinerary through the Batlliu de Sort | Hotel Les Brases *** | Web Oficial

Beautiful and very pleasant circular excursion along historic paths that link the population centers of Sort, Olp, Pujalt, Enviny and Bressui

Route suitable for the whole family, circular circuit and with historical heritage

Medium Difficulty

Accumulated elevation gain 720m

Total distance 12.8km

Total effective time 3:50h

Maximum altitude 1,304m

Point of departure / arrival Sort – Hotel Les Brases

Minimum altitude 700m

Nearest town Sort

Circular route of 12.8 km in length in which we visit the small population centers that are scattered throughout the mountain in the area known as the Batlliu de Sort. The point of departure and arrival of the route is in the town of Sort. From Sort we visit, in order, the following villages: Olp, Pujalt, Enviny and Bressui. The route is well signposted and runs along well-maintained trails and paths at all times, often defined by old dry-stone walls. From Sort to Olp the road is uphill. The section between Olp and Enviny flanks the mountain and runs through flat terrain or gently rising. From Enviny to Bressui and Sort the path is downhill.

The circular itinerary through the Batlliu de Sort brings us closer to a wonderful territory full of history. We discover tiny nuclei of houses located on rocky cliffs, gently sloping meadows defined by traditional dry stone walls, forests of oak, hackberry and maple trees, and we enjoy great views of the Noguera Pallaresa river valley and the Torreta del Orri. A beautiful route that allows us to discover a quite unknown area of Pallars Sobirá that presents great natural, scenic and historical interest!

We start the route at the Hotel Restaurant Les Brases de Sort (0:00 – 700m), which is located just outside the town (extreme N), on the same road. Itinerary through the Batlliu de Sort 1 Hotel Restaurant Les Brases.

We go around Les Brases on the left and find ourselves on the street behind the hotel (which is parallel to the road). We begin to advance along this street, to the right above, in a northerly direction, until we find a street that goes uphill to our left. Itinerary through the Batlliu de Sort 1 Street parallel to the road where we advance.

We take a street on the left uphill.

We go up this street for about 50m and immediately we see the path to the right that goes towards Olp. If we are attentive, we will see several signs that indicate it to us. Itinerary through the Batlliu de Sort 1 Detour to the right: this is the path that goes up to Olp.

At this point the signage is a bit vague, but in general the itinerary is well signposted at all times. However, the signage along the route is heterogeneous: in the most prominent detours we will find signs of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Sort and Àssua Valley Nature Trail project; and throughout the route we will also find yellow signs - circular metal plates or painted circles - that precisely mark the itinerary through the Batlliu de Sort. Itinerary through the Batlliu de Sort 1 Yellow circle painted on a dry stone wall.

Itinerary through the Batlliu de Sort 1 Yellow circular metal plate.

We advance along a path that gradually gains height. We pass a cattle fence and pass a farm on the right. Throughout the route we will find protections and fences of all kinds for cattle. Livestock farming is one of the traditional activities in the Batlliu area and the paths that we will follow are still used to move herds and access the pastures.

We started to gain height.

Farm that we leave behind on the right hand side.

We advance through paths defined by dry stone walls in the middle of a beautiful environment. We arrive at a paved track, we follow it for about 300m until we reach a new detour. We now turn off to the left at all times following the signs for Olp, well signposted at all the turnoffs.

Dry stone walls define the path.

Short stretch of paved road.

Iris (Iris xiphioides).

We advance through a very pleasant terrain.

We gain altitude and arrive at the Fontanilles fountain or the Lleres ravine (1:00 – 985m), a humid and shady place where there is also a wooden table.

Fountain of Fontanilles or the ravine of les Lleres.

We continue climbing and it doesn't take long to see, on our left, the first houses of the village of Olp. We leave behind the abandoned chapel of Sant Pere and finally arrive at Plaza de Olp (1:15 – 1,095m), where we can admire the parish church of the Virgen de la Candelaria de Olp (currently Purification). Olp has two well-differentiated parts: the lower part, where we are, and the upper part, which we see raised above us and which receives the name of La Força (which indicates the existence of an old castle or fortified tower).

We see the first houses of Olp on the left.

Abandoned chapel of Sant Pere.

We arrived at the core of OLP. In the background, elevated houses belonging to the Força neighborhood.

Church of the Virgin of Candelaria de Olp.

We continue the excursion towards Pujalt, the next population center that we will visit. We leave Olp along the Castellviny road (it is indicated) and after about 80m we leave the road behind and go up a dirt road that heads to the right towards Pujalt.

We leave the road behind and take a path towards Pujalt.

From now on we will go flanking the mountain on flat terrain or on a slight rise. After about 15 minutes we cross a path that would take us directly down towards Castellviny, we continue straight on towards Pujalt. This section of the itinerary offers us magnificent views of the Noguera Pallaresa river valley, of the Torreta del Orri (2,439m) -which we have just to our left (in an E direction)- and, if we look back, of the great peaks of the Valley Ferrera.

We flank the mountain along a very pretty path.

Views of the Noguera Pallaresa river valley and the Torreta del Orri (2,439m).

Looking back: in the background we see the snow-capped mountains of Vall Ferrera, among which the characteristic Monteixo pyramid (2,905m) stands out.

We arrive at a point where the path ends at the road that connects Olp and Pujalt. We make about 50m along the edge of the road and almost immediately we take a path again. From this point we can enjoy wonderful views of the beautiful town of Pujalt, where we are heading, on the other side of the Estanyalga ravine.

We make about 50m along the road and take a dirt road again (left).

Views of the town of Pujalt on the other side of the ravine.

The path goes down a few meters to the grass meadows at the bottom of the ravine. We make a few meters along the side of a stream that we soon leave behind. We gain height again directly towards Pujalt.

Estanyalga Ravine.

We leave behind the bottom of the ravine and climb towards Pujalt.

In this section of ascent we find several panels with drawings and explanations of the butterflies in the area. They are panels of the itinerary of the butterflies, a circuit promoted by the Museum of the Butterflies of Catalonia in Pujalt, a very prominent research and dissemination center on this insect (timetables and more information: www.papallones.net).

Informative panel of the butterflies of the environment.

Finally we arrive at the town of Pujalt (2:00 – 1,162m), which is located on top of an elongated plateau with cliffs on its northern (N), eastern (E) and southern (S) sides. In Pujalt we find the parish church of Sant Pere, recently built, and the Butterfly Museum, which is located in the building of the old school of Pujalt, where in 2009 some scenes of the miniseries Les Veus del Pamano were filmed, based on in the homonymous novel by the writer Jaume Cabré.

Parish Church of Sant Pere in Pujalt.

We continue the itinerary: from the church of Sant Pere (Pujalt entrance) we walk about 50m along the main street to the Ca l'Anton hostel. At this point we turn right and leave the town along the paved road that goes towards Enviny.

Ca l'Anton hostel and the road that leaves the town towards Enviny.

We advance about 80m along the road and we turn off onto a dirt track that goes to the right. We follow the indications of Enviny and the yellow signs of the Batlliu de Sort itinerary.

We take the Enviny road (we leave the paved road).

Views of Pujalt, back to the right.

We alternate sections of trail and sections of dirt track, and we gain altitude little by little.

Trail section.

Itinerary through the Batlliu de Sort 1 Section of dirt track.

We reach a point where the whole perspective of the Montardit valley opens up. The trees give way to a more arid area, with bushes, thickets and grassy meadows. We are advancing along a path that flanks the mountain.

Views of the Montardit valley.

We reach a point where we find the detour (2:25 am) of the path that goes up to the hermitage of Sant Roc. We take it and in a few minutes we reach the remains of the hermitage of Sant Roc (2:30 – 1,304m); we will see that only the walls are preserved. From this point, the views of the Torreta del Orri (E) and the Montardit valley itself are spectacular!

Detour to the hermitage of Sant Roc.

Remains of the hermitage of Sant Roc.

Enviny (right of the image) and Montardit de Dalt (left of the image).

From the hermitage we retrace our steps until we reach the Enviny path again where we came before. We continue flanking the mountain until we reach the upper part of the town of Enviny (2:50 – 1,160m). We surround the first houses of Enviny on our left and enter its lonely alleys: the ruined chapel of Santa Llúcia, historic houses, magical corners, the laundry room,... Some scenes from the miniseries Les Veus del Pamano (2009) were also filmed here ). Finally, already in the lower part of the town, we find the church of the Virgen de la Candelaria de Enviny (currently Purification).

We skirt the tall houses of Enviny on our left.

Church of the Virgen de la Candelaria (or Purification) of Enviny.

We continue our excursion along the path that starts from the left of the Enviny church cemetery, in the direction of Bressui and Sort (it is indicated).

We take the street that goes towards Bressui and Sort.

Almost immediately we find the detour to Montardit de Dalt. We continue on going down in a clear direction E. We gradually lose altitude, advancing through meadows, areas with bushes, fields supported by dry stone walls and some holm oaks. In some sections we advance along the path and in others along the dirt track, we always have to follow the Bressui signs and the yellow markings.
https://cdn2.paraty.es/lesbrases/images/1a6d1ad2159fc4f=s500 Descent towards Bressui.

1 We cross a forest of oaks.

We reach the upper part of the Bressui neighborhood. We can go around it to the left -passing in front of a private house- or go down the paved road for about 100m and take the paved track that enters Bressui from the S. In any case, we reach the lower part of Bressui (3:30 a.m. – 840m), where we find the church of Sant Miquel.

Upper part of Bressui.

We go down the road for about 100m and take the paved track on the left to enter Bressui.

Church of Sant Miquel de Bressui.

We follow the route towards the town of Sort, which we can soon see through the trees.

We continue towards Sort.

We can already see Sort during the last leg of the descent.

We reach Sort at its S end, specifically we reach the street that connects the C-13 road with the upper part of Sort, where the school, institute and Sort castle are located. Indistinctly we can choose to go down to the road and cross Sort following the road, or go up a few meters to the castle of Sort, go around it on our left (on the side of the school) and go down the streets of Sort until we reach the Hotel again. Les Brases de Sort Restaurant (3:50 – 700m).

Castle of Sort. We surround it on our left.

+ info at http://www.rutaspirineos.org/rutas/batlliu-de-sort