Very excited and what joy when we met at the Arc de Triomf in Barcelona.
Many of us repeat from other summers, we called to check if… are you signing up? I don’t know, I don’t think I’m ready to do it. But if we were able to do Travessa 7×7 then? Yes… And here we are in the end, or at the beginning. For some of us will be our first time with Pyrene. No matter where or how, now we stand with our backpacks on our backs prepared for the 2-week Pyrene Explorer through the Pyrenees. May the goddess Pyrene be with us.
We are 13 participants from the United States of America, France, Valencia and Catalonia.
We take the train to Puigcerdà to reach the Pyrene camp in Aransa.
We leave on Monday at 09am from El Fornell, in the direction of the Peirafita pass, passing by the Estanys de la Pera and following the same path that many smugglers took to avoid customs duties nd make some extra money. Today we did it without a bale of tobacco or a truck wheel on our back, much easier. The approach to the Estanys de la Pera is beautiful, the water covers everything and jumps everywhere. We make the first peak, Peirafita 2,756m and descend towards the Claror Refuge where we spend the night.
Today, Tuesday, the legs are already finding the pace. We descend through the Madriu valley, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the cultural landscape category in 2004. The valley is beautiful, I don’t know if it’s because it’s downhill or because of Unesco.
We have lunch in Escaldes and the Pyrene team takes us in vans to Arinsal, jumping over the Valira river and avoiding the traffic. From Arinsal we climb towards the highest peak in Andorra. We are lucky and not a drop of water. We climb and climb and continue climbing to the Refuge de Comapedrosa at 2,260m where we will spend the night today. Tomorrow we go to Pallars. We turned around and went from Cerdanya Valley to Andorra.
La route est tres “challenging” mais les vues sont superbes et les personnes sont super sympa. Ça vaut la coup!! -Eugénie-
First I missed my family a lot, but when I saw the friends I had and how well I was having a good time, I realized that it’s so good in here. -Txell-
We experienced the biggest hailstorm of my life. -Iñaki-