Itinerary 13: La Vilella Baixa - Gratallops - Escaladei - La Vilella Baixa

One of the most spectacular routes around the Priorat region. It takes you to the villages in the heart of the county and around the Montsant mountain range.

This route starts off on fairly flat land towards Gratallops. Once we get to this village, we climb up to the Consolació hermitage passing by the village of La Vilella Alta. We then continue onwards towards Escaladei on a path which is very up and down. Once we get to the Carthusian monastery of Scala Dei, we start to climb on a track which takes us below the cliff-face of the Montsant mountain range. The views here are fantastic! To end this route, we descend a path which takes us back to La Vilella Baixa.  

Route not signposted

Route:

• Km 0.- We leave the entrance to the village of La Vilella Baixa and take a track on our left which takes us towards el Pla del Xorrac, following the signposts. Further on, we come to a bifurcation towards Gratallops, but we do not take it. 
• Km 4,26.- We keep straight on this path. 
• Km 5,65.- After 500 metres we come out onto a wide track which we follow to our left. 
• Km 6,94.- We take an upwards climb on our left. 
• Km 7,10.- We continue along this track on our left. 
• Km 8,00.- We come to the Montsant river and we keep straight on. 
• Km 8,67.- We take an uphill on our right and leave the river behind us. 
• Km 9,15.- We come to a rock pool in the river and we continue onwards towards Gratallops on our right. 
• Km 12,43.- We reach the main road, near to Gratallops and we keep left. 
• Km 13,86.- We leave the main road and start to climb towards the Consolació hermitage, by taking a track on our right. 
• Km 15,00.- We come to a flat open area near the hermitage and we take the path which heads downwards. 
• Km 15,34.- We come to another path and we turn right.
• Km 16,23.- We follow the path on the left. 
• Km 17,15.- We come to a concreted part of the track ans we climb upwards to our left. 
• Km 17,41.- We leave the concrete area and turn left. 
• Km 17,57.- We cross over a crossroads and continue straight on. 
• Km 18,12.- We continue along the track on our left. 
• Km 18,70.- We take the track on the right. 
• Km 18,97.- We take the track on the right again. 
• Km 22,21.- We reach the main road and enter the village of Escaladei where we can fill our water bottles. Then we tack the metalled track towards the monastery. 
• Km 25,85.- At 300 metres after the uphill, we come to a crossroads and we turn left. 
• Km 31,24.- We continue on the track on the left. 
• Km 34,30.- We leave the track and take a path on our left. 
• Km 36,60.- We have finished the downhill part of the path and we now turn right and take a wider track. 
• Km 37,88.- We come to the main road and we turn towards La Vilella Baixa.
• Km 38,00.- We turn off the main road and take a concrete track on our right. We cross the village and come back to our starting point.
• Km 39,00.- We are back to where we started.