-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Scenic Autumn Easy Trail to take in Cerdanya Valley in Pyrenees | Day 3 – Llivia, Estavar, Odeillo-Via
It was our third day of hiking in the Cerdanya valley region and that day we came to the Spanish enclave – Llivia village, then hiked through Estavar and Bajanda and climbed up to the Odeillo-Via village in France. We had a quiet peaceful night in the fields of Cerdanya when there was almost no wind and all we could hear were the cow’s bells. And compared to the previous night 1800m camping spot it was much warmer too. But we could feel that it was much more humid in the morning. We woke up quite late because we felt quite exhausted after not having a good sleep two previous…
-
Surviving the Freezing October Night in Pyrenees, Spain | GR11 section hike to Puigcerda and Llivia
On the second day of GR11 section hike in Catalonia, Spain we started from Pleta dels Anyells at 1800m and had to descend approximately 15kms down to the village Vilallobent, then a town Puigcerda and camped in the fields of Llivia. We had the coldest night ever at our place on the mountain plain when the temperature must have had dropped down to a zero degrees Celsius. And so starting from 4am we couldn’t sleep well as this is when the temperature is at its lowest during the night. Our summer set up with +10 degrees sleeping bags didn’t help either, we had all our warm stuff on us but…
-
Bright Colorful October Hike from Planoles to Dorria following the GR11 trail in Pyrenees, Spain | Day 1
On this first day of the GR11 section hike from Planoles to Puigcerda we did around 17kms and got from Planoles to Dorria, ascended 800m from 1200m to 2000m and camped at Pleta dels Anyells. This whole hike of around 50kms we planned to divide in 3 days and starting from Planoles, Spain get to the Puigcerda village following the GR11 and then crossing the Cerdanya valley get to Llivia and ascend up to the Odeillo village, France. We were starting this hike in the late October but as the weather was very nice and warm still we decided to take advantage of it as those could be the last…
-
Exploring and Hiking down the Beautiful Comapedrosa Valley on GR11 | Day 6 – Coma de l’Orri to Àreu
On the day 6 of our GR11 we hiked 12kms and 800m from Coma de l’Orri down the Comapedrosa valley and arrived to the village Àreu. We started this day early in the morning as usual feeling quite broken apart from yesterday challenging downhill. Our muscles all over the body were hurting and sore. The night was quiet and fortunately there was no rain. We felt that the air became fresher and cooler and so it was quite a bit colder to sleep. So we had our breakfast without heating it up, gathered everything in our backpacks and we were good to go. The plan for the day was to…
-
First Challenging Day of Hiking and Meeting the Sunset on GR11 in Pyrenees, Spain | Day 2 Refugi Malniu – Cabana dels Espravers
It was our second day of a GR11 section hike when we did 12kms getting from the Refugi de Malniu to the shelter Espravals in Pyrenees, Spain. For that day, we planned to start our trail as early as possible and we did wake up at 6am as we had a quiet warm night and slept quite well. Also the terrain where we camped was relatively flat so it helped a lot too. Unexpectedly there was a bit of rain that night and we even heard the thunder somewhere in the distance. But already being used to the changeable mountain weather we knew that it is a normal thing to…
-
How to Bivouac or Wild Camp on GR11 trail in Pyrenees, Spain? | Day 1 from Guils de Cerdanya to Refugi Malniu
These hike report series is going to feature our long distance section hike of GR11 trail. We started doing it in the very end of July 2020 and were very excited to discover what this trail would bring us. The GR trails in Europe are very similar to the popular AT or PCT trails you can find in US and can extend for many miles in the distance crossing pretty much all the European countries. So there is plenty of choice depending on the direction you want to take. The term GR itself stands for the Grand Randonee or the Great Trail. We had been willing to do this trail…
