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From the D618 connecting Argelès-sur-Mer to Le Boulou, exit towards Laroque-des-Albères. Then head towards the centre of the beautiful traditional village. After the post office on the right, go down to the car park on the right before the river (open-air theatre).
(S/E) From the car park, go up to the right. Cross Rue Louis et Michel Soler at the pedestrian crossing and go up Rue François Arago. The town hall is on the left on a square. Go up this street to reach the beautiful Place de la République, where a large plane tree stands. Continue to the wooden door of the church.
Yellow markings and directional posts.
(1) With your back to the church door, head up Rue de l'Église between the houses. Continue uphill after passing a wooden barrier preventing motorised vehicles from accessing the path. Pass a restored mill and the Fontaine des Ocells (bird fountain). Walk alongside an underground pipe.
You will come to a concrete cistern on your right. Turn right and walk alongside it.
Leave the path and turn right, following the small water supply channel.
(2) Directional sign. Continue to the left, then to the right along a semi-carriageway track (residents). Continue towards the restored Mas d'en Bordes. Walk alongside it, heading towards the forest.
(3) Leave the rest of the track on the left.
Head straight ahead along a narrow path through the woods. Directional signpost.
Continue uphill. Ignore a small path on the right. Continue climbing.
(4) Leave the path on the right, towards Laroque, which is the correct marked path for the return journey. Directional sign.
- Continue climbing for more than 100 m until you reach the fork in the marked paths. Directional signpost.
(5) Keep completely to the left, climbing steeply towards Puig Neulós. You will come to a track suitable for vehicles.
(6) Turn right onto this track and continue climbing at a gentler gradient for 200 m.
Please note: you will need to leave the track before a left-hand bend. Directional signpost.
(7) Go up to the left after passing the ruins of a farmhouse on your left. Pass a ruined hut with an old tin roof. You will come out in the clearing of Esparranguera.
Turn left, following a fence on your right. At the gate on your right, continue climbing straight ahead.
Leave the path on the left (yellow cross).
(8) Turn left and climb for a 10-minute round trip to the Dolmen de la Balma del Moro*. Directional sign.
(9) Return to the fork.
(8) Turn left. Pass a fountain on your left. The path has been cleared following the storm, but large trees are blocking the way. Ford the Còrrec de les Teixoneres and head west for 100 m on a path that widens. Please note: you will need to leave this wide path.
No markings
(10) Two possibilities:
-If in doubt or if the area is overgrown from the start, continue along the marked path. When you reach the track, turn left towards the casot (small hut in the Pyrénées-Orientales).
- Otherwise, climb up to the left along a grassy, somewhat overgrown track, which becomes a path, making your way through the undergrowth. After 400 m, the path joins a small fork in the road. Turn left for 150 m and join a marked path.
Yellow markings
(11) Turn right onto this path and follow the yellow markings.
The path now descends. Join the track. Turn left. Cross the concrete ford on the Ribera de la Roca. Then turn immediately right, climbing slightly to reach the Casot del Guarda refuge.
No markings
(12) This is a beautiful spot to take a well-deserved break.
A beautiful, well-maintained path, not shown on the IGN map, descends along the Ribera de la Roca. Reach a fork in the path. Directional sign.
Alternative route: continue along the track above the refuge, heading west, then north, overlooking the path described, following the yellow markings and the direction of Laroque, and arrive at the junction before crossing the Ribera de Roca.
Yellow markings
(13) Continue downhill towards the river. Ford the Ribera de la Roca. Then climb up the other bank.
(14) After 150 m, you can make a short detour to the right to see this unrestored snow well. It is easy to imagine the size of this snow storage area, which was used to make ice.
- Continue along the path, which then descends. 500 m after the snow pit, take a grassy track on the right. Ford the Còrrec de les Teixoneres.
(15) Leave the descent to La Casot d'en Lic on your left. Continue straight ahead after passing through the rocks. You will reach a fork in the path that you passed on the way up.
(5) Follow the path downhill in the opposite direction to the outward journey for 150 metres and you will come to another fork that you passed on the way out. Signpost for Laroque.
(4) Descend to the left along a ravine path. Once at the bottom, continue to the right along the pretty water channel (rech dels molins) which descends towards Laroque and its gardens. You will come to a fork in the path that you passed on the way up.
(2) At the concrete cistern, continue along the same path as on the way there until you reach the car park (S/E).
Visorando member
Difficult 
Tourist office
Very difficult 
