The week of the three towers

How good is spring?! The days are lengthening, the sun is shining and the flowers are blooming. Tortosa feels alive, like a new town. After a two winters in a row, we are really appreciating all of this, and the promise of warmer days ahead.

Yesterday we got out and enjoyed the sunshine by riding between L’Aldea and Camarles in the Ebro Delta region, visiting three watchtowers. Medieval towers pop up all over the landscape here, mysterious remnants of times and coastlines past. Who wouldn’t love a quest to visit as many as possible?

Our first stop, after setting a personal record for ‘smallest town to get lost in’ in L’Aldea, was the tower at the Hermitage just out of town. Tower #1 was rebuilt on the original foundations in 1936, but the area was settled since the mid-12th century. We thought we would just be able to look up at the rectangular torre but not, the door was wide open!

After getting the OK from the friendly man at the information hut, we climbed the tower and enjoyed lovely and free view across the delta. Every floor of the tower also housed great information boards (I love me an information board!) about life in the watch tower. Did you know that if all was well (i.e. no pirates could be seen) then the guard would hang a bunch of grass on the flagpole? Neither did I.

After the guy at the info centre directed us to the best road to ride along—he was wearing cycling gear so we trusted his judgement—we set off to Tower #2. We had an inconsiderate head wind, but the sun was shining and as we were riding along a channel there were plenty of swallows and water birds to see. We also pretty much had the road to ourselves, apart from the odd tractor.

The rice fields that cover the Delta region are still being prepared for planting at the moment, so our surroundings were fairly brown. As was the smell! It will be fun to return in a few months when the fields have changed.

Tower #2, in the small town of Camarles, was a little circular number that was restored in the early 1990s. The door was locked when we arrived, but the track notes suggested we ask at the information centre across the road. So we did and were rewarded with the keys! How often do you get keys to an 800 year old tower in your life, really? From the top we could see the mountains, the ocean and the delta all at once.

After lunch at a nearby restaurant, featuring local duck and pizza with artichokes and black pudding, we headed back towards L’Aldea and Tower #3. La Grandella Tower was another rectangular torre that dated back to the 12th century. This last tower was accompanied by dogs instead of friendly information assistants, and the dogs did not seem to want to let us in. But still, I call success! Three out of three.

We headed back to L’Aldea via the highway and some back roads, definitely NOT the route suggested in track notes, and made it back to the train station 10 minutes before our train arrived. Double success! I am officially hooked on tower chasing. Much more exotic than windmills.

P.S. Detailed track notes can be found here. We did the route backwards and managed to follow the suggested path about 50% of the way.