The Famous Four
Today was the first day of the walk that there’s been four of us - after a couple of days of trying, Ross and Lucy finally joined Klaas and me as we set off on a section of the GR11 from Hospital de Vielha, hoping for a drier day than yesterday. Some of the kit had dried out overnight, but my rucksack was still pretty wet so it was a relief to set off with a blue sky.
Getting four people moving took a little longer than Klaas and I normally take, but all nine of Lucy’s blisters had had Compeed applied by 08:45 and we left the miserable owner of the refuge, hoping we never had to return.
After a couple of hours we faced a choice between an easy walk on the GR11 or a longer but more scenic walk on the HRP. Klaas was keen for an easier day so stayed on the GR11, while Lucy, Ross and I turned off for the climb up to Collado d’Estany de Mar (2,468m).
We left Klaas at the end of Estany de Ruis (1st photo), which was already pretty scenic, and climbed up past a few more lakes, getting ever more dramatic. After a quick lunch we climbed the last little bit up to the col (2nd photo) and were greeted by an amazing view over the other side down to Estany de Mar. It was generally agreed that the view was one of the most beautiful views we’d ever seen (2rd photo).
The descent was pretty steep, and I felt a bit like I’d had a limb cut off as I’d given a pole to Lucy, so had a spare arm with nothing to do. We made it safely down to the lake and Ross went for an impressively long (i.e. 5 strokes) swim, though it should be noted that there was no ice floating in his lake!
The walk along the side of the lake involved a large number of boulders, which began causing Lucy’s knees problems, so she ended up with 2 poles, while Ross and I made do with 1 each. Neither of us found the change from 2 poles to 1 very easy to cope with, and within half an hour both of us had sprained an ankle. I would always have said poles were fundamental to staying upright on snow, but I’d never realised how much I’d got used to having them on normal terrain.
By the time we’d reached the end of the lake and advised a French couple who’d somehow ended up in the wrong valley, we were all looking forward to getting our various damaged knees and ankles down. We made pretty good time, and were met at the refuge by Klaas with a welcome beer. Although he and I had talked about carrying on to find a bivouac spot, by the time we’d arrived he’d booked us into the Refugio de Restanca so we’ve since showered and had a great meal.
We were sat next to four English walkers at dinner, who are spending a couple of weeks doing bits of GR11 and some other tracks. They were amazed that we kept getting our bread basket refilled, then ate as much of the fat from our chicken legs as possible but, as I mentioned a few days ago, Klaas and I need every calorie we can get, and any form of fat is very welcome!