Part of the tour from Roda de Ter to Folgueroles
Starting the tour from Roda de Ter, we set off from the Espai Miquel Martí i
Pol tracing the final section of the walk from Folgueroles to Roda.
From the Plaça Major we follow the GR 210 for a good distance. Before
leaving the village we pass by the house where the poet was born, the
La
Blava factory and the house he lived in during his years at the factory.
After leaving Roda de Ter we reach a superb vantage point. From here we can see
where the Ter leaves the plain to start meandering its way between steep rocks
before heading towards the Vall de Sau. Following the signposts, we head towards
Serrabou, surrounded by meadows and magnificent views of the Vic Plain and, further
in the distance, the foothills of the Pyrenees.
Continuing our walk along meadowlands, we pass by the spot on the left known
as
Roques del Cós, where a tragic crime known as the
Crim
de les Degollades took place (when a number of young women were found with
their throats cut). Roda had become one of the main industrial centres of the
Ter basin with Folgueroles supplying the labour, mainly women. Thus, Roda began
to enter the modern era, changing from an agricultural town to an industrial
town, from a rural to an urban area. So it happened that one night in 1859 a
group of young women were returning to their homes in Folgueroles from the factory
in Roda de Ter when they were attacked. Four of them died after having their
throats savagely cut.
The
Crim de les Degollades (or Crim de les roques del Cós) provides
a new symbolic dimension to the literary symbolism of Verdaguer (from Folgueroles)
in the 19th century and Martí i Pol (from Roda de Ter) in the 20th century.
The
romanç de cec (folktale) about the attack and murder of the
young women, the arrest of the suspects, their being sentenced to death and their
execution by garrotting at
Roques del Cós, the site of the murders,
is an uncanny example of historical realism and popular literature.
The path continues to the asphalt road that goes to Tavèrnoles (and that
should be crossed with caution). We continue in the same direction walking between
cultivated fields. Following the signposts, we arrive at the outskirts of Folgueroles
where we continue along the path that takes us into Carrer Bellmunt, then through
Plaça de l’Era before reaching the Verdaguer House Museum.
