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| BEAUTIFUL ESTANY DE RIUS |
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| LOOKING EAST FROM THE LAC DE RIUS |
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| WILD RASPBERRIES |
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| ESTANY DE RESTANCA WITH REFUGI ON RIGHT |
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| TOMER & ALMOG |
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| WATERFALL ON WAY TO SALARDU |
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| GITE ROSTA |
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| CHARLES & MARIE FRANCE DROP ME OFF IN VIELHA |
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| VIELHA |
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| AURELIE & JOANA |
Monday 10th of September and it was colder than usual overnight, and there was fog in the valleys below me. I suppose that neither of these things should have surprised me, having pitched my tent at an altitude of 2,320m.
My fingers hurt with the cold as I started walking in the direction of the Refugio de la Restanca, but the pain soon eased as the sun rose. I passed a large lake, the Estany de Rius, and the views over it were lovely. The walk was quite easy going, except for the last little climb to reach the Refugi itself, located at the end a dam holding back the waters of the Estany de Restanca. I kept stopping to eat the tasty wild raspberries which grew on the slope.
I had a hot chocolate and a Kit-Kat at the Refugi, filled my water bottles, and continued walking. My next stop was the Refugi de Colomers.
One of the characteristics of Pyrenean walking is that none of the paths are level, or at least not for very long. They either go up or they go down, in both cases often steeply. Along with obstacles such as boulders and streams, a short distance like a kilometre, which might take 15 minutes to walk in Hampshire, can sometimes take over an hour. I am also conscious that every time I descend on a route, I will inevitably have to climb all the way up again. My daily route typically ascends and descends 1,000m or perhaps more. That's roughly equivalent to climbing one of the highest mountains in the UK, from sea level, each and every day.
Anyway, after a succession of relentless ups and downs, I finally arrived at the highest point of the day, the 2,560m Port de Caldes. Waiting there were Tomer and Almog, two young Israelis who where on a week's walking break. They asked if I could sit with their rucksacks while they climbed a nearby viewpoint just 15m higher. When they came down, they suggested I do the same, which I did. We agreed that we could see at least 20 lakes from the viewpoint.
Afterwards, they suggested that we walked together to the Refugi de Colomers. They already had their own reservations, but there was no problem with me staying there too. The refugi had hot showers and the most excellent evening meal, which included fish caught freshly from the adjacent Estany Major de Colomers. Interestingly, all the people on my supper table were Israeli. I wondered what made the Pyrenees such a popular destination for them? I never got round to asking.
I was in two minds as to where to go in the morning. I could either follow the route described in Tom Joosten's book which would take me to the village of Salardu, where I could have a rest day. The alternative would be to follow the GR11 south-east to Espet, and have my rest day there, but that would take two days and my maps were poorer. I decided to sleep on it.
In the morning I felt I needed my rest day sooner rather than later, so Saladu it was. Unusually, considering what I said earlier, the walk was almost all downhill and it took me under 4 hours to get there. I booked two nights in the Refugi Rosta, then looked for somewhere to eat. A nearby taverna served me well with a three-course lunch with wine for a modest €19.
Next, I decided to check out the local supermarket, and found it closed now that the holiday season was over. A search on Google for other supermarkets nearby revealed that Tuesday the 11th of September was National Day of Catalonia, so there was no guarantee that any other supermarkets would be open anyway. I will certainly need to buy some food to take with me on the next stage of the walk, but decided to deal with the problem tomorrow.
The solution arrived at breakfast, which I shared with fellow guests Charles and Marie France. Their holiday was coming to an end, but they would be driving through Vielha on their way home. Vielha has a large Mercadona supermarket and they kindly offered to drop me there.
I managed to purchase all the food I needed, and also bought an additional map to help with navigation over the next few days. An Alsa bus brought me back to Salardu. It had been raining most of the day so I was pleased that I had not needed to walk.
In the early evening, two girls joined me in the dormitory. Their names were Aurelie and Joana and they were also hiking a section of the HRP, but in the other direction. It was useful that we were able to exchange notes of what we had to come.