Reliving the 29th of November, 1937

On Saturday, 8th of January, we hiked the route from Pont del Codó by the river Valldarques -near les Masies de Nargó- up to the Cabó Valley, near the house of La Oliva.
We were 43 people altogether -many families with children- from Lleida, Igualada, Barcelona, Solsona and Andorra.
We left the Bridge of Codó at 10:45 am -after reading some historical documents, and we arrived to Fenollet at 2:15 pm. It took us 3.5 hours. In Fenollet we ate bread with tomato and cold meat, superbly prepared for us by Rosa.
After lunch, we read some more historical documents by the farmyard where on November 29th, 1937 St. Josemaria Escriva and the members of the expedition rested.

At 3:15 pm we left toward Santa Fe, where we arrived at 4:45 pm, traveling 1.5 hours to overcome the steep rise of Grau del Fangueret and reach the Coll de Santa Fe. Here we rested and read again some historical documents that recounted those hard days, walking at night, trudging up gullies and crossing rivers.
After a steep descent along the north face of Mount Santa Fe, we arrived to the Cabó Valley at 6:15 pm.
In total we walked about 13 km over 6.5 hours, with a vertical rise and fall of 750 meters each way.
It was a superb hike, because of the company, favorable weather, the geological explanations by Octavio Rico, the expert guidance of Toni Cucurull and assistance at all times of Louis Jaureguízar.
Below is the description that Antonio Dalmases wrote in his diary in 1937:

In silence we leave the meadows and go into the forest. It is so dark that it is difficult to see more than the silhouette of the fellow who goes before, just a step away, later we have to grab one to another using our canes so as not to lose one another. Every hour we stop a few minutes to have a rest and drink or, even better, get our mouth wet. As we cannot see where to put our feet, we misplace them and get badly hurt and bruised.

From the forest we turn to a barren landscape where there are only stones which end up destroying our feet. In the distance to our right there are the lights of a town [they must be Les Masies de Nargó or perharps Coll de Nargó]. After the flat terrain we start descending through the forest to a river [the River Valldarques]. We pass a bridge and after it, we stop to eat a little. I eat an egg and piece of bread, and right away we resume the march. We climb a gentle slope to a road. This is a bit dangerous. Upon arrival we meet our guide who make us form in groups of three and walk quickly along the road, ready to jump into the bush if we see a car. We go almost running. We pass a bridge. We see a house and we approach it silently. Our nerves are tense until we leave the road and return to the mountains. What we have done is very dangerous but we’ve bypassed a mountain that, had we had to climb, would have taken a long time. The river makes a tremendous noise and soon we arrive at it. We are told to take our shoes off. So we all do it and with sandals, socks and bandages around our neck, we cross the river with water up to our calves [it was the River of Sallent].

The water is freezing but this cold temperature is very good for our feet as they cool down and get clean, although the pebbles poke us like a knife.

On the other side of the river we get our shoes back on and without any delay, we start walking again. We feel the fatigue and weakness even more. It is probably twelve midnight. In front of us rises a mountain, it is huge but old [Comalavall], which promises a hard climb, but not dangerous. It’s all bushes. When we stop most of the group sleeps despite the fact that it is colder than usual and our feet are wet because the ground is too. We all rest only a few minutes, but there are some dreaming outloud. I dream without sleeping. I dream absurd and stupid things. We have been without sleep for twenty four hours, haven’t eaten for ten, and for seven hours have been walking in the most difficult conditions imaginable.

This climb seems endless [the gully of Comalavall]. Almost at the summit, Mr. old [José María Albareda], that goes with us, faints and it takes time to revive him. My brandy performs the miracle, and his teammates take care of him as brothers. If the climb up tires, going down breaks our legs. Now we are going faster. We reached a clearing which we have to crawl across [the gully of the Muntanya]. Together stones, clay and men are all falling, and then we climb again. Just a bit more, since the guide says we are close to the end of this stage which is a house [Fenollet], before reaching it he will go ahead and then he will call us, as always in these cases. He leads us to a farmyard, we lie in the straw and fall asleep there. It is Monday 29th of November.

We strongly recommend that you join us on the next excursion -Saturday, 12th of February- we will go from the Valley of Cabó up to Noves de Segre, through Ares and Baridà.

You can read the geology of the route