Mont-ras 'boar' walk

Mont-ras is our neighbourhood, so we start and finish a lot of walks in the village. Fortunately there is a wide variety of walks available with lots of different paths - we can go up into the Gavarres or out across the plain towards the sea or the towns. As a result we pretty much walk in the Gavarres two or three times a week and we're still finding new routes.

One of the things we've found is that there are a lot of tracks and smaller routes in the hills that aren't actually marked on the maps. The tracks aren't just used by walkers - there is a great deal of mountain biking through the woods.

The main walk on the maps is a round trip circling Puig Cucala - a hill with an electricity pylon right on top (with great views, but it's a steep and rough climb up and down to the top). This 'recommended' route is a fairly decent Sunday afternoon stroll up into the hills with views to the sea on broad paths.

The following walk is a more interesting variation taking you down through the woods on a smaller more wooded path, criss-crossing a small stream. Unfortunately wooded paths don't really photograph well - it just looks like a path in the woods - so you'll have to try it to see why we like it.

We used to call it the frog walk because towards the bottom the stream forms a pool of water and on one occasion in spring we walked past to the loud singing of a full blown frog chorus.

It got renamed in the summer when our dog got spooked by loud rustling in the undergrowth and the appearance of wild boar tracks. We didn't see anything but are pretty sure the boars (senglars in Catalan) were rooting about in the undergrowth.

In summer the senglars have litters of young and you are warned not to get too close as the parents (who are normally shy) can get aggressive to protect their young. There is also no hunting allowed during this period.

In the winter the hunting season starts again and many of the tracks are used by hunters looking for the animals.

The walk starts from Mont-ras church and heads up to the top of the hill. There are a number of routes up. In this case we take Carrer Major into the woods, but almost immediately turn left and head up the hill past the top two houses of the village.

Keep going up until the path flattens out right at the top. You'll pass a field on your left and the path splits.

Take the left hand path around the field. This meets the next path at a T junction.

Take the left path (part of the Puig Cucala route) past the red and yellow stripped water indicator and Bosch de Dalt house.

In front of you the path splits. Instead of following the main Puig Cucala route, take the right had split into the woods of the next valley. This path runs down to a clearing that looks out over the sea through the trees.

The path continues past the clearing and you just head down into the valley - there are a few spur paths, but basically you keep left and head down.

Some of the path gets rocky and then suddenly you're on a narrow muddy footpath towards the base of the valley. As you walk you'll find yourself following a small stream and the way the path goes (still keep to your left) you'll cross the stream about three or five times. The frog pool is down towards the bottom.

At the end you emerge at a broad track road and follow the path towards the houses of the Molines urbanisation. Again keep to the left and follow the road back through the older part of the Mont-ras village.

Neighbouring walks: Mont-ras to Calella de Palafrugell and Llafranc - Mont-ras Fountain walk - Llofriu, St Llop and Torrent - Eulogy to the Ruta del Tren Petit (Palafrugell, Palamos, Mont-ras and Vall-llobrega) - Mont-ras to Fitor and on to Fonteta and Vulpellac