Old Railway Greenway Gravel Loop

Somewhere between the paved certainties of Girona and the wilder rhythms of the Empordà, this loop peels back the province’s quieter layers. You roll out from the Pont de Pedra, the city’s stone heart still cool with morning shadow, and within minutes the traffic thins to a memory. The route wastes no time: it climbs toward Els Àngels with a sustained, honest gradient that asks you to settle into a rhythm rather than chase a number. This is a day for riders who like their gravel served with a side of leg burn—2705 metres of it, spread over 70 kilometres that rarely let you coast. If you’ve got the fitness to hold a conversation but prefer not to, if you’ve ever looked at a forest firebreak and thought “that’s the line,” this is your ride.

The Fluvià basin does not announce itself with fanfare. Instead, it unfolds through cork oak woodland where the light filters down in splinters and the air smells of dry bark and wild thyme. The gravel here is generous—fast-packed in places, loose and shifting in others—and it makes up roughly two-thirds of the day. That means long, lung-bursting descents where the tyres hiss and the trees blur into a green-brown wash, then sudden flats where the only sound is your chain and the distant clank of a sheep bell. One particular singletrack link near the Old Railway Greenway drops you into a dusty ribbon of trail that feels older than the railway it once served, a remnant of a time when this landscape was crossed by steam rather than carbon wheels. It’s rough, it’s tactile, and it’s over too soon.

The Old Railway Greenway itself is the spine of the morning, a converted trackbed that runs straight and true through the valley floor. But the real reward waits in Sant Feliu de Boada, a medieval square that appears almost without warning. The coffee stop at Sweet Sixteen is the kind of place you’d miss if you blinked—a small, unassuming counter where the espresso arrives dark and the pastries are still warm. You sit on the stone steps, bikes propped against the arcade, and watch the village go about its Tuesday. It’s not a curated moment; it’s just a good one. The farm tracks that link Sant Feliu de Boada to the surrounding hamlets are the connective tissue of the afternoon—rutted, sun-baked, occasionally muddy—and they thread you through fields of sunflowers and abandoned stone barns with a quiet persistence.

Make no mistake: this is a hard day. The tarmac sections, roughly a third of the route, are not respites but connectors, often rolling and occasionally steep. You’ll need a gravel bike with proper gearing, a full day’s worth of food, and the kind of legs that don’t flinch at repeated climbs. But the difficulty is part of the texture. It’s what makes the cork oak descents feel like rewards, what makes the coffee at Sweet Sixteen taste sharper, what turns a loop into a memory. This is guided premium for a reason—you’re not just following a GPX file; you’re being led by someone who knows where the surface turns from forgiving to spiteful, and when to push the pace and when to let you breathe. If you’re after a gentle spin through the Catalan countryside, look elsewhere. If you want to earn your view of the Fluvià basin, saddle up.

Ride highlights

• The medieval square of Sant Feliu de Boada for a coffee break
• Long forest descents through cork oak woodland
• A dusty singletrack link near Old Railway Greenway
• Farm tracks connecting Sant Feliu de Boada and the surrounding hamlets

How the day unfolds

1. 08:30

   Bike fit and coffee

   Meet your guide at Pont de Pedra, Girona, fit the bike and take on a coffee before rolling out.

2. 09:15

   Into Fluvià river basin

   The first stretch warms the legs on quiet roads towards Fluvià river basin.

3. 10:45

   The Els Àngels section

   The main effort of the day, with the guide setting a steady, sustainable pace.

4. 12:30

   Lunch near Sant Feliu de Boada

   A relaxed stop for food in or near Sant Feliu de Boada, with the bikes in view.

5. 14:30

   Past Old Railway Greenway

   An easier afternoon section taking in Old Railway Greenway.

6. 16:30

   Return to Girona

   A final flowing stretch back into the city with a drink waiting on arrival.

What is included

On the road

Good to know