Spain - Day 16: Refugio de Pineta to Parzan

All 4 of Us

We left the refugio and backtracked a little through the forest and over the dried river bed to find the path. The forest was full of wild life: lesser clean and lesser quiet scouts.

But as always they are friendly and courteous. We get to the head of the valley and turn right. Then almost immediately struggle to find the path.

Book, map and GPS time. We were out of the forest with perfect visibility but there were multiple options. A fellow walker, a South Korean teacher doing a few weeks in the Pyrenees was also 'lost'. Our daughter, the guide, found the right way - she always does. - annoyingly infallible.

The Korean Mr. Wo, was our companion for the rest of the climb. Path spotting was difficult on the way up and 5 pairs of eyes are better than 4 or 1.

But the answer was always up. Of course.

Another beautiful day - we have been so lucky with the weather no real extremes of anything. The rain that has fallen generally being at night. It seems that people who started before and after us have had a very wet time. We, it seems, have been walking in a magic bubble of sunshine.

We are not complaining. Not at all. But back to the Up.

A view

There is no doubt that we were hot, sweaty and mainly silent other than path found cries. But the views, ah those views. We tell ourselves that eventually we will consider the effort worth it.

Like banging your head against a wall. Its nice when you stop.

We look in awe at what we walked down the afternoon before. The famous Pineta - it looks just as scary from this side. The Col is the left hand side of the 'W' shaped gap at the top on the other side of the valley. Somehow we walked down that.

I said it was steep.

Pineta face on

We walked on and discovered that there is indeed a god and she has a sense of humour.

Definitely proof...

I mean I know that it could just be random weathering. But it is just too close to be a fluke. Look at it. It's pointing in the right direction and is perfectly framed. OK - maybe I am just being a me.

Also it was flat - we had almost forgotten what flat was. 

This was a hidden valley - if it wasn't still morning we would have camped here. 

The weather was glorious and off and on we had the pleasant company of Mr. Wo. We were quicker on the up bit and he quicker on the down. So we crossed paths many times.

When there are almost no people - you can happily talk to everyone you meet. They all have a story, or two,  or three and you can laugh about your shared experiences in this hell that is the GR11

Football anyone...

The wild life was abundant - the cows - the cows - the odd vulture and the butterflies stealing the sweat from us. They would hitch a ride and stay for as long as they liked.  The need for minerals far out weighing any threat that we might be to them. But they were light so we didn't object.

The scarf - we bought them on day Zero to keep the sun of our necks. However, there main use so far has been keeping us warm, believe it or not. Either way hot or cold they have had good use so far. An essential item added to our walking kit.

But it's 170g more - so something will have to be ditched. Our 12kg rule is inviolate.



On the way down I looked back and snapped this one of Mr. Wo standing on a bolder admiring the scenery.

Mr. Wo

The down

We walked down by the stream to the border village of Parzan. Our plan was to camp but we were hot and tired. The nearest camping was another two hours walking. Our socks could do with another wash as could we. So like many of our companions we stopped in Parzan.

We saw Mr. Wo. the Korean, the two Spaniards (Roberto and the other one)  having a chat a beer, and a chat is English as they pored over the map of the route. We all love maps it seems. We later saw the two Spaniards setting up tents in the playground opposite the hotel.

Illegal maybe - but they will leave no trace and be gone in the morning.

The best thing about Parzan was the plethora of big supermarkets. A consequence of the nearby border. We could restock on sausage and bread. We have added onion to spice up the meal. It works a treat.

Actually, we eat quite well. Lots of calories but we are all toning up nicely. Fresh air is certainly good for you.