Where trains used to circulate, today there are bicycles, people who jog or simply walk to stay active. The Vies Verdes, the pedestrian and cyclable trails that run more than 200 kilometers through 78 municipalities in five regions of Girona, have not stopped growing since the consortium that is responsible for maintaining these routes was created in 2003, which They arose from disused railways that connect the Costa Brava and the Pyrenees.
The nine counters located on these trails registered more than 577,000 uses during the first half of this year, 7% more than in the same period of the previous year. If this pace is maintained, the 961,000 uses recorded a year ago will be exceeded, a figure equivalent to more than half a million people.
The most frequented section is the 41 kilometers that connect Girona with Sant Feliu de Guíxols, in the heart of the Costa Brava, which brings together 60% of the routes. Most routes are carried out between the months of May and June, and especially on weekends, when the number of families or groups using these paths increases.
The analysis carried out each semester by the Consorci de les Vies Verdes, an organization dependent on the Girona Provincial Council, reflects that during the first quarter of this year, 60% of the journeys made on these trails have been made on foot, and 40 %, cycling. A change in trend that has been strengthening in recent years. In 2020, the year of the pandemic, the majority used these trails to cycle.
The manager of the Consorci, Àngel Planas, confirms that, beyond its tourist role, it is an infrastructure “widely used by the people of the territory and a lot of daily mobility is generated there.” Planas considers that the product “is a complement” to road bicycle tourism that has turned Girona and its region into a true mecca for thousands of cycling fans, professionals and amateurs.
An exhibition in Sant Feliu de Guíxols commemorates the 20 years of creation of the Green Ways Consortium, which also manages the Pirinexus network, a 370 km circular route that connects Catalonia and the south of France.
The first requests for cycle routes arrived before the creation of this consortium. In 1979, several entities claimed that part of the route of the Carrilet, the train that connected Girona and Sant Feliu de Guíxols and that had made its last journey ten years earlier, would be set aside for bicycles. In 1990 the Mancomunidad del Ripollès approved a proposal to take advantage of the disused railway esplanade between Ripoll and Sant Joan de les Abadesses and in 1993 the Consortium Ruta del Carrilet d'Olot was born, the train that linked the capital of La Garrotxa with Girona to the 57 kilometers long. They were the first three sections created at the end of the nineties. There are currently several in progress, including the connection between Pals and the Masos de Pals, between Garrigàs and Areny d'Empordà and the one that connects Bescanó and Sant Gregori. Works valued at 3.2 million euros financed with Next Generation funds.
