Mountain Cat

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Hello my fellow travellers!

Me and Ante started the day at a leisure pace and first went down to the Casa de la Vall to go inside for a guided tour, it costs five euro which I thought seemed like a fair price, however the next tour wasn't for another 40 minutes or so and Ante didn't want to wait for it so this time I gave in and we skipped going inside since entry was only allowed with a guide.

Instead we filled our bellies with a couple of really delicious baguettes at a cafe next to Sant Esteve d'Andorra la Vella. The owner was a really nice fellow and the place seemed popular with the locals which is always a great sign.

After breakfast we made our way down the hill and crossed the river to reach the other side of Andorra la Vella where we went up to the walking trail Rec de l'Obac, stretching along the opposing mountain from the one we walked yesterday. That one was named after the sun and in response this one was named after the shadow which was pretty fitting as most of the walking trail lay under a soft shade which made it a very pleasant walk.

The trail is a little bit marred by a couple of things though, first of the view isn't as good along this trail as the other one since there's a lot of vegetation in the way, also there are a lot of dog poo scattered across the path so we had to keep watch on where we put our feet.

From this trail though we finally got a really good view on the mountainside art we saw yesterday, it is in the image of a man holding a small child in his arms and it's very beautiful.

We followed the trail until it came to a halt and then we returned to the city and continued to follow the roads leading upwards into the mountains, set on seeing if we could reach the lake we talked about yesterday. The climb up is really steep, especially the last but and it was quite a bit of a walk, especially since we walked the full length of the Rec de l'Obac earlier.

Once we reached the nature area where the lake is located we where both pretty tired and after learning from a couple of locals that the lake was still several hours of trekking away Ante didn't feel like continuing but I convinced him that we'd sit down and rest for a while and then push into the mountain trail as far as we managed and then turn back and return to the city, after all we had pretty much seen all of Andorra la Vella yesterday and there was still many hours left of the day with which we didn't really have anything to do otherwise.

With that we set out into the mountain path, poorly prepared to be honest, with a small empty water bottle each and nothing to eat we entered Vall del Madriu-Perafita-Claror, a beautiful valley that covers over 4000 acres, almost 10%!o(MISSING)f the entire principality, to find a lake I'd seen a picture of!

The path into the mountains are steep and tough on the feet but well kept so it's easy to stay on track. While we were hiking there we came upon the occasional other hikers but for the most part we had the mountain range to ourselves and could enjoy the gorgeous view in solitude and tranquillity. As we cane upon a bridge, crossing the river we found ourselves in the company of a full litter of truly adorable and cuddly cats living amongst the mountains. Just as with the cats we met yesterday they were completely fearless and calm and really wanted to cuddle a lot with both me and Ante. I went all out in cuddling of course since I love cats a lot. Ante is a little bit more reserved due to past bad experiences with shifty cats but even he gave in to their cuteness and did a bit of petting.

Since we had no water both me and Ante made our way down to the roaring river and filled our bottles from the flowing waters, it tasted really delicious, far better than the water down in the city below. It's not often I take water straight from a mountain river but it both smelled and tasted well and elevated the experiences of the hike.

As we left the bridge on the cats came with us further up the mountain and as we sat down at an old quarry and enjoyed the view before us the cat stayed by my feet, ever eager to cuddle. He kept with us for quite a bit into the mountains before he turned back and returned to his friends down by the bridge. He made for a lovely companion on our walk and I'm happy he came with us.

By now both me and Ante was getting pretty tired and hungry and we discussed back and forth about if and when to turn back, taking turns in wanting to return or push forward, in the end it was Ante that came with the best decision. To push for a place we had been seeing a lot of signs for called Ramio, we figured it might be a village where we might find a light snack and something to drink. It turned out to be an abandoned village located in a very picturesque area.

We stayed in Ramio for a while, resting and shooting some pictures before we headed back down the track to Andorra la Vella but we ended up in a neighbouring city that pretty much seems to be joined with Andorra la Vella. It's called Les Escaldes and it seemed just as nice as Andorra la Vella. There was a couple of nice things to see here such as the beautiful church Sant Pere Màrtir and the Centre Termolúdic Caldea, a thermal bath which we thought was a church until we caught the smell of chlorine from it.

As soon as we found a place to sit down and rest and grab a bite to eat we did so. We ate burger each and I downed it with a cold beer. We had to stay a little while longer than expected because they had some problems with their card reader but we needed the rest anyway so none of us complained about that.

With that we returned back to our hotel, stopping briefly to take a look at the beautiful little church Sant Romà dels Vilars, and then we went into a store and stocked up on some more snacks for another movie night. We ended up watching a movie I had on my computer because the wifi was much to slow this time to watch anything online.

Tomorrow we will return to Barcelona and then go out to Sabadell where our new host Jerson awaits us, until then I wish you peace and happy travels!

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Comments

[RENanDREW]

Guide cat
We've had plenty of local dogs accompany us on walks and show us their cities and countryside, but we've never had a guide cat before! What a treat to find friendly wild cats - I think it says a lot about the local people when the animals are friendly :)

[A Small Swede in the Big World]

Guide cat
I agree fully and especially cats are by nature cautious and shy so to have so many cats be so friendly and unafraid is a true testament to the kindness of the citizens of Andorra. :-)