The Collserola park reopens at half throttle: “If group activities are not allowed, business does not improve”

The appearance of the Collserola mountain range was ghostly early this Monday morning. Dense fog, incessant drizzle and low temperatures have dispelled any option of going out cycling along the winding l’Arrabassada road, which winds from Barcelona to Sant Cugat del Vallès, on the other side of the mountain. After 17 days, since the first two cases of African swine fever (ASF) were detected – currently there are 16 – the Government has relaxed restrictions on the natural environment in the radius of six to 20 kilometers. However, prudence still does not fill the endless paths of Collserola with cyclists, runners and walkers. Vallvidrera, an enigmatic neighborhood located at the top of the mountains and a meeting point for those who ascend it, remained empty. No sign of cyclists drinking coffee in the historic Antiga Casa Trampa bar, founded in 1802. “We have been like this for days,” says Sílvia Baldeliov, owner of the establishment, while pointing to the only two neighbors who have breakfast at the bar. The bar’s specialty is, precisely, an exquisite Jabugo ham, but it has been difficult to sell for two weeks. “Normally around a hundred cyclists and hikers come to eat or have a drink in a single day, but we have already spent many days in which our only clientele are residents of the neighborhood,” he laments. The Department of Agriculture, once the perimeter closure of four to six kilometers was completed, has relaxed the restrictions to access the natural environment beyond six kilometers, as long as they are not group activities. «We live off of this, so it doesn’t benefit us at all. If group activities are not allowed, business doesn’t improve,» says one of the waiters. A couple of kilometers further, in the direction of Sant Cugat del Vallès, is another well-known establishment: La Font de Les Planes. This is another of the most popular meeting points in the Collserola mountain range, where lovers of calçots and barbecue make pilgrimages when winter arrives. Alexander, a waiter at the restaurant, assures that the establishment has had better luck, since the volume of customers has decreased, but not excessively. Only a few cyclists have dared to brave the thick fog, but always on the road, since many of the rural roads remained closed early in the morning. The Government’s difficulty in delimiting the perimeter again will be a challenge because most of them run between municipalities with and without restrictions. The Minister of Agriculture, Òscar Ordeig, assured at a press conference that if in doubt, they will be closed. A cyclist rides along the Les Aigües road, in Barcelona, ​​after the Government relaxes restrictions due to swine fever. Massimiliano MinocriOrdeig has been optimistic about the progress in negotiations with countries that until now have banned Catalan pork exports, such as Japan and the Philippines, whose trade volume is a priority for Salvador Illa’s Executive. But the counselor has asked for “prudence” to prevent the virus from reaching the farms and has detailed that within the perimeter of six to 20 kilometers, agricultural and livestock work will be permitted. At the moment there is no news on the report of the audit committee that the Ministry of Agriculture commissioned last week and which will try to shed light on the hypothesis of whether there was a leak of the virus at the Animal Health Research Center (CReSA), a laboratory that was working with the pathogen when it appeared in the surrounding area. The first genetic analysis determined that the virus found in wild boars was similar to the one that arrived in Georgia in 2007. The Ministry commissioned the audit because this new variant of the pathogen does not resemble those that circulate in nature. For this reason, the counselor has defended the transparency of his department and has confirmed that this Monday the Generalitat has sent samples of the experimental virus and the one found in animals to the European laboratory to determine if they match in the sequencing. Ordeig has confirmed that the department expects the results this week, both from the audit and from the European laboratory. Another measure announced by the head of Agriculture has been the creation of 30 new hunting control places that will depend on the department and that will be approved this Tuesday by the Government Council.