GR11 - Valley past Puigcerda to Setcases, 3days, 685km done

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Monday 29th August
Wild camp near Coll Marcer to Camping Can Fosses
19km
7:45-14:45 with a few short breaks, 40mins in woodland descent before Dorria and 20mins on ridge section before Planoles

A pretty bad sleep was met with a pretty slow morning. It also started with more climbing, as usual, so we felt extra slow. By the time we reached the col we had woken and warmed up though, and enjoyed nice views of the town as the sun also warmed up. There were also old border stones which was fun to step in and out of France from. What there was not so much today, was good waymarkers. They had slowly become less frequent since returning back into Spain, but today we really noticed how bad they had become; particularly after Coll de la Creu de Meians, where we soon realised we had so easily come off the trail in the woods. This resulted in some animal track following, getting increasingly bushier and tricksier to get through. Eventually, we made it out alive and back on the track.

The rest of the day was spent mostly on dirt road and hard track, meandering along ridges at points, as we noticed less and less markers and weirdly timed signposts. The sun also felt hot today, and so we soon lacked enthusiasm for this tedious section and were happy when we finally reached Camping can Fosses. We were not so happy when we realised we’d arrived halfway through their siesta time! Still, a nice bench in the shade and some good signal meant we could do some family catching up which was good.

Once checked in, fed icecream and cold drinks, tent up and drying, showered and caffeinated, we were back to feeling great. This was made even better when, the other Dutch friend (Rose-who had taken a week out earlier and we’d not seen for ages) turned up. A great evening catching up over drinks and our camp dinners was had, thankfully allowed inside the bar due to a brief heavy rain&wind and storm passing, before settling happily to sleep.

Tuesday 30th August
Camping Can Fosses to Nuria
11km walking & then 7km on train
7:45-12:00 to Queralbs with only a couple of short breaks followed by 120mins in the town, then the 20min mountain train to Nuria for 14:30.

A simple morning with a tasty breakfast of prebought pastries (we are not having much luck in making decent porridge on the trail) was followed by….an immediate incline of course! Steep in parts, it was actually a good track up through woodland where, despite Paul & Rose having to wait for me to catch up at points, we still beat the guidebook time to the picnic area near the top (beating the book time does not happen often for us!) The last little bit of up is easier on road to reach the flat col before starting the gentle winding track down.

A little like a rollercoaster, the trail meanders up and down, through wood, along ridges and over open sections with good valley views. The waymarkers remained poor but appeared more often then the previous day helping us not wonder off track too much today. Reaching Queralbs, we wondered down the cute town of cobble/slate paths and houses and found the small but decent shop (basic essentials) where we found a tasty sugar donut which Paul was very happy about.

Stopping for some food and drink at the bar nearby, Rose soon left us to continue walking, heading up the next big ascent of the day. We however, had recently discovered Queralbs (where we were) and Nuria (where we were going) both had train stations…and would you believe it…there was a regular little mountain train that ran between them. Well, we all know Paul and I like to work smarter not harder so who were we to miss out on this experience?! With the train line steeply running up the beautiful gorge we chugged on up (often alongside the GR11 trail) and through a long tunnel cutting through the mountain, speedily reaching Nuria within 20mins; maybe touristy but worth it.

A huge odd looking hotel building greeted us, sat in a plateau and not fitting in with the mountain landscape, along with a big lake, enough people, pony and horse rides, snow tubing, odd museum / exhibitions, small shop, tourist shop, mini golf and a controlled camping zone; an odd but nice vibe. Having arrived during their siesta yet again, we waited with an ice cream before checking in and pitching up. Sat relaxing, for really not that long, and Rose appeared; she is super speedy! Some chill time, chatting and planning ahead occurred followed by dinner, and before you know it, bed.

Wednesday 31st August
Nuria to Setcases
19km
7:05 - 14:10 with a few short breaks, and 15mins on ascent, 45mins at Refugi d’Ulldeter

After our quickest start yet, we were hitting the trail just as the sun begun to rise. Rose was with us, and with a forecasted storm from 1pm, we all wanted to make sure we were up and over the high point before that started; especially as today we hit the highest point on the whole GR11 trail, reaching over 2800m!

Instantly climbing, we hiked up into the valley, which was beautiful; even when we noted the clouds creeping in to chase us up. Spotting marmots and chamois on the way up was cool and we saw the most amount of chamois we’ve seen, all of them together trotting around, including baby ones. Reaching the first high point we took a breather and admired the view, spotting the 9 crosses placed there supposedly in memory of 9 monks who died in a storm there; reminding us we needed to keep moving. Side stepping along to the first ‘peak’ we have done, we quickly moved on to the next high point and another ‘extra peak’ for more amazing views. The land noticeably changed too between slatey stone to red stone to moonscape white stone. It is crazy how small we really are when in a landscape like that.

The trail then follows this magnificent ridge line, slowly winding down into a valley. It is here the clouds did catch us up and we were soon walking in mist. Heading up for the final climb, I was grateful it was not so steep or long, we reached the final lower high point of the day just as the first rumble of thunder sounded. Hmmmm this storm was definitely going to arrive before 1pm. Now spotting more people around, some walking up, we felt good in knowing we were almost at Refugi d’Ulldeter. Following the very clearly marked and boundaried path down, we enjoyed more landscape changes as we began to hit trees and a much greener looking valley.

Reaching the refugio before midday we were proud of ourselves for getting there in good time and were greeted by a super friendly guy and had fancy coffee (got offered the choice of honey, brown or white sugar!) and homemade cakes & cookies. Delicious. Unfortunately, our thoughts came true though, and the rain and thunder soon began, earlier then it should have. Tempted to stay put for a while we checked the forecast again and saw it was just going to get worse, so reluctantly put all the waterproof gear on and headed out.

Of course, it didn’t take long for the rain to get heavy with some brief hail and the lightening to make a bright appearance, along with increasing thunder. Still, we were going in the right direction (down) and so we accepted the wetness and relied on the fact we should be getting further away from the storm the quicker we got down; deciding to ignore the fact we were frequently following under electric pylons which was maybe not as good. Thankfully the trail down was a relatively easy descent, not so steep, on good wide track (even when some of it resembled a stream more then a path) and the road.

Keeping our cool as the rain gave us our longest shower ever (it didn’t stop) and the thunder continued to rumble, sometimes pretty loudly, above us, we made it into Setcases, a pretty town with stone buildings and streets along a river, and made an immediate beeline for the hotel we had booked. Our friend Rose had thought she may continue on to camp, but being soaked through now, has ended up staying with us; the hotel lady was lovely and sorted it for us to have a three bed room. With stuff out to dry, and all of us showered and changed into warm dry clothes, we had a mini explore of the town (rain again!) and enjoyed the quirky little shop here (so many tasty treats!) before now having some chill time.

We’re hoping for a yummy dinner tonight and looking forward to a bed for the night. Rose will then continue on hiking tomorrow but we plan to stay for a rest day here, doing the usual washing, charging, exploring, sleeping and eating; oh and partying for my birthday! With 685km walked, what a way to celebrate my birthday by knowing we have now completed 79% of the GR11 trail! Go us!

Thursday 1st September
Rest day in Setcases
0Km
Happy birthday to me!

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