Santa Coloma de Farners

Autumn's beckoning and as has become an annual habit we head to Montseny - this year to Santa Coloma de Farners just to the South West of Girona. It's a town we've visited several times mainly for the walk in the hills to the Ermitage that looks over the town and the wonderful autumnal park of Sant Salvador - a glorious crunchy leaves and dappled sunlight type of park that runs along the river.

This year October is proving to be surprisingly warm - 26C or 27C. At the coast people are still swimming, let alone sunbathing. Inland at Santa Coloma the temperatures are also warm so rather than walk to the Ermitage we take a shorter route around the unusual rock formations of Roques Alls.

We park in the centre of the town and for the first twenty minutes or take a short walk through the town streets which, being Sunday, are pretty much empty of people. The main placa for Santa Coloma is just the other side of the church and has been decked out with Catalan flags. We're between the Diada (11th September) and its massive demonstration for Catalan independence and the impending date of the Vote for the Consulta which will ask Catalan people whether they want to be independent or to have more autonomy within Spain.

From the Placa we walk up to the Carrer Dalt (upper street) just above the town with views across to the hills and Montseny in the direction we'll be walking. The street isn't too long and we soon come back into town and then find a path past allotments to the main park of Sant Salvador, crossing the river by a small footbridge.

The park is a highlight of Santa Coloma, tall trees planted in formation rise above a flat grass area next to a wide, but shallow river. The autumn light piercing the leaves leaving pools of illumination in among the shaded paths. The paths are patterned with leaves that crunch under foot, while it's still warm enough for children to be splashing in the river shallows.

The park is quite large, running along the river for about 1000m and includes a playground and a natural water spring that people visit to fill up water bottles making it a great place for a picnic or to bring younger children.

We head up though, taking a path on the far side of the park from the weir/waterfall. There are a number of routes into the hills and our path quickly narrows, following what would be a torrent (a steep dry stream bed that channels water when it rains). It's not too far and we emerge at the base on large bare rocks and boulders. There are views from here across Santa Coloma and out towards the plain of Girona.

We continue to head into the hills and then follow the signpost for Roques Alls - more rocks, some which look like they're balancing precariously above our heads. The path is a bit of a scramble between the boulders into a narrow gully, then up and out the other side emerging at another view point.

Our walking path then connects with a dusty gravel road track and we start to head down, but rather than keep to the road, we take a different path to the right and curl our way back down the hill to the park and back through the town to the car.

Nearby: Hostalric stroll - Lake at Sils - Castell de Montsoriu - Brunyola - Arbucies autumn walk - Visit to Roda de Ter and Espinelves - Caldes de Malavella - Volca de la Crosa - Sant Dalmai (Girona Airport)