Various walking trails and trekking activities around the world got us wondering why this couldn’t be done in the Pyrenees.
Why were we walking through the Atlas mountains, with a mule carrying our provisions and our tent, yet that wasn’t an option in the Pyrenees?
Why were we spending two weeks walking from village to village in the Himalayas, yet we didn’t do that in the Pyrenees?
Why travel so far, when we were in love with the Pyrenees and its natural, ethnological, culinary, geographical and social wealth and diversity?
Pondering these qüestions, we felt the need to help others discover the Ramat de Camins trail, for the trail itself to help others fall in love with the Pyrenees which we call home, and in particular with its traditional paths.
Our dream is for the paths and tracks making up the Ramat de Camins route to be preserved, to be retained as living heritage, thanks to those who follow the trail.
Morocco
Himalayas
Cesc Capdevila i Torrell promotes the Ramat de Camins trail. He built the website and keeps abreast of everything relating to the route. Originally an IT specialist by profession, he now works as a mountain and fauna guide in the Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park, the Alt Pirineu Natural Park, the Boumort Reserve and the Collegats-Queralt Site of Natural Interest..
Markha valley – Ladak (India)
Núria Garcia Quera spent two weeks walking in the Pyrenees in 2007, retracing the steps followed fifty years before by Camilo José Cela and Josep Maria Espinàs. She subsequently wrote an account of her trip entitled Nou viatge al Pirineu (Sensus, 2012) and summaries of the route she took. As a writer she specialises in travel novels, travel reports, walking guides etc.
Annapurna (Nepal)
OUR PHILOSOPHY
We want the Ramat de Camins project to be something more than an enterprise. Our intention is for local people and visitors, local landscapes and distant landscapes all to benefit. The project aims to:
- benefit people’s health. Walking in natural surroundings from village to village takes us back to our origins, with all of the positive effects for health and welfare which this brings with it.
- break away from the seasonal nature of tourism. The best times of year for most of the stages are spring, the beginning and the end of the summer, and the autumn.
- link various counties (comarcas). The scenery is the star of the trail, and its paths and tracks transcend administrative borders. The route takes in the counties of Pallars Jussà, Pallars Sobirà, Val d’Aran and Alta Ribagorça.
- help regain and preserve the heritage of ancient paths used by local people. Thanks to our route and its variants, footpaths are maintained and deteriorated sections repaired.
- promote responsible tourism. Our intention is to contribute to the economic growth of any area made up of small villages. We want to give vitality to local hotels and restaurants, qualified guides, owners of donkeys and mules, commerce, small agricultural enterprises, museums and ecomuseums, traditional crafts and trades etc. All this, without altering the landscape or its make-up, promoting the local surroundings and culture, with tailor-made trips for small groups.