Roc de France, Puig dels Pruners

July 22, 2025

Roc de France, Puig dels Pruners

Roc de France - 1450M

630M Prominence

42.42283, 2.72729

July 22, 2025

Puig dels Pruners - 832M

117M Prominence

42.42802, 2.80295

July 22, 2025

HRP Day 32 stats

2886M Ascent, 2250M descent

49.53 KM

On the second to last day of the HRP I set out to hike a massive day in order to make it to the Mediterranean in under 2 days. I didn't quite know how far I was going to make it when I started hiking in the morning, but there was no longer any big mountain passes or huge climbs to undertake, so I was confident I could hike quite a few kilometers without being slowed down too much. The two peaks I summited in the morning were quite close to my route, so very minimal deviations were also required. After taking a nearo the day before in Arles-Sur-Tech at camping du Riuferrer I felt energized and ready to go. I started the morning by hiking up to Col de Paracolls, and then I descended to camping de la Fargassa. I then made a 900 meter ascent on quite descent trails up past Col de Cerda and then to the summit of Roc de France. The summit of Roc de France is a little hard to find as there is quite a few rocky bumps that are easy to mistake for the summit if you come at it from the West. The trail was also surprisingly bushy at times, maybe because I lost it, I am not sure. Ultimately I found the summit though, and the views were actually surprisingly good for a low lying summit in relation to the last weeks of the traverse. After summiting Roc de France I kept going and I descended through a quite enjoyable forest until I arrived in the hamlet of Las Illas. I walked past the few houses in this little hamlet and then made my way up a paved road along a series of switchbacks on the East side of the village. The road then became a dirt road and I followed it up until a logical turn off appeared to hike to the top of Puig dels Pruners. Since I had done no research about this bump ahead of time I ended up climbing it from the West side. It turns out that this is definitely not the easiest way. There was a short but very unenjoyable bushwhack with loads of prickle bushes. I knew it would be short though so I just persevered through it. The summit was on the other side of the bushwhack and there was a strange concrete and stone pedestal built. There was surprisingly a view even though the summit is over 500 meters lower than Roc de France and completely in the forest. I descended down a different route that required no bushwhacking, and then I kept going along the HRP. From the summit of Puig dels Pruners it was a quite steady descent into the town of Le Perthus. Along the way I passed Col de Panissars, where there was some ruins and a neat tower. I had good views of the Fort de Bellegarde from this area too, but I never went up to the fort. I made it down into the town of Le Perthus instead, and went to find something to eat. Le Perthus had bad vibes. It is a town that it situated partly in France and partly in Spain, so the Spanish side in particular is a bit of a zoo where the French go and purchase tobacco and alcohol products at a cheaper rate. After taking a break and pounding back a liter of chocolate milk and various other snacks, I felt energized to continue. From the town of Le Perthus which only sits at about 260 meters of elevation I then had to climb back up and continue East. There was no water on the climb anywhere, as the landscape around these Catalan hills is quite dry, especially in late July. I didn't exactly anticipate to climb all the way up to Col de l'Ouillat, but it was the first water source since Le Perthus, and I needed water for the night. I gained 700 meters of elevation and hiked about 10 kilometers on a mix of trails and gravel roads on dry forested hillsides from Le Perthus up to the col. I arrived at the Col just after dinner time, and found a spot in the free campsite by the refuge. It was the last night spent on the traverse.