SANTA FE DEL MONTSENY RESERVOIR

Leaving behind Barcelona, we arrive at Sant Celoni and weave our way along the winding road, first towards Campins and then on to Santa Fe.
Our pace gradually slows down. Our daily lives, the office and the routine are temporarily forgotten. What lies before us are trees and the map Dani is unfolding on the car dashboard.
Just before 9.30am we arrive at l’Avet Blau, the restaurant that normally serves as a starting point for trips around the Santa Fe reservoir. We hear the birds sing as we get out of the car and catch a glimpse of a robin. We have arrived. The restaurant, however, seems to be closed. As we walk we shout out a couple of times in case anyone hears us. We approach the old hostel. A dog barks and we see someone through the window. Finally a man comes out to greet us introducing himself as the one “does all the cleaning here”. He invites us in and gives us a bottle of water. Now, we are ready to go.

The sun comes out and we begin to walk around the edge of the Santa Fe reservoir, leaving behind the sign pointing to Can Lleonart. We cross the stream several times, looking out for crabs and chasing lizards. Little moss remains, but the dampness and the iron in the water make the rocks very slippery underfoot. Jumping from rock to rock, I slip and end up with half my body underwater. The sunshine makes it less of a problem than it would have been a month ago when everything was still icy. Now the water isn’t too cold.
We continue our descent towards the reservoir. We pass the small Estanyol reservoir and its waterfall. We stop to rest in a nook under a rock from where the light reveals the end of the path, the reservoir. Dani refreshes himself, we rest for a while and have something to eat.