Corça, Casavells, Matajudaica

Just outside La Bisbal d'Emporda on the main road towards Flaça and Girona is the village of Corça. As is common with Catalan villages around the Costa Brava the main road skirts past the village so it's possible just to see the traffic lights and miss the rest of the village. Though from the Flaça direction, you would see the Castle of Alberca to your left as you come towards the village, a castle that looks more like a gentile country house than the rougher older romanic castles of other Catalan villages (but it looks as if it is in private hands, with much restoration work still to be done).

Parking on the main road we walked towards Corça village itself crossing a small stream to be greeted by an open plaça shaded by plane trees. The houses for the village started on the far side of the plaça, built in the customary catalan stone. To orientate ourselves we walked through the narrow streets around the centre to find the church and the old village walls. Like many of the villages around La Bisbal, the village heart is unspoilt and retains its medieval and period charm.

After exploring the centre, we head out to the north. The path is marked by a bikeway sign in the direction of Casavells and we head out into the country side. The initial part of the walk is on road, but at the first junction, the tarmac road turns to the left and we continue on a track through the fields (the signpost was missing when we walked - good to have a map).

Mid-April means the wheat is growing quickly in the fields and with about one day of rain a week through spring, the fields are lushious verdant green. Along the path are the bright yellow flowers of rapeseed that escaped from a previously year's harvest, interspersed by the red of poppies. Many of the plants and flowers in Catalonia are a few weeks ahead of the UK. There are also swallows and swifts skimming across grass playing in the sun.

The path reaches a T-junction and we turn to the right with a view across the plain in all directions. The rain from the previous day has cleared the air and there are clear views to Els Angels on the Gavarres, out to the castle of Montgri and even as far as the villages in the hills behind Roses to the north. We cross the main road (take care cars drive very quickly on this road).

Casavells is just a couple of hundred metres off the main road and as the name suggests, it's a collection of old houses around a small church. It doesn't take more than a four or five minutes to circumnavigate to have a look around.

The road between Casavells and Matajudaica is tarmac again, but as we walk to the left suddenly we're greeted by the site of the mountains standing clearly in the bright spring light, their majestic white sides standing out against the vivacious greens of the plain.

We reach Matajudaica, another hamlet similar in size to Casavells. The name is particularly intriguing since Matajudaica seems to suggest some dark past history (mata=kill and judaica suggests jews?). We're not far from Ultramort or from Verges (known for it's dance of the dead). Unfortunately, Wikipedia and Google give no further clues or reasons for the etymology, so it will have to remain interesting speculation.

From Matajudaica, we walk to the river Riussec. As the name would imply, this is often a dry river, but at the point the path meets the river, there's water rushing over a small weir. As we follow the river upstream, the water level slowly drops, and when the path crosses the river further upstream, the bed is dry. Crossing the river though means we can see Castell d'Emporda sitting on it's outcrop above the plain, with tractors tending to the fields below.

We continue by the side of the river. We ignore the first signpost back to Corça and carry on, following the footprints of sheep along the path then down and along the river bed. About 150m along the riverbed, a path can be seen to the right and we follow it out past a farm. The sheep are fenced in to one of the barns, with dull khaki-brown looking fleeces they look quite dirty.

We walk across another small stream - this one with water and stepping stones, then take the walk through underneath the busy road we crossed before and head back into Corça itself. Families are starting to gather in the restaurant and bar by the plaça at the village entrance.

Neighbouring walks: Canapost, Poblet Iberic and Ullastret - Cruilles, Monells and Sant Sadurni de l'Heura - La Bisbal, Vulpellac, Castell d'Emporda, Fonteta - Serra de Daro, Fonolleres, Sant Iscle d'Emporda - Rupia and Foixa