Last Updated on 20 April 2023 by gerry
When we reviewed the stretches of the Maresme coastline we have already walked, it became apparent that we had almost covered the complete length of coast from Malgrat de Mar to Sant Andreu de Llavernes. Just one piece of the jigsaw remained unexplored: Sant Pol de Mar to Canet de Mar. That was today’s mission.
According to our beach booklet, Sant Pol de Mar has about 8 distinct beaches, which is amazing for such a relatively small town. We traversed 6 of these when we first visited Sant Pol and walked north to Calella. Today we would discover the two beaches on the southern stretch of the town as the coastline heads towards Canet de Mar. The weather had improved enormously from yesterday’s overcast and wet conditions and we were blessed with perfect sunbathing conditions today and I was convinced I would be taking my third swim in sea.
The first beach is called Platja de la Murtra and starts in front of the railway station with an attractive cove and after a typically Maresme-esque straight section with a steep drop into the waves it becomes much more interesting with rocky outcrops creating more sheltered secluded twists and turns. Probably for this reason the beach appears popular for nudist bathing, although not designated that way in the official information. The nudists we encounter today are exclusively men. Despite the glorious sunshine, there aren’t too many other people on the beach so we are able to find a fantastic spot (pictured above) for a couple of hours sunning ourselves on the sand. As anticipated it was perfect conditions for my third and most enjoyable swim yet. This section of the beach had gentle steps into the deep rather than one big shelf which made it much easier getting in and encouraged Al to take her first dip and experience that exhilirating initial shock of the very cold water. Today the sea was not at all rough so we bobbed about for more than a few minutes.
When we packed up, we headed south on foot to complete our piece of the coastal jigsaw, but we won’t be doing that section again. The second Sant Pol beach, Platja de les Roques Blances was of the more unremarkable straight-forward Maresme variety and the coastal walk was treacherous at the point where one had to either walk through a railway tunnel or take your chances up on the busy road without a pavement.
We arrived in Canet de Mar about 5.30pm, a bad time to get a drink on the beach. Any xiringuitos there were closed, so we doubled back to the town proper, grabbed a bit of shopping for tonight’s home-cooked fidueà and a couple of glasses of wine before catching the train home. We drank as ever at L’hostalet de Canet.