Thursday 25 August 2011

The Tebay Lad and Geordie Lass backpack in the Parc National D' Aiguestortes I Estany De Saint Maurici, Part1



We travelled by Eurostar to Paris and then TGV to Toulouse.  In theory 13 hours from Carlisle.  A lack of research on my part saw us missing the Toulouse train by 5  mins and having to get a later train.




After a night camping in Espot we took the hair-raising Landrover taxi to the Refugi JM Blanc by the Estany Tort. We have been to the Pyrenees at least 5 times but always to the granite peaks such as Carlit and Andorra.  This area is no exception being white granite.  There are dozens of lakes , often with white granite sandy beaches and best of all no midges.


The track (GR11-20) led on past the Estany Negre.



The track continued to the col in the middle distance.



After a short first day we pitched up at 2500m over looking Estany del Cap del Port.  The cloud had built up, but luckily it stayed fine.



Next morning we followed the track around the lake and over the Collada de Saburo (2689m).



The Geordie Lass breaks free of the boulder field below the Collada de Saburo. There is a path down there somewhere.


After passing two more lakes, there are too many to mention, we rounded the Estany de Colomina and headed for the refuge.






We bought lunch in the refuge and settled down for a rest in the heat of the day.



4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What an absolutely fantastic place, Greg. Spectacular mountains, crystal clear lakes – what else does a man need? The great thing about the Pyrenees is they are so vast, you could spend any number of holidays there and still not see half the sights. I’ve only been a couple of times, but now you’ve got me all fired up I’m going to have to think about another trip. Looking forward to the next instalment.
Alen McF

-maria- said...

Looks like a fine area to walk in! Looking forward to the next part.

Greg said...

Thanks Alen, despite being a national park we saw very little wildlife. In fact we only saw vultures in the Ariege.
By the way loved the video on Valeta , the 3 rd highest mountain in spain apparently.

Thanks Maria , need to process the pics first.

J_on_tour said...

Spectacular scenery, it makes some of the UK terrain look like a walk in the park.