BARCELONA – EL COLLELL (160 KM) – 25 TO 30 JULY 2020
The 2020 pilgrimage to El Collell was the first pilgrimage of my life. I was 15 and, for me, it was incredible.
That summer we had just come out of a pandemic that had kept us shut up at home for 3 months, unable to do much. We were all eager to get out, switch off, breathe fresh air and let off steam with some exercise. That’s why we all set off with real enthusiasm on this six-day route to the shrine of Our Lady of El Collell.
On the first day we set out from the parish of Sant Mateu and went as far as Granollers. It was a stage to warm up our engines and start getting into the rhythm of the next five days.
On the second, we went to Santa Maria de Palautordera, where we were already starting to feel the tiredness and that huge reluctance to get up at three in the morning. There they let us sleep in a new house that hadn’t been finished yet.
The third day was the queen stage, because we had to climb up to the Turó de l’Home and then come down to Arbúcies. Naturally, it was a tough stage that in the end took longer than planned, and we arrived much later than we expected, at five in the afternoon.
The next day, though it wasn’t supposed to be like that, we had another stage that dragged on a long time because we split into two groups, and the first one got lost: it took a much longer way round and arrived later than the group that was behind. On arriving in Sant Dalmai, a large and generous family welcomed us into their home and we had a combined lunch and afternoon tea, because we had got there quite late too.
The next two stages were calmer, because our bodies had got used to the pace we were keeping, and we finally reached our destination! There our families welcomed us and we spent a good day of community all together.
