EL SERRAT TO L'HOSPITALET-PRES-L'ANDORRE

VIEW DOWN COMA DE RANSOL FROM NEAR CABANA COMS DE JAN

UP TO SERRA DE CABANA SORDA

HARDY HORSES NEAR CABANA SORDA

CABANA SORDA

EARLY MORNING START FROM CABANA SORDA

I'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE

ESTANYS DEL SISCARO (EXCEPT LEFT HAND ONE HAS DRIED UP)
 

VIEW EAST FROM PORT DRET

PATH, WHAT PATH?

GITE D'ETAPE AT L'HOSPITALET

A check on the weather for Friday 21st of September indicated a possibility of rain in the afternoon. However, I had frequently found the forecasts to be overly pessimistic, and where rain had occurred, it had always been late in the afternoon when I am usually at lower altitudes and close to shelter.

Thus, it was time to move on, so I packed my rucksack, paid the hotel bill and headed for the hills.

I climbed in a easterly direction up the Sorteny valley, initially though pine woods and then on grassy slopes, passing by the Refugi de Sorteny and the Cabana la Serrera, until the 2,713m Collada dels Meners came onto view. Reaching the small gap in the ridge that would take me into the next valley had involved nearly 1,200m of climbing and taken four and a half hours.

Route-finding on the descent was a little less obvious than on the ascent, but I managed to reach the Cabana Coms de Jan without error. According to the guide book, this was the end of the day's walk. However, since it was barely past 3.00pm, and I still had plenty of energy, it made sense to walk on. That meant crossing another ridge, the 2,661m Serra de Cabana Sorda. Only about 400m of climbing for this one, though, and fine views to be had. Circling over my head were half a dozen Griffon Vultures. They are common in the Pyrenees and can have wing-spans of up to 2.8 metres. Perhaps they were hungry and hoping that I might expire on the climb.

Within a short while I could see the Estany de Cabana Sorda, which has a small dam, and the Cabana itself nearby. A young family was already there with two boisterous young children. They had probably walked up from the nearby village of Soldeu. The Cabana had plenty of beds so there was room for me provided I could put up with the noise. When I say beds, I really mean bed frames, because they have no mattresses so a sleeping pad is needed. They may not be much more comfortable than sleeping under canvas, but it does save the hassle associated with camping outside. Incidentally, it never did rain.

I thought it might be the children who woke me up early on Sunday, but it was actually one of the adults. I didn't mind because that absolved me if any guilt regarding the noise I made as I packed up my own gear by torchlight. By 7.30am I was continuing my eastward progress.

First of all I had to get down to Incles, which was roughly 400m below me. The steep and rocky terrain meant that I had to get there by a very roundabout route, so it took longer than expected.

From Incles I climbed directly east until I reached a junction which would take me either to the Refugi de Juclar or the Cabana de Siscaro. I had been here before in 2014 when I walked from l'Hospitalet-pres-l'Andorre (which was my destination today). That meant that I had now linked together the 2014 and my present walk, and completed the route from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. The time was 9.22am on Saturday the 22nd of September. I played a fanfare in my head. Whoppee!

Once the excitement was over, I had to remind myself that I was still in the middle of nowhere and it was unlikely that a helicopter was going to come and pick me up. Thus, there was nothing for it but to keep walking. I had decided to ignore Tom Joosten's guidebook again and walk to l'Hospitalet-pres-l'Andorre (usually abbreviated to l'Hospitalet) via the GR Transfrontalier route. I followed this in 2014 and found it pretty difficult to navigate. I now planned to walk it in the other direction to see if it is any easier. First of all I had to climb south past the Estanys del Siscaro to the Pas de les Vaques and then on to Port Dret at 2,565m. From there, l'Hospitalet is about 9km to the east and, at an altitude of 1,436m, it was going to be downhill all the way.

The GR Transfrontalier route turned out to be just as difficult to navigate this time around as before. Occasionally I would find bits of footpath, and then they would come to an abrupt end. Occasionally I saw yellow or red and white markers, but any footpath associated with them was vague at best.

I knew that the path should stick close to a river called Riu de Sant Josep, so I was confident that I was in the right place. I concluded that a continuous footpath was simply not there. I gave up looking after a while and just improvised a route.

I finally reached a relatively busy road close to the northern end of the Puymorens tunnel, exactly as I expected. It was then necessary to follow the road for one and a half km into l'Hospitalet village. I couldn't really remember the road bit in 2014, but I must have walked it as there is no other way.

So, I've finally reached l'Hospitalet and the trek is over. I made my way to the Gite d'etape that I had stayed in 4 years previously, and the proprietor was standing by the door to welcome me in (not the same one as before as there had been a change of hands since my previous visit). The price of a private room with demi-pension was agreed, and 20 minutes later I was enjoying a hot shower.

I had actually reached l'Hospitalet five days ahead of schedule. This was partly because my daily distances were sometimes greater than assumed (El Serrat to l'Hospitalet was covered in two days rather than the expected three) and also because some of the alternative routes that I used were shorter. Finally, I had allowed extra days in the schedule in case of delays due to poor weather. However, the weather was good to me throughout, so I did not need to take them.

My flight home doesn't leave until Saturday the 29th, so I have a week to enjoy a bit of a break. In anticipation of this, a brought the map of Foix with me, and will go there tomorrow for a few days.