RT- 4
ROUTE OF ELS SEGADORS
(the Harvesters)

The text has been extracted of the website: http://www.bellver.org/index.htm

In the village of Gósol there are people who still remember how to harvest. Before the Civil War, there were a lot of groups of temporary workers who crossed the Cadí in order to go to the area of la Cerdanya. In Gósol there still exists the Cerdanya street, the beginning point of the Cerdanya path that took them to this neighbouring area. The painter Pablo Ruiz Picasso, in the summer of 1906, after his fruitful staying in Gósol, also made this route. Nowadays, the only people who make this route are the walkers.

A historical relationship
The link between Gósol and La Cerdanya began in ancient times. The Cerdanya path is very old, although it is not a cattle path like the col of Pendís, but a path by which different kinds of people moved from place to place: musicians, thieves, soldiers, and smuglers. The fact that Picasso used this path to go to Bellver de Cerdanya shows us an everyday use of this path, always according with the altitude (2410 m) and the snow and ice obstacles that can be found in winter.

The walker Cèsar August Torras, in his guide "La Cerdanya, valls altes del Segre", edited in 1924, perfectly describes this route. He uses the present tense when he afirms that "the people from Gósol usually cross the mountain by this path when it is not closed because of the snow".

Even though there has always been a lot of people from one place to the other, there are several ancient documents that say that the village of Gósol, during the 16th and the 17th centuries, belonged to Puigcerdà, what obliged its soldiers to go there everytime there is a war with France. Another document talks about the participation of a big voluntary group from Gósol and several villages of the area of the Alt Berguedà, chiefed by Mossèn Llorenç, in the second siege of Arsèguel in 1593.

In the peace times, and especially during the 19th century, the banditry was substituted by smuglers and harvesters that were booked as temporary workers in la Cerdanya.

General view over Gósol	Monument to the harvester, Gósol
View over Gósol, at the bottom the Pedraforca

Photographies by J.M. Jerez

"Sega-me'l arran" (Harvest it close to the root)
The harvesters in Gósol crossed the pass of Els Gosolans by the beginnings of the month of June. Some of them went down to Montellà to be booked in several houses of El Baridà, but most of them went to Bellver de Cerdanya. The harvested in the plain and moved to the east, towards the high lands of the Coll de la Perxa and the Coll del Capcir (1500 m high), where the cereals had to be harvested later.

They began to work by the beginning of the day and they almost didn't stop unti the sunset. At 7 am , they had breakfast; at 10 am, they ate a little; at 11 am, they had lunch; from 12 to 2 pm, they slept the siesta; at 3 pm, they ate a little more; and, at 6 pm, they had dinner. In the rich houses, the maid brought the meal to the harvesters, but, in the other houses, it was the master's wive or daughters. When there were young girls, sometimes after dinner there was a dance.

In every group there was a chief. The rivalries among each groups were strong, and all thought that they were the best. The harvesters never changed this shirt during the summer. Because of that, the man that, by the end of the season, had the most sweated shirt received a prize for his effort.

The PR-C 124 and the Route of the Harvesters
After the marking of the GR 107 or Route of the Good Men by the col of Pendís, another route has been marked around the Natural Park of the Cadí-Moixeró, the GR 150, that has a variant along the crest, the GR 150-1. Other routes, like the GR 3, the GR 4 and the GR 7, go on by this same area of the Cadí-Moixeró. In order to link all of these routes, several other PRs have been marked. The existence of the PR-C 124 has allowed the marking of the old route of the harvesters.

The route of the Harvesters begins in Gósol, going out of the village by the Cerdanya street towards Font Terrers (GR 107 and GR 150) in order to arrive to the Collell and Les Bassotes. After it, in the PR-C 124, the route goes up to the Prat Socarrat and the Serra Pedregosa. There is a wonderful view over the northern side of the Pedraforca, the Serra d'Ensija and the Fageda de Gresolet. The slope, from here on, becomes softer until the Pas dels Gosolans, from where the route can go to the Font Tordera or to the Comabona, one of the most important mountains of the Cadí (2547 m), and with a wonderful view over La Cerdanya. The Cortils cabbain is one of the most useful places to spend the time when there is bad weather.

Once on the other side of the mountain, the path goes down because of the heavy slope in the Prat d'Aguiló, where there can be found the refuge Prat d'Aguiló of the FEEC, guarded during the summer time and some week-ends. The route goes on by the track that goes up from Montellà to the col of L'Home Mort, where another track goes to the right and, later on, another path that crosses a wonderful pine wood leads to the bottom of the Baga de Ridolaina. The plain path goes to the Cortal de l'Oriol and to the Font Tosca in order to go down to the Planes d'Hereus and the plain of d'Hereus and the palin of Nas. Once there, the route goes by the Camí Vell, that has wonderful views over Bellver and La Batllia, and links with a cattle path near Olià (GR 150). From here on, the route goes to Pi and to Bellver de Cerdanya by road.

The needed time to go on this route is about 7 or 8 hours. It can also be made from Bellver to Gósol. The fact of having the northern side of the Cadí in front is something wonderful, and the crossing of the Ridolaina valley is really gratifying, but you will need one hour more. The refuge of Prat d'Aguiló, allows the walker to make the route in two days.

Refuge Prat d'Aguiló (photograph by J. Embodas)

Town hall of Bellver de Cerdanya
http://www.bellver.org/index.htm

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