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Are we about to quit the GR11? – Surviving the extreme night and making big decisions | Day 9 Lake Montcasau to Arties
On the day 9 of GR11 we made 11kms hiking down the valley from Lake Montcasau to Plan de Nera and river Valarties and finally came to the village Arties in Catalonia, Pyrenees, Spain. For this day it was clear that we won’t be able to do much distance and also because we felt like having a rest we decided to turn away from GR11 at the point where it was climbing up again and turn to the opposite direction to the village Arties. That way we still were going to do around 11kms. There we hoped to have a couple day rest at the campsite and return back to…
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EXTREME FATIGUE on the BRUTAL terrain of GR11-Where will we stop for the night? |Day 8.2 Pass de Ratera to Lake Montcasau
In the second half of the Day 8 of GR11 we were getting through Estany i Sant Maurici National Park in Catalan Pyrenees, Spain hiking through many lakes, climbing over the 2600m high Pass de la Ratera, to the Refugi de Colomers and Lake Montcasau. Without pausing for too long in the shade we were ready to tackle the last portion of the uphill. It was steep and many times we were out of breath more so because of the very hot weather and we were sweating a lot too. Even the wind wasn’t cool enough to help it which was unusual for this altitude. So we continued on and…
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Hiking the World of Lakes in Wonderful Estany i Sant Maurici National Park on GR11 in Pyrenees | Day 8.1
On Day 8 of GR11 we had a big plan of doing around 20kms and 1000m elevation change getting through Estany i Sant Maurici National Park in Catalan Pyrenees, Spain hiking through many lakes and climbing over the 2600m high Pass de la Ratera. The night was quiet and warm and we had a nice sleep. We woke up at 6am at our camp spot on GR11 and as we knew that it is going to be a hot day we tried to wrap up everything as quickly as possible. We didn’t know for sure how the terrain was going to be so we wanted to make the major uphill…
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Back on GR11 and Hot Day getting to Estany de Sant Maurici in Catalonia, Spain| Day 7 – Guingueta d’Aneu to Espot
For that 7th day of GR11 we were planning to do 15kms from Guingeta de Aneu to Espot and then finally get to Estany de Sant Maurici doing 800m uphill. We wanted to start the hike gradually because this was our first long distance trail that year. Also we tried to plan the stages so that we would do the major elevation gain in the morning and then be getting down to the valleys to spent the night at the lower altitudes. So we spent the night at the campground in Guingeta de Aneu and it was very noisy and crowded. There we realized that as we start our hike…
