4th August 2003 - 1.30pm
I parted company with Gill and Ian this morning. We packed up camp at the top of the Ransol valley and then I traversed round the head of the valley whilst they walked down towards Ransol to hitch a lift back into France. I knew parting from Gill would be difficult, and have had a heavy feeling in my chest all morning. This is the first time that I have really felt like packing it all in and going home. I am missing the home comforts and seeing Issy's cheerful little face. Also I am tired of being a foreigner and stuggling to understand the few people I meet. However, there is a job to be finished here and I am determined to see it through to the end!
This morning was a reasonable walk, around the valley on a decent path accompanied by the sound of cow bells, until the path finally left me stranded on steep slopes of rhododendron bushes and pine trees. I retraced my steps, studied the maps and then sweated up steep tussocky grass for an hour to rejoin the route at the pleasant grassy col just south of Cap de Tosa d'Entor. This gave good views back over the Ransol valley and east over the Incles valley to Pic de la Cabaneta."
On the east side of the col horses grazed the grassy slopes and I followed a good path round to the Cabana Sarda valley and then down a good, well marked path through pine forest into the Incles valley.
I passed lots of people coming up the path, including an English couple we had met near the Col de la Mines yesterday. The Incles valley was littered with parked cars and milling tourists, so I strode along the road as fast as I could in the hot sun, abandoning any thoughts of staying at the campsite right next to the busy car park. It is a very pretty valley with lots of tidy chalet-type properties, but just too busy today.
I took a good path up into the Siscaro valley and once in the trees stopped by a waterfall in the shade for lunch. An unusual
feast of pate on toast, followed by noodles and chocolate, all supplied by Ian and Gill before they left! One of the
things that has suprised me is the lack of small birds in the Pyrenees. Amazing when you consider the habitat
and the huge numbers of insects. So it is nice to sit here and see Yellow Wagtails and Black Redstarts.
5.30pm
After lunch I climbed up into the Siscaro valley. Another beautiful corner of Andorra! It is a riot of wild flowers and lush vegetation close to the stream. I have set up camp next to the clear waters of the mountain tarn at the head of the valley and it's a beautiful spot. One gets the impression that Andorra is walking a knife edge, with wild and lovely scenery still, but in great danger of losing it to exploitation. Last night a 'warden' visited us at our camp in the Ransol valley on the pretext of checking that we were not fishing without a licence. He arrived on a noisy, smelly trials bike which he proceeded to ride up and down all the paths in the valley causing more erosion and pollution than all the other visitors to the valley put together! "Is that responsible management?"
Photo: My camp at the head of the Siscaro valley
5th August 2003 - 11.00am
I have arrived at El Pas de la Casa! It has been a morning of extreme and surreal contrasts. I awoke in the complete
silence of early morning in the Siscaro valley and am now sat in a heaving shopping street eating chips and ketchup with
house music booming in my ears. This is a horrible place of highrise buildings. The shops sell purfume, electrical goods and
designer clothes, whilst the customers walk around with the manic glint of aquisition in their eyes, but never a smile on
their faces. Everyone looks thoroughly miserable, and even the food is junk!
Photo: The ugly side of Andorra...El Pas de la Casa.
The first 2 hours of the walk was nice this morning, along broad grassy ridges with big views. But from the road at Port d'Envalira I walked down the lifeless bulldozed gravel of ski slopes amongst snow cannons and chairlifts into this dump. In all these shops I have struggled to find decent provisions, as the shops are all geared to avoiding tax on so-called luxury goods rather than providing simple groceries.
6.00pm
Despite El Pas de la Casa I have to admit that I rather enjoyed today. Even in the town there was some satisfaction from not being sucked into all that materialism. I wonder if I could have got that pair of Oakley shades for £20? By the looks on everyones faces I suspect that great bargains were not to be found. And I don't need any more sunglasses anyway!
Apart from that I have had a day of walking on grassy paths and good tracks, which has made a nice change and enabled good progress. There was a light breeze and it clouded over this afternoon so I walked until 4.00pm and put Col de Puymorens behind me. I even found time to stop at the bar there for a beer.
Before Col de P. the path followed a track past some old mine workings. The abandoned buildings were quite eerie as they were still reasonably intact and one could imagine the activity and toil that must have gone on in these now silent rooms. The track looked down onto the main road in Andorra which was thronged with cars and lorries crawling along in queues to get through the customs post. No wonder everyone looked so depressed in El Pas de la Casa if they had been stuck in that for a few hours!
There was a good easy track from Col de P. which turned a corner into a little gorge, and then suddenly I was back into rocky mountain scenery again. I have pitched the tent next to a burbling stream and am sat here happily drinking tea. I did manage to get good provisions eventually, and have made a cullinary discovery. I failed to find powdered milk, so bought a tin of condensed milk instead. and it actually makes a very nice [if a bit sweet] cuppa!
9.00 pm.
I ate a feast tonight: olives with two cups of tea, spinach and ricotta tortellini, pain-au-chocolat with hot custard! The cows came to visit from up the valley and I saw what I think were a pair black kites.
6th August. 2.00 pm
It has ben a morning of good progress and the ticking off of Pic Carlit. Though I certainly returned to civilisation with a bang when I reached the summit. The east side of the mountain was like Striding Edge on a Sunday afternoon! The approach walk was very pleasant on a good path, past the big dam of Estany de Lanas and then through some nice scenery to the little Focats lake, still partially in the shadow of Carlit's steep west face when I arrived.
I sat and had a snack before starting to climb and saw a new bird. It was like a thrush, but mainly plain brown with brick red patches on its flanks. Like a cross between a blackbird and a redwing. I also had a glimpse of what I think was an owl with pale coloured wings. The bird life has picked up since I complained!
The climb onto Carlit was up 400m of steep dust and scree - not very pleasant. The view from the top however was worth the effort: back across Andorra to the west, and to the bulk of Canigou to the east. That appears to be the last significant mountain left to do, as it is surrounded by lower ranges and softer hills. In the near distance the lakes of Bouillouses made a beautiful sight amoungst pine trees and granite outcrops.
The drop down on the east of Carlit included a nice scrambly traverse, marred somewhat by having to pick my way
through crowds. I have retired to the shade for a couple of hours by one of the granite boulders. The sun is hot
today and I haven't much left to do. I will probably camp next to the Bouillouses Refuge if I can, as there isn't a
supply of drinking water round here.
Photo: View East from the summit of Pic Carlit, across the Bouillouses Lakes
5.00 pm.
After lunch I joined the crowds thronging down to the dam at Bouillouses: quite an impressive construction. After a lemonade and a beer at a cafe, I wandered down to the refuge. As usual the guardian was friendly and helpful. He let me help myself to drinking water and told me that I can camp anywhere. So I wandered down the road, picked up the HRP and found a nice spot amoung the pine trees that has obviously been used before. It's beautifully peaceful here, yet so close to all the bustle at the dam. Tomorrow I will find a proper campsite, to wash clothes and have a shower, but meanwhile this will do very nicely.
I met an English chap from Norwich at the refuge - he was the spitting image of Gill's boss!"
8.15 pm.
I have always wanted to see a Crossbill, and during the last two hours a large flock of them have been feeding on the pinecones in the trees around my tent! It was fantastic! They cheep to each other constantly whilst feeding, and the male and female birds look very different. They feed with a lot of noise too, of cracking seeds and dropping cones on the floor. I've seen a Greater Spotted Woodpecker too. The birds seems to move around in flocks here. Whilst the Crossbills were feeding I saw Chaffinches and Goldcrests, plus some other finches I couldn't recognise [possibly Siskins]. That made my day!
7th August. 2.00 pm.
I have had a lovely morning, strolling through woods and around picturesque lakes down to Font Romeu. I even slept in until 7 o'clock! I didn't start meeting the day trippers until about 9.30, so the first hour and a half were very peaceful. The birds were active, the fish were rising on the lakes, and the sun was slanting through the pine trees and making the reeds glow a translucent lime-green in the margins.
"It was quite a shock to arrive in the busy high street of Romeu, but it is in a different class to El Pas de la Casa. The shops and shoppers are more sophisticated and laid back. I think I will quite enjoy spending a day or two here. Snob that I am!
I have booked into the campsite for two nights and got a nice little pitch in the shade. I have had a shower and washed my clothes - I really was filthy! Now I am sat in a creperie having downed a mushroom omlette, and am moving onto dessert. A crepe with honey I think, followed by a cafe au lait..."
This place is definitely off the English tourist map. I have heard nothing but French voices since I arrived. It's a lovely place too, surrounded by rolling hills, pine forests and lakes. There is lots to do as well. There are adventure shops on the high street offering everything from fishing to Via Ferrata.
I have bought food for tomorrow at the excellent supermarket and eaten a good meal at a pizza restaurant this evening. From my tent I get a tantalising view into the Eyne valley on the other side of Cardagne, where I will be walking on Saturday. Meanwhile I am looking forward to a lazy day tomorrow, and washing my trousers! I have bought a pair of light shorts so I can do this wihout too much embarrassment!"
8th August. 6.00 pm.
Much as I looked forward to resting today, it has turned out to be rather boring. I have been good though, and resisted the temptation to dash about sight-seeing. My kit is all cleaned and I have restocked with provisions to get me through the four days I think it will take me to get to Amelie.
We didn't see much of the sun today. It was hazy until 10.00 am and then clouded over again at midday and actually rained a bit this afternoon. The problem on the next few stages will be avoiding thunderstorms. The Catalonian ridges are renowned for sudden and fierce storms, and they have been rumbling away to the east over the last two afternoons. I will plan to start early each day and get most of my walking done by lunchtime.