Hiking along the Costa Brava: Tossa de Mar to Sant Feliu de Guixols – 20km on the GR92 – Spain
In October ‘23, I decided to go hiking along the Costa Brava. What an amazingly beautiful and rugged coast. With the most beautiful views every time! Read my report of the stage from Tossa de Mar to Sant Feliu de Guixols. Also read the report from the day before.
Hiking along the Costa Brava – Spain
After a nice breakfast at my hostal in Tossa de Mar, I checked out and headed out. Hiking along the Costa Brava, heading for Sant Feliu de Guixols. First I had to go back to where I went off the trail yesterday. Soon I saw the red/white flags again and disappeared into a forest. The sky was threatening with rain and thunder and when I got a little higher it was blowing heavily.
I found myself walking higher and higher, the road taking me and several mountain bikers, far up. At one point, I had a view of the coast and inland. And as I looked ahead at an ominous sky. I really wondered if I would stay dry, the weather forecast had predicted a chance of thunderstorms until around 11 in the morning. It was almost 11 o’clock anyway and I hadn’t felt a drop yet.
Hikig along the Costa Brava, Cami de Ronda – Spain
They were wide dirt roads I was walking on and the red/white flags were easy to follow. Along the way on the GR92 Camino de Ronda route, I came across these wild strawberries in the trees. I saw them last year in Portugal too. As in Portugal, the cork trees are also here and a bit further on I even saw their harvest. I reached the top after a steep climb of about two hours. The wind was quite strong and the views were amazing!
After I had to cross a road, I came to walk in a denser forest. I sat down on the side here and ate my pear I had brought from breakfast. It was lovely like this in the forest. When I came out of the forest again, I saw a big church. I walked towards it and took a photo. It was the village of Sant Grau. A little further on, I saw the signposts again and walked down the path.
It was a steep path and took me down a long way, walking back to the Costa Brava coast again I thought…. But it wasn’t, I started to climb again. Somehow I liked that because my body likes that better but when I looked closer I saw that I was no longer following red/white but yellow/white. Oops!
At Sant Grau I had not paid attention and I think I was not supposed to go towards the church but up and then to the right so I skipped that whole descent. A bit further on, yellow/white met red/white again. Very nice! I could now get back on the route I was really walking. What was even more nice is that my route was over an hour shorter then the one I was currently on. However, I had walked more than half an hour extra because of that descent and ascent but oh well….
I met a man with his dog who spoke to me briefly. ‘Where do you come from? What route are you walking? How far do you go? When I couldn’t answer that last question he looked at me and said: I love you for that! Hahaa I get what he is saying! After all, I did not yet know how many days I would be hiking, I had no ticket booked back yet and so no end date. That gives a wonderful sense of freedom too! But he also said, you are going to love the next part of this route.
Highlight of the day – Puig de Cols
You have to work for it
but then you get the most beautiful views
And he was right about that. Not long after I saw him, I had to turn left and go up. The path became a rocky trail and was really amazing! For the first time, I took out my selfie stick and put it down to take some pictures. What a great part of the trail! And after this part also some of those ascents, really super!
The wind was still very strong and when, after a while, I saw a sign that I could go to a summit, of course I did. Puig les Cols, I did go there. I must say, though, that I didn’t go around the corner to see the other view as well. It was even more windy there and then you walk there by yourself. A gust of wind could knock you off balance and I didn’t take that risk. I also skipped standing on the rock and taking a photo. Afraid that my phone would fall over but also that I would lose my balance there.
After Puig de Cols, the route ran downhill. Sometimes along a nice wide path but sometimes along a narrow worn path. With the most beautiful views that I sometimes had to pause to look at. When I reached the edge of civilisation again, I had to walk for about another hour. I was glad I still had some chocolate in my bag because I was running out of energy. Of course, I had also eaten way too little, a pear and now conguitos with peanut cream in them.
Note to self: Put more food in my bag, energy bar or cookies.
The path was a bit tricky to follow after that first suburb, so I just followed the navigation to my final destination. A little later, I saw that I had just ended up back on the route. That was nice! I think a little flag was missing. It came down to me following the main road in the district down and then just outside the village taking the dirt road to the right, there was another flag there.
Hiking along the Costa Brava – Spain
Distance, height and duration – Tossa de Mar to Sant Feliu de Guixols
It really was a fantastic hike that was really challenging. Some nice climbs, challenging eroded paths and the most beautiful views at altitude. The distance I covered today was 20.23 km and these left me descending 816 metres and ascending 813 metres. I was on the road for 6.5 hours.
Lunch on the way?
I didn’t see a place for that. In Sant Grau you might be able to eat, which was a small village where I only saw the church. Just know that if you go into that village you have to walk back up before continuing. I walked the wrong way there because I continued down the road and ended up on that yellow route.
Stay in Sant Feliu de Guixols
I had my overnight stay at Hostal Zurich, I paid €45 here without breakfast. A little old-fashioned hostal but super decent. When I got there that afternoon, I felt like I was in a closed cafe with only a hostal upstairs. An older couple which was bickering a bit with an adult son. They arranged everything a bit in a peculiar way…. But when I came downstairs the next morning, there were staff who had opened the cafe and I could buy a coffee and croissant. How nice?
Wifi in Hostal Zurich
There is wifi but if you have signed up one device you cannot sign up a second one. Not even if you log off the first one because you would like to get another one online. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get my laptop online there because I had signed in my mobile first.
It was another lovely day of walking along the Costa Brava and I set out again with fresh courage the next day as well. That walk took me to Palamos.
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I hope you enjoy this beautiful world as much as I do
Jacomijn is een politieagent uit Nederland die jou graag laat zien hoe je veilig, actief en gezond de wereld kan over reizen. Safe and Healthy travel is a MUST
