Serinya and Illa del Fluvia

Serinya is a small village situated between Banyoles and Besalu and we're walking here for no other reason than to explore the area a little. As with exploratory walks, we're probably not taking the best route or seeing everything the area has to offer, and in fact we did go the wrong way several times, ending up on tracks that were blocked or that lead to houses or farms.

However, we were particularly impressed with the almost secret lake made from the weiring of the river Fluvia at the Illa de Fluvia.

We start just outside the centre of the village looking at the church, which from the outside looks strangely lacking in windows. The old village centre is quite small and behind the church is a small courtyard that leads out to a lane over a small brook. As we're off the coast and August has been quite stormy this year, the brook has water. Following our nose we head out towards the neighbourhood of Bosqueros along a small quiet road that passes a different farm house every two hundred metres or so. Unlike the tight clusters of houses towards the coast, this is farming country and the houses are more spread out with big gardens and yards.

Our route is taking us towards a couple of horse riding centres, firstly past Equinatur and as the road bears to the right directed towards Hipica Bosqueros, we take a gravel track straight on and in towards the woods. On the map we think we're trying to get to a path at the back of the riding centre, but the route runs to a large gate and private road at Mas Pelegri, so we take a previously passed track down towards the woods, passing a small group of riders on the way up.

The track curls down the hill, past a couple of fields towards the river at the bottom where we can see evidence of the horses. The path on the map is marked as going along the river, but we can't see the path, so we have to go back up a little in order to take a smaller track into the woods which does go the way we want snaking through the overgrown scrub of the woods above the river.

We emerge at a much larger road with a large expanse of water in front of us. This is the Illa del Fluvia a broad lake formed by a weir on the river with soft greenish water that looks like it would be better for fishing than for swimming. We can hear the weir, so we walk along to find a large embankment and old electricity station seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The trees around are tall and cool the air and with all the greener around we could be in the middle of France.

Returning from the weir we cross a bridge across the river, a small terrapin perched on a stick in the river dives into the water to hide.

The track climbs gently back towards fields at the top, and we can see from the map that we have a busy road ahead of us. A marked path seems available to avoid at least some of the road, so we follow it down the hill, only to find ourselves practically in the garden of a house, with a big imposing gate barring our way. So back to the top, the August heat now starting to get to us and a stretch of unpleasant fast road to contend with.

Crossing the road we find a quiter route along the old road, connecting with one of the GR routes. This takes us back towards Serinya - at least it would if I hadn't mis-read the junction, so we have another double back before finding the proper route under the road, then through the small woods and back. For our explore, the Illa del Fluvia was delightful, but next time we'd want to find a better way to make the round trip that doesn't involve so much road.

Nearby: Sadernes and river pools of St Aniol d'Aguja - Banyoles lakeside walk - Esponella and River Fluvia - Sant Miquel de Fluvia - Bascara - horses, fords and lost - Waterfall at Les Escaules (Boadella)