Pyrenees 2018 , Kites Cows, and Mild to Moderate Peril Continued

A continuation of the August / September trip journal that starts here..

https://broadviewfromasmallfarm.blogspot.com/2018/12/kites-cows-and-other-capers-pyreneees.html

Sallent de Gallego

The comforts of even the most basic hostelry are truly delicious after a few night out.

A real bed - limitless hot water to wash  - its almost worth getting properly dirty to appreciate the simple joy of being clean again.

We'd passed through here before - going in the opposite direction some years back - its interesting how some memories stick, and others slide.


Flashbacks occur at bizarre moments in everyday life - seemingly unprompted - whats that all about??

This from a previous expedition - mine companion had at that time acquired a taste for cheesy pork sausages -
 yes i know - but if we expect perfection in our associates then do we perhaps set ourselves too a high bar to jump as well?

I believe the brief affaire with the monstrous hybrid, has since been laid to rest - and I'm not one to revisit past sins of relish - lest the same be done to me..

So the following day - reprovisioned - coffeed to the eyeballs and personally overstuffed with double hotel breakfast ..

Firstly a well tended perambulate along the lakeshore -
-but then ??

How best to get to the start of our intended onward route though ??

There really wasn't anywhere to hitch hike from - a fast road with no useful pull ins..

So ... Lets walk, its only a few kms really.

"Ok ,so this is the easy flat bit, where i have an accident, after days of rock hopping"

I even thought those things deliberately to myself, in the hope that by thinking it the complacency pixies* wouldn't come and get me..

Wrong - so very wrong -

- A double fistful of tarmac nibbled out of the highways edge - was literally my downfall - too busy trying to avoid passing lorries, so i didn't notice the trap lurking in the shadow of the crash barrier.

Oh well - there was a lot of smashed glass on the roadside, and none of it found its way into my knee, wewill call that a win..

Just a very turned over ankle, a reasonably bloodied knee, and a somewhat concerned companion -

Was i determined to ruin this holiday with my pratfalls ??

* If you don't know who they are - then there's really no point explaining -you won't understand..

Thankfully public fonts, for refreshment, and roadside first aid are fairly frequent hereabouts.

No, no, soldier on, why have rest, elevation, and ice for your sprain when you can have hot midday walking on tarmac ??

So eventually, stoically - somewhat limpily we got within a couple of km of our town.

And thence, happily for me at least, we were offered a lift in a van, with a nice friendly chap transporting a wheelbarrow.

He was very interested in our walking plans, and insisted upon personally showing us the well hidden start of our next path - "Thank you - thank you - yes - thank you very much - Ok see you soon "

- Most attentive for a local tradesman i thought - almost to the point of my fearing kidnap..

(Yes i know, i do have a very suggestible mind at times ...)

Then, after more drinks, and snacks at a local cafe -

Its back up a pretty limestone gorge into the National Park.
Towards Pico de las Escuellas.

And always hopeful, and alert for signs of the elusive Lammageier..

Mrt September for the Speedo catalogue ??

Stopping off to bathe my now fairly well swollen ankle -  this was proper cold - and did the trick quite well..

The ankle niggled off and on for the rest of the trip but i like to think years of foot and ankle strengthening yoga have had some effect in quicker restoration of such injuries.

Then up, and up , through a series of semi-abandoned grazing terraces.

The pictures don't quite capture the bucolic charm - subtle signs of mans thoughtful tread upon the earth to carry out his country living - gently being reclaimed by nature in parts..

I wouldn't mind being a herder up here - but i suppose the reality might be somewhat different to the idle fantasy spun up, on a sunny day such as this.

And alluring glimpses now and then - Promises of further Pointiness to come.

Then finally onto a driveable track -

- Uh oh - there's a pick up coming and it has official National Park decals on it  -
OK just look purposeful and only passing through ...

Aha, and Hola !! -  Its our lift-giving friend from earlier - it turns out he's a National Park Ranger - not a builder - misinterpretations abound when there's a language barrier.

That's why he had so much interest in our progressing - we're on his patch


But its all fine - and very friendly - our being fellow ruralists ourselves wins some points - much talk* of livestock farming - wildlife - and potential stopping places - no no - not here of course not ..

* Pretty good really, considering none of us were in any technical possession of each others primary language - i seem to remember there was a lot of delving into French, on both sides, when we were grasping for functional words..

After many friendly hasta mananas - and another couple of kms the tent did in fact need a bit of an airing ...

Pasta, mushroom, cheese and parsley 'snack' before pushing on over the pass.

or - Ah yes suddenly it's morning coffee time -

- Oh dear that pasta - must have rather extended the after dinner snooze..

{i blame the grandparents - My maternal grandfather if ever challenged by the local constabulary as to the legality of his parking his caravan on a lochside pull in - would assert that 'no he wasn't overnighting - just having a bit of shut-eye before breakfast '}

The path swirled and climbed along the edge of a rocky precipice - up a little side valley to skirt Pico de las Escuellas just to the south  .

Must be the GR 11

Then along, and up a hot grassy high held alpine valley - teeming with crickets, and basking cows.
I have a noisy film somewhere of so many bouncing beasties.

Oh helloooo.

At the Puerta de Ordiso

A warm lifting breeze at the pass, where lunch was taken .

Then down, down, down, down again - an extended descent through more alpine meadows before turning right onto another a previously trodden path - The GR11 via Bujaruelo - always worth stopping off there for coffee or beer - or both - all the beverages in fact.

Before trundling on down the valley to another, now quite familiar, stopping off, and resupply point.

So many Pyreneen flowers are blue at this time of year.
It would be lovely to come and see the spring blossoms one day.

Wiggly tin, still firmly in place.

Torla is a lovely mountain town, at the mouth of the Ordessa Gorge, welcoming and well set up to serve the needs of the tourist trade, but it still feels as if its lived in too.

Plane tree bark - anything but plain.

There must be lots of salad on zero days - there is no such thing as too much salad OK ??

A touch of local domesticity ..

Laying in stores for a few more days out.

Then a bus up the road to the mouth of the Gorge - this is the third visit - so chose a route not yet travelled.

First a short, sharp, steep climb up the southerly slope of the gorge mouth.

Definitely prefer going up this sort of thing, without the trees for comfort and cover , some of these drops look huuuge. 

This is near the top of the steeper path up the southern shelf of the gorge -

- Its over an hours thigh challenging climb - especially with newly provisioned - packs - sorry i just can't resist loading in those tomatoes..

With some crumbly sections which feel a little 'edgy'

The Mirador de Calcilarruego ( i think ) they just don't print maps as clearly as they used to .. 

Next time (?!) i'll get my proper camera out - because unless the light is just right - its hard for the rocks not to seem a little washed out  - of course one could spend hours prettifying things in photoshop -

- Anyhow like most places you have to go there - to view its glory properly - please dont all go at once though

Its hard to get a handle on how cavernous this gorge is.. trust me - its a looonnnngggg way down

That's quite a substantial track on the valley bottom.

What ??

What did i do wrong ? ?

Yes - I know the phone camera has shrunk you somewhat from top to bottom but..


You already had a few inches to spare.

The 'balcony' path, feels almost like its going downhill , but in truth its the gorge end rising to it.

It starts to drizzle, but as they say - "There's no such thing as bad weather - there's just being dumb enough to go walking in it"

Along here, we meet a pack of hearty runners coming the other way.

There seems to be a lot more running about, here there and everywhere nowadays - cue me sounding like an old person - but how much do they get to see? And aren't they hastening erosion by kicking up all these divots ??

But of course, it matters not - they're long gone anyhows - and what i or indeed they think is immaterial in the grand geological scale of all things..

A last scrambly ascent to Goriz - the sting in the tail of an already longish walk - but having done this section before - at least its a known quantity, of potential knackeredness.

"Are we nearly there yet? "

- Yes we are ...

With perhaps forty minutes of light available after arriving.





The Refuge at Goriz, and surrounding camping area is a busy walkers cross roads - with people having come through the the Gap of Roland from France, or having scaled Monte Perdido, and other surrounding points of interest.

But it still has a wild enough air - especially in less than ideal weather.

There is piped water flowing from further up the hillside for the rough camping area to use.

The refuge is fine - if you like that's sort of thing - there's usually lots of hikerish sorts assuming a gimlet eyed stance on the terrace whilst sucking on a Gauloise - it all adds to the atmos.

But personally, I'm not a big fan of communal sleeping (or not sleeping usually in my case)

Here a rather more jaunty proprietorial stance ... Proudly surveying another firm erection.
( i think i was fetching water)

He appears to have acquired a halo - all that precise,and well mastered tautology giving venerable beatification i guess ??


Or is it just a chance placement of tussock grass ?

Evening comes in, geology observes us - indifferent to our flimsy wisps of nylon.


Comfy hiking shoes for me - Innovate terrocs - annoyingly they don't make this model anymore - so my quartermaster extraordinaire hunts them down on secondhand sites..
Always good to have a keen eyed hunter on the team..

The moo cows grazing the morn - they look so sleek and healthy up here..

Familiar territory again, leaving the Punta Custodia to the south - so many summits left unbothered.

And heading towards Fon blanca for i think the third time now ..

Still a few patches here and there - but sorry no, I am constitutionally averse to snow ball fights - such a fun sponge - but i do appear to have acquired the shadow of someone else's legs --- Spooky !!

Some of the sections of these descents - are quite interesting - there are even a few places where its advisable to pass packs down.

Walking poles make inclines such as this far nicer for the knees - and the nerves ..

There is an alternative somewhat gnarlier route that loses less height - passing somewhere along those cliffs on the left - on its way to the Collado de Anisclo -

 But on the map the dashes - then dots peter out to almost nothing - and the signboards at the path head warn against attempting that route unless you fulfil various criteria around confidence and ability -

Criteria over which im varyingly unresolved - confidence and ability seem to rise and falls with the lunar cycles - or even degree of tiredness and lack of snacks perhaps ??

But that's fine, I'd rather err on the side of caution, and stay in one piece to visit another day.

Oh no peeples - on our path - outrageous ..

Nearly at the bottom.

There's a small slot at the base under which you could bivvy if you were so inclined.

Or stay here perhaps, if circumstances precluded a tent..

And then starting to climb up up up again.

Rather fond of these purple shorts 

Tired of waterfalls ??

Tired of life perhaps ??

A short stop for a snack lunch - but no bathing or camping this time - pressing on up the valley towards the col instead  - not been this way before.

Highly picturesque.

A series of waterfalls - up the side of which you must ascend - then a less steep meadow area for a few hundred metres - before ascending yet another waterfall - and another - oh yes - and yet more waterfalls

Turns out you can get rather tired, of relentless waterfalls .

But still really mustn't grumble

Up and up and up - then up a bit more up perhaps -
-  a 'false' col hovering ahead luring on the optimistic ..

Ohh, and awww,  now a tragic drama of everyday not-so-bucolic reality, is played out.

A flock of ewes, and lambs picking its way up to the heights taking the same route as us - only perhaps a tad more nimbly?

Little lambkin, its umbilical cord indicating its nubile nature, gets left behind, reluctant to leap a stream - but negligent mater presses on impatient ..

But then, whats this ??
 The innocent youth espies a pair of well turned calves, and immediately, quite understandably in fact bonds with the trusty-looking limbs.

Only the most hard hearted temporary foster parent, could resist picking up the infant - and carrying it to the waiting throng for reunification.

Well who knows if it regained its dam ??
 Perhaps - perhaps not - not much room for parental error here.

But at least we (he) tried .

Following that brief spell of international rescue - and more ascent - we attain the col de Anisclo, after what seems like hours and hours, but was probably less than two from Fon Blanca - No no, of course i didn't grumble at all .

Here we met a party of French walkers - and after the usual apologies from us over

 "That Brexit Business" - Shaking our heads in bemused European solidarity,  i asked one of the number to take a photo.

Thinking (in error it turns out) that the worst of the days' work, was done - See how cheery i appear .

But, look out behind you missus - its an abrupt descent to the valley bottom - pretty much straight down, the contour lines are more a solid mass than anything discretely discernable - crumbly, slidey edgy, a bit much for already tired pins.

I know, such quantities of moaning - soo ungrateful for my holidays..

Half way down, i actually do get a call from someone at home - who is dutifully picking and packing tomatoes - 

Mmmmn, there's an abundance of these on the farm at this time of year - almost too many - so it always feels a little odd to be cosseting two shop bought ones over several days and highpasses in the mountains.

Where are the brown paper bags ??

 Would they need to buy more ?? 

A rather odd place to be considering such matters..

But this also gave me pause to reflect, that my holidays, can often feel twice as exhausting as running a farm - Why on earth do we do this to ourselves ??

Well, those who do feel the urge to do this stuff - know precisely what it's about - 

And for those who can't see the point ??  Well there's really no point trying to explain .. 

Each to their own ...

Poor old knees in the Pyreness...

Gravity is not always our friend.
The descent really did feel like it went on for ever - relentless - and precipitous in places - then just when it felt almost near journeys end - a series of down scrambles on wet slippery rocks - with the occasional chain to cling to.

The light was noticeably slipping away too - couldn't I just lash myself to a tree and sleep here ??

The places we find ourselves - and the ultimate luxury we have of putting ourselves through it all ..

Continued here.. https://broadviewfromasmallfarm.blogspot.com/2020/05/pyrenees-20018-conclusion-further-cows.html