“On our journey we will meet Gaudí and Dalí, taste pa amb tomàquet and Michelin-starred meals, visit rural villages and Barcelona, one of the most vibrant cities in the world; we’ll experience the adrenaline rush of a parachute jump and peaceful walks along isolated shorelines and when the sun goes down we’ll serve wines featuring the terroir of a town famous for its extraordinary ‘human towers’.” In 75 words, the introductory text for the newly launched Grand Tour of Catalonia bikepacking route has hooked us in and made us want to find out more. .

We wouldn’t generally start one of our stories with an embedded video, but this one is a ‘certified banger’ and most definitely worthy of your attention. Right, now that we’ve whetted your appetite, you’ll be wanting to know what exactly the Grand Tour of Catalonia bikepacking route is all about? The creators describe it as “a route that explores the territory from north to south and from east to west. It was created in a route format to travel throughout Catalonia by bike over several days, discovering its main heritage, natural and gastronomic attractions, as well as getting to know its people, customs and traditions”

The complete route is 2500km in length and you’ll climb a not-insignificant 45,000m. The route creators appreciate that for many people this would be too big a challenge to attempt in one go, so they’ve sub-divided the route into five smaller sections:

• Section 1: Barcelona to Tarragona. 481km with 8,454m of climbing
• Section 2: Tarragona to Lleida. 460km with 6,092m of climbing
• Section 3: Lleida to La Seu d’Urgell. 491km with 11,390m of climbing
• Section 4: La Seu d’Urgell to Figueres. 404km with 8,398m of climbing
• Section 5: Figueres to Barcelona. 652km with 10,781m of climbing

Each stage has then been broken down into either eight-day rides (Stages 1-4) or ten-day rides (Section 5). The average daily distance is 60km and 1,074m of climbing, which sounds much more reasonable. The route creators have given significant amounts of thought to the makeup of the route and they say the following “We prioritised the gravel tracks in the best condition. Except for short stretches of bike lane, greenway or occasional singletrack, the entire route can be done with a normal bike. Where no gravel tracks or paths existed, we tried to route the itinerary along as many secondary roads as possible, avoiding main roads. We prioritised using roundabouts to join roads instead of junctions, as they are safer for cyclists. We also tried to ensure that the road sections were downhill, as this is less dangerous for cyclists.” 

They go on to say “ Whenever possible, existing infrastructure has been used: bike lanes and pre-established routes. Stage starts and finishes are located in towns with at least three accommodation options. We prioritised tracks and roads where the landscape is the main protagonist. Natural environments have been prioritised over urban ones.”

The route creators have put together a komoot collection which shows the entire loop split into separate stages:

The text that accompanies the komoot route is beautifully crafted “Riding the Grand Tour of Catalonia Gravel means breathing in the morning air among vineyards, feeling the deep silence of the forests and hearing the distant sound of the sea breaking against coastal cliffs. Along the way, the route crosses surprising natural parks, wide open valleys and lesser-known mountain ranges, places where nature still sets the rules.”

Quite often, when a press release for a new bike, event, piece of gear, or something similar lands in our inbox, it comes bundled with a random assortment of images. They’re frequently low-resolution, poorly lit, uninspiring, or formatted in completely the wrong orientation for web use. We end up spending far more time than we’d like tracking down better visuals or putting in serious hours in Photoshop, just to make them usable.

However, when the images for the Grand Tour of Catalonia gravel route arrived, it was a completely different story. We were genuinely blown away — not only by the exceptional quality, but also by the sheer number of photographs. The gallery, created by Apperstudio, represents an enormous amount of work and was simply too good to keep to ourselves.

So, take a moment, relax and enjoy a collection of truly outstanding photography.