Andorra (1-9 July 2006)
Read about our attempt of the GRP around Andorra (click to see photos)
We saw a bus turn the corner by M&S and head towards Liverpool Street at 04.05, we laughed, 40 minutes laters, when the 04.15 still hadn’t turned up, we weren’t laughing. That was when we made the decision to walk to Liverpool Street, were we knew there would be someone to talk to. The next bus was due at 05.10, check-in opened at 05.15 and the bus would take at least an hour – we decided to take the first Stansted Express train there was – it pulled out of the station at 04.55 with us on it – first trauma of the holiday dealt with!
Once we arrived in Andorra the mission was to find fule for the Whisperlite – this was harder than expected – and took some time and lots of asking in various shops. However, the mission was eventually completed and off we headed to the hostel in Sispony.
Day 1: Escaldes to Refugi de Illla (2,480m)
After breakfast we caught the bus to Escaldes, found the square with the statue of the girl reading a book and headed off on our first day of walking.
The first part of the day was spend following the GR7, which was well waymarked up a steep, damp an slippery path, which eventually opened out into a wider valley.
We basically followed the river until reached Refugi de Rui de Orris at 2,230m. Between Refugi de Fontverd (1,880m) to Refugi de Rui de Orris the path becomes less steap and widens into meadows, which were full of flowers. The guide book (The Mountains of Andorra) we were following said we were likely to see a herd of semi-wild horses…none to be seen!
We camped by Refugi de I’llla, but that was out of choice rather than necessity, it is a large hut, with several sleeping rooms.
At about 00.25, the semi-wild horses turned up – we wondered if (a) they ate tents and (b) if they would stand on our heads! However, we survived the night without incident.
Day 2: Refugi de I’llla to Estany Primer
The horses woke us up again, but this time around 7am, so it was breakfast and off up Pic dels Pessons (2,864m). Once at the top, you look over a number of lakes, they all looked at a similar level, but as we were to find out, they aren’t!
It was supposed to take 3 hours (not including stops) from the Refugi to the restaurant at Estany Primer (which wasn’t open), it took us 6 1/2 hours (including lunch and having to patch up my right skin after I fell off one the boulders!) The path from the top of Pic dels Pessons to Estany Primer is described as “…[path] winds through boulderfiled and lakes to give some delightful walking…you will arrive all too soon at the little moutain restaurant by Estany Primer”. In our view: “the path heads down through boulderfields, which are tricky to master when carrying heavy packs. Lakes are pretty, but with all your concentration needed so as not to fall over, you don’t really notice them. The restaurant takes forever to appear, and when you reach it, it is shut!”
We were supposed to be heading to Refugi de Siscaro (another 4 hours away according to the guide), but we decided to camp wild up in the woods behind the restaurant.
Day 3: Estany Primer to Refugi de Caban Sorda (2,295m)
The start of the day was through grassy meadows, which are ski slopes in the winter. We saw around 5 marmots playing in the grass as we walked through them. The track is easy going and we cut down through trees, following a stream, to Bordes d’Envalira.
The start of the day was through grassy meadows, which are ski slopes in the winter. We saw around 5 marmots playing in the grass as we walked through them. The track is easy going and we cut down through trees, following a stream, to Bordes d’Envalira.There is a petrol station at Bordes, but it doesn’t have any food. There are also a couple of restaurants, but we were there at about 10am, so it was a little early for lunch!
From Bordes it is a steep climb up a grassy slope, which flattens out as you head into the trees. On meeting the stream, it is a steady climb up hill. On leaving the stream the waymarks point straight up to a very windy ridge. Once on the ridge, it was nice easy walking. Just past P2,589m we turned down into Port Ovet & the Siscaro lakes.
From Bordes it is a steep climb up a grassy slope, which flattens out as you head into the trees. On meeting the stream, it is a steady climb up hill. On leaving the stream the waymarks point straight up to a very windy ridge. Once on the ridge, it was nice easy walking. Just past P2,589m we turned down into Port Ovet & the Siscaro lakes.
From the Siscaro hut, the path followed a stream (bit of a theme) down a beautiful vally as we headed to Pont de la Baladosa. From there is a another steep climb, which flattens out after about 20 minutes of walking as we headed towards Refugi de Cabana Sorda.
Day 4: Refugi de Cabana Sorda to Refugi de Sorteny (1,969m)
We decided to leave the GRP once we got to the top of Pic de la Coma de Varilles (2,758m) and follow the ARP which was marked on our map. Bad move. We scrambled along to Pic W (2,728m) where the path seemded to disappear…we ended up heading down, and having to scramble aross steep scree and boulders, not fun. We finally made it to a col and decided to head back towards the GRP. On finding the GRP again we made our was to Refugi dels Coms de Jan (2,217m).
From the Refugi we headed up to Cap de la Serrera (2,724m) and then down into the Sorteny valley. The path to the Refgui de Sorteny (1,969m) was beautiful, again following a stream and lots of wild flowers.
Day 5: Refugi de Sorteny to Refugi de Coma Pedrosa (2,224m)
It was a quick walk down to El Serrat, were we caught a bus to Ordino, another to La Massana (were we stocked up on food) and another to Arinsal. There were a lot more buses than we expected – which was good (we thought there was only 3 a day from El Serrat to Ordino, but there was a local mini bus which seems to operate between the two on an hourly, if not half hourly basis).
From Arinsal we followed the GR11, which wasn’t great to start will, a bit of building going on and no views out over the moutains, but it soon turned into a lovely path winding up next to a stream.
Refugi de Coma Pedrosa is the only manned hut in Andorra – how nice it was not to have to cook, and to have a glass of wine with our meal!
Day 6: Refugi de Coma Pedrosa to Pic de Coma Pedrosa (2,939m) and back to Refugi
The path to the Pic follows a stream (what a surprise!) and past some beautiful turqouise lakes, where the path turns right up along a ridge to the top.
The ridge along to the Pic was airy at times, but not too bad, especially as we weren’t carrying heavy packs. The top (2,939m) offered spectacular views over Andorra and the pyrenees.
We headed down a different way, down a steep scree slope and then a diagolnal cut across to Portella de Beiau on the Spanish boarder. We then followed the GR11 past Estany Negre (where we had earlier turned right to head up the ridge). Rather than follow the same path back to the Refugi, we went “off-piste” and finally picked up the GRP around Portella de Sanfons, this lead us back to the hostel.
Day 7: Refugi de Coma Pedrosa to Sispony
It was back the way we came (we decided to give the GRP route a miss, according to the guide, it was 6 hours with 800m of up and 1,800m of down!). It didn’t take long to get back to Arnisal were we had a welcome cold beer before catching the bus to La Massana and then walking back to to the hostel in Sispony.
It was all over far too quickly!
Tags: Andorra, Holidays, Travel, Trek, Trekking
Jenni
Hey crazy climbers,
I can’t click to see photos… This is my first time to read a blog – it’s quite exciting. Your walking sounds quite tough!! How many blisters Jen?
LOL Laura x
No blisters, hopefully photos should work otherwise try:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickblyton/sets/
Jenni
The walking does sound tough, but rewarding. I suspect that the Austrian Tirol will not be as challenging – and there will be dinner and spa baths of an evening. A night under the stars has its appeal though, but we’re probably too old…
I can’t believe that there were no blisters – that’s quite miraculous…
Never too old Pops.
I love that my blog comes from France…!
No blisters, but JK did fall off a boulder and required “patching up”.
Blog on, sisters. Sounds like a cue for a song…