The scene before me – all high body counts and ancient towers – would put Game Of Thrones to shame. I’m standing in front of Girona’s Baroque cathedral while a steady stream of Catalans clamber up my back.It’s the final morning of a five-day visit to the Costa Brava and I’m at the bottom of a six-storey human tower. ‘How did we end up here?’ grunts my friend Joe as a small child in a crash helmet plants a foot on his shoulder. But he knows the answer as well as I do: we ran 56 miles. … ‘And prepare for some surprises.’ Rodriguez, a self-confessed ‘running geek’, traded his native Costa Rica for the Costa Brava nine years ago.He began these tours on a smaller scale last year and is launching them fully this summer. Part businessman, part mountain goat, he’s so full of energy you expect him to pull off a somersault at any moment.‘The Costa Brava has a bad reputation,’ said our host Albert Diks over dinner at the Castell d’Emporda hotel the previous evening. ‘People think of drunk Englishmen on beaches…
People think it’s not beautiful. People run away.’Over the past five days, Joe and I had done the opposite. As part of an 11-strong group, we’d run through the heart of Catalonia, from undulating cliffside paths to fortified hilltop towns, at a rate of about 12 miles a day. And not only was it beautiful but the majority of the people on the beaches were neither English nor drunk: they were largely Catalan – and often naked.‘Pack white trousers,’ was the main instruction from Running Costa Brava’s owner, Pablo Rodriguez
‘The Costa Brava has a bad reputation,’ said our host Albert Diks over dinner at the Castell d’Emporda hotel the previous evening. ‘People think of drunk Englishmen on beaches. People think it’s not beautiful. People run away.’Over the past five days, Joe and I had done the opposite. As part of an 11-strong group, we’d run through the heart of Catalonia, from undulating cliffside paths to fortified hilltop towns, at a rate of about 12 miles a day. And not only was it beautiful but the majority of the people on the beaches were neither English nor drunk: they were largely Catalan – and often naked.‘Pack white trousers,’ was the main instruction from Running Costa Brava’s owner, Pablo Rodriguez. ‘And prepare for some surprises.’ Rodriguez, a self-confessed ‘running geek’, traded his native Costa Rica for the Costa Brava nine years ago.He began these tours on a smaller scale last year and is launching them fully this summer. Part businessman, part mountain goat, he’s so full of energy you expect him to pull off a somersault at any moment.The tone for our week was set on the first morning, over breakfast at Mas Cals, a 1,000-year-old farmhouse. ‘This is el porron,’ says Rodriguez, waving around what looks like a large glass teapot with a long, sharp spout. ‘It’s the traditional way of drinking local wine.’ This way of drinking (at 8.30am), involves no glasses and no contact with the spout. You pour red wine into your mouth from as great a distance as possible. By the time we hit the trail half an hour later, we’re all in extremely good spirits.We descend from the farmhouse, through pines and clusters of cork trees, their lower halves stripped away to plug those delicious bottles of Catalan wine. By midday, we’ve reached sea level, where we spend an hour running along a path above the glittering Mediterranean. We barely see a soul – except for a stretch along a remote beach where the dozen or so sunbathers are almost entirely naked. One of them, playing a Spanish guitar and wearing just a pair of Ray-Bans, smiles and nods as we pass.‘How do you find these obscure trails?’ I ask Rodriguez. He shrugs: ‘Often I go for long runs on my own. Sometimes the trails are there but forgotten. Other times, I find tracks made by wild boar and make them bigger with my machete.’On our first evening, he reveals one of his surprises: we’re dining at the Michelin-starred Restaurant CasaMar in the town of Llafranc. It’s one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten – cured sausage stuffed with foie gras, blue cheese, beef cheek and a cantal cheese salad.By the time we reach Girona on day five, I’ve experienced more Michelin stars than blisters. Rodriguez’s final surprise awaits us there. ‘You have your white trousers?’ he asks, leading us towards the town hall through a throng of tourists. Here, we’re greeted by one of Catalonia’s largest group of Castellers, or human tower builders.Handed blue shirts and red sashes, we’re thrown straight into their carefully mapped pile of bodies. It’s a fitting end to what has been an extraordinarily well-planned trip. As our tower of bodies is carefully disassembled, Rodriguez leads us to a nearby bar, emerging with a tray of beers. ‘What happens next?’ I ask him. He grins: ‘It’s a surprise.’
Running & Trekking Costa Brava (www.runningcostabrava.com) has running tours starting from £544 per person for a four-day/three-night trip, with hotels, breakfast and dinner included. Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) flies direct to Girona, from £55.
