Cycling the Costa Daurada

This twisting, yet wide, road seems to be carved into the mountainside and terminates abruptly in the tiny village of Porrera, a quick traverse of a narrow stone bridge and we climb past vineyards into the Priorat mountains, well-kept and empty roads that rise for 4km then fall for 4km before starting all over again.

Spectacular scenery and a great climate for cycling on the Costa Daurada

The gradient is seldom more than 8% and, thanks to the compact chainset on the Madone, I can take it at a spin, up the climbs in the saddle.

The Cycling Costa Daurada guides and locals keep you on the right track

Dropping down into Vilella Baixa we turn left onto the T-702, a road that marks the southern edge of the Montsant Nature Park, a mountainous scrubland, dotted with oak trees and pine forests. This road rises gradually for 20km with open views of a spectacular wooded escarpment.

We drop briefly into the village of Poboleda, though there’s no time to stop as after a couple of sharp left turn we’re onto the steep but thankfully only 2km long, Coll de Porrera and then the sinuous , positively-cambered descent through the vineyards back into the village of Porrera, completing this picture postcard mountain loop.

Coll de Porrera on Strava

The population of Porrera is just over 300 but it manages to hosts over 20 wine companies, the old vines that cling to these mineral rich hillsides are famous for creating some of Spain’s premium wines, such as CIMS Classic which is exported to collectors all over the world. The substantial brick building at the road junction with what looks like rusty iron sculptures on the pavement, is home to the towns wine processing collective. The grape harvesting is going to take place in the next couple of weeks, and the winery is a flurry of activity as the stainless steel fermentation vessels and barrels are steam cleaned.

Retracing our route over the leg breaking flip-side of the Coll Teixeta the pay-off this time is the long descent of the N-420 where we reach speeds of 75km/h.

It’s getting hot now as we reach the flat plains of the coastal region. We skirt through the small Roman town of Riudoms. Astana’s Maxim Iglinsky was to crash here the following day in the Vuelta de Espana, and I avoid a similar fate when, in a moment of indecision, I take a small roundabout the wrong way…