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Cova del Bon Pastor

Cova del Bon Pastor

A cave known in the tosques of Sant Miquel del Fai, called Cova del Bon Pastor or Cova de Sant Martí, with access via the tourist itinerary of the site.

Bigues i Riells • Vallès Oriental 120m 22m

A cave known in the tosques of Sant Miquel del Fai, called Cova del Bon Pastor or Cova de Sant Martí, with access via the tourist itinerary of the site.

Characteristics

Location

Follow the entire tourist itinerary of the Sant Miquel del Fai site, along the right bank of the Tenes river, until reaching the well-known chapel of Sant Martí. Almost beside the building, a couple of metres below the esplanade, the upper mouth of the cave is easily found. Approximate coordinates.

Map

Entrances

Always verify coordinates and access conditions before setting out.

  1. Cova del Bon Pastor

    Elevation: 430 m

    41.710765, 2.186885
    UTM 31T (ETRS89) 432355 4617983
Download all entrances as GPX

Photos

Cova del Bon Pastor - Photo, Bigues i Riells, Vallès OrientalView image
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Espeleoindex · CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ · Image © its author.

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Description

Morphology

Through the upper mouth we descend by steps cut into the rock, to a point where the bottom can already be seen. To continue the visit, the easiest way is to go outside and climb down on the outside until reaching the network of galleries formed by the lower mouths.

Speleothems

Despite the vandalic destruction of most of the limestone forms described by the poets, the great beauty this cave once had can still be appreciated.

Progression

Through the upper mouth we descend by steps cut into the rock, to a point where the bottom can already be seen. To continue the visit, the easiest way is to go outside and climb down on the outside until reaching the network of galleries formed by the lower mouths. To visit it, neither light nor any special equipment is needed. Among the activities planned by the Espai Natural de Sant Miquel del Fai there is the possibility of making this visit accompanied.

Other details

Geologically, it is a valuable testimony of an ancient topographic arrangement of the area, corresponding to hydrological layouts different from the current one.

History

All the small caves in the tosques of Sant Miquel del Fai have been known since the mid-19th century and were the subject of writings and poems typical of the period, especially by Víctor Balaguer.

Despite this, the first mention of this cavity in particular is provided by Faura i Sans who, accompanied by Daví i Piñol, visited it on 5 July 1910, calling it Cova del Bon Pastor or Cova de Sant Martí.

Years later, we do not know whether in the decade of the 1930s or 1940s, it was visited by N. Llopis Lladó, who made a schematic survey that remained unpublished until the publication of volume 6 of the Catàleg Espeleològic de Catalunya (1980).

In 1986 it was visited by colleagues Jordi Lloret and Montse Ubach, who made a much more accurate survey and prepared a brief article that was published three years later.

It should be recorded that we have preferred to catalogue it with the oldest name of which we have record: Cova del Bon Pastor and to leave as synonyms that of Cova de Sant Martí (as Faura says) and the name by which the cave has been known for some years (les Tosques) within the toponymy of the Espai Natural de Sant Miquel del Fai.

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Bibliography

  1. Borràs, J.; Miñarro, JM.; Talavera, F. (1980).- Catàleg Espeleològic de Catalunya (vol. 6): el Baix Empordà, el Gironès, la Selva, l’Osona, el Vallès Oriental i el Maresme: 290 pp. Ed. Políglota. Barcelona.
  2. Faura, M. (1911).- “Excursiones espeleológicas realizadas durante el año 1910 en la región catalana” Bol. R.Soc. Española de Hist. Nat. Madrid.
  3. Lloret, Jordi (1989).- “LES TOSQUES (Bigues, Vallès Oriental). El seu interès dins l'entorn geomorfològic de Sant Miquel del Fai”. Vèrtex (129): 388-391. Federació d'Entitats Excursionistes de Catalunya. Barcelona.

Source: Espeleoindex (espeleoindex.com), modified. CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/