Tour around the Bollosa lakes
The local path of the PR 8 follows in its entirety the route of the five lakes that are located below the Bollosa reservoir. This is a beautiful and simple itinerary that will take us to know one of the most beautiful lakes in La Cerdanya: La Pradella.
Technical Data
Access: From Montlluís we follow the D-118 towards La Llaguna until we find, on the left, the detour of the D-60 that goes up to the Pla dels Avellans and the Bollosa lake.
Start: Car park at Pla dels Avellans
Difficulty: Easy
Maximum altitude: 2,005 m
Elevation gain: 300 m
Total duration: 3.10 h
Time of year: All year round.
Notes: The D-60 road is cut in winter at “Pla dels Avellans” which, for this reason, is the starting point of this route. In summer, the D-60 has restricted traffic during the months of July and August and you’ll need to take a bus to go there.
Route
From the car park where the barrier is (1,740 m), we head south along the track that leads to Pla dels Avellans. After crossing a bridge we leave in the middle of the plain, where we turn north to look for the chairlift. Behind it is the start of the route (signs).
We enter the forest and follow the path, which immediately turns west. We start to gain height following the yellow paint marks and we climb the last slope, which goes up through a birch forest, until we come out to a forest track, with more indicators. These indicate the direction of La Bollosa (GR 10). So, we turn right and, on flatter ground, we advance through a small forest. Then the path goes up more rocky sections until, finally, we reach a small pass behind which appears the large lake of La Pradella (1,960 m, 55 min).
To the right of the lake we see the path of PR 8, which we must follow. So, we continue along this path, which for a while follows the bank of the Pradella and then over a hill and down to the Estany Negre, located in a shadier place (1,947 m, 1.10 h). Now the path continues to the left of this lake until it reaches its western end. From here we start a steep climb, between large rocks, and climb relentlessly to the “Llarg” Lake, which is sunk to the right.
After this lake, we will have to follow a grassy ditch that takes us to the shallow Racó lake. We leave it behind to cross a stretch of forest, turn left and go out onto a plain where we find La Bolloseta (2 h), rather a fen. The road continues to the west, below the Bollosa dam, and will look for the GR 10 again. When it reaches the “pla de Bones Hores”, it finally turns south and takes us back to the Pradella lake and “pla dels Avellans” (3.10 am).
Map and altimetry
