The best MTB trails around Arenys De Mar

If you pass by the Can Valls path, it's worth stopping to look at these three strange structures. They are not modern kilns: they are traditionally dated to the 9th–10th centuries, and one of them is still practically whole. Here, pine and oak stumps and wood were slowly baked to obtain "pega", a kind of vegetable tar used to waterproof boats and containers, and also for lighting. What's curious is to think that more than a thousand years ago, people were already working this forest and exploiting its resources right at this spot. A small stop that, if you don't know what you're looking at, goes completely unnoticed.

Tradition has it that when fishermen were far out at sea, they would look for a tiny white dot on the mountain amidst the green of the forest. It was this hermitage. It served as a reference point for them to orient themselves and know where the coast was. A kind of lighthouse, but on the mountain. And there's a second, even more curious story. Centuries ago, a severe smallpox epidemic affected the farmhouses of Hortsavinyà. Legend has it that a stranger appeared with an image of the Virgin and assured that those who came to pray to her would be healed. People associated the healings with that image, and eventually, the small oratory was built here. There's even a curious play on its name: Erola and verola—smallpox in Catalan—ended up being linked in popular tradition, although the origin of 'erola' seems to actually refer to the small plain where it is located. So that little white house lost among the trees was, depending on who looked at it, a sanctuary for some and an orientation point for those sailing down below in the Mediterranean.

This small hermitage, lost in the woods, was born out of a promise, not a whim. In 1885, the Prats family paid for its construction after their daughter Fermina recovered from an illness. The first mass was held that same year. And here comes the good part: it's next to the Font de la Salut, and this whole area has long been associated with stories of healing waters and the famous dones d’aigua, the mysterious water women from the legends of Sant Iscle. Small, hidden, and without great pretension. But if someone builds an entire hermitage because their daughter gets cured, it at least deserves you to stop your bike for five minutes.

This place has it all: 5,000 years of history, witches, and even a 19th-century reconstruction that nobody really knows how closely it resembles the original. For centuries, the legend said that the witches of the region used to meet here for their covens. What we do know is that in 1855, Josep Pradell decided to restore the dolmen and replaced the enormous top slab. It was, none other than, the first known restoration of a dolmen in Catalonia. So when you arrive by bike and see that kind of enormous stone table in the middle of the forest, stop for a moment. Prehistory, legends, and a good deal of mystery concentrated in a few meters. And if you arrive at dusk and see someone circling the stones... I wouldn't ask. I'd keep cycling.

Sant Martí de Montnegre Una església aïllada dins del Parc Natural del Montnegre, de gran valor per la seva integració en el paisatge forestal. És un punt de referència en les rutes de l'interior.

Església de Sant Llop d'Hortsavinyà El document més antic on s'esmenta Hortsavinyà és del 1101, i el primer de l'església, del 1301, si bé la primitiva esglesiola podria ser del segle IX o X. La major part de l'edifici actual és del segle XVIII. Sant Llop n'és el patró (1 de setembre), i per això se celebra la festa major en aquestes dates, coincidint amb el primer diumenge del mes. I si sant Llop és el patró de l'església, santa Eulàlia ho és del poble, i pels volts del 10 de desembre se celebra la festa major petita d'Hortsavinyà. Tradicionalment, sant Llop fou l'encarregat, en la fe cristiana, de guarir el mal de coll i l'afonia, i se'l relacionava amb alguns comportaments dels llops. Tot això ens porta a cercar els seus orígens en un personatge precristià, el pare Llop, un home que convivia amb un ramat de llops a les muntanyes. Una vegada a l'any baixava a les masies a cobrar un tribut, que calia pagar si es volia evitar l'atac dels llops al bestiar i a les persones. També era creença general, segons podem llegir als bestiaris medievals catalans, que si un home veia un llop abans que el llop a ell, la bèstia restava muda per sempre més, però si era el llop qui el veia primer, qui perdia la veu era l'home. Això darrer es produïa per l'ensurt que patia la persona en trobar-se el llop. D'aquí ve la relació de sant Llop amb l'afonia. Font: XPN

Capella de Mare de Deu de l'Erola Prop de Santa Eulàlia (o Sant Llop) d'Hortsavinyà, seguint amunt pel camí GR-92, trobem l'ermita de la Mare de Déu de l'Erola. És un petit oratori de parets blanques que segons la tradició, servia de guia als pescadors que, en mirar les muntanyes, hi veien una petita taca blanca. L'edifici, molt senzill, és de planta rectangular amb volta semicircular. Al seu interior hi ha una fornícula amb una imatge de la Mare de Déu. Font: Pobles de Catalunya

Dalt del cim de Pedracastell, presidint la vall, s'alça una gran creu, l'origen de la qual es remunta a l'any 1902, quan Domènech i Montaner, amb l'escultor Alfons Juyol, en va construir una de modernista, promoguda per Marià Serra. Una ventada la va tombar l'any 1925 i se'n va alçar una còpia, feta pel seu fill, Pere Domènech Roura, la qual va ser enderrocada pels anarquistes el 1936. La creu actual, de signe gaudinià, va ser erigida per Isidre Puig Boada, deixeble i col·laborador de l'arquitecte, l'any 1954. Font: Pobles de Catalunya