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GR11 (Spanish Pyrenees) Thru-Hike

Home Page > Camping > GR11 (Spanish Pyrenees) Thru-Hike

Between April and July 2026, we plan to walk the Spanish Pyrenees GR11 hike eastwards from Irun (Basque Country) to Llança (Catalonia), crossing Navarre and Aragon. The total distance is expected to be about 800 km with the official route shown on the map below. It's highly likely that the route we walk will change as we are starting about a month too early in the season, and will need to make adjustments to avoid deep snow. The route shown on the map will be updated as we progress. Places/locations we stay will be shown on the map using a marker (dot).




We ended up with 5 days off trail between the Scottish National Trail and starting the GR11. We spent one night in Perth, Scotland, two nights in Edinburgh then flew to Biarritz, France and had a night there before catching a couple of buses to Hendaya and walking a couple of k's over the border to Iruna, Spain. We enjoyed all these days and I saw a physio in Edinburgh for some treatment for my knee, which turned out to be an IT band issue which is apparently very common in female hikers.

So here we are now in Basque country which is beautiful and warm, although a little rainy, but still warm even with that! We need to get used to the available foods in Spain which we remember now does not really have convenience foods, like the sorts of things we have been taking on the trail. No cuppa soups here. Spaniards like their food fresh! We did get a two minute noodle and instant rice meal. The two minute noodles were very expensive compared with the UK, but I guess we weren't shopping at a Lidl in Irun, there was one but it was far from our hotel. We are here long enough to figure all this out. We will have to find something Spanish to fill the sizeable culinary gap left by tablet and shortbread!

We set off from our hotel today at 09:00 and had a cafe con leche and espresso on the way out of Irun. We also had to stop at a DHL service point as Mike needed to return part of a delivery (shorts which were the wrong size). The bloke at the shop could not print the return shipping label but he made a plan which seemed convoluted and inconvenient for him and involved about 4 mobile phones and photographing the return label Mike had been sent. In the end he assured us he would take care of it. This communication was all in French and a bit difficult to understand but as always these people you meet in small towns will try to help. The GR11 heads immediately for the hills with a big climb on a small road out of the city. The first few kilometres were very steep walking and we were grateful for our walking poles. Mike was wearing his new hiking boots which he had ordered to be mailed to our hotel in Irun. They went well today and he likes them. They are the same brand as his previous boots, but a different model. The GR11 is a major hiking route and as such is very well signposted with red and white painted stripes and also uses well-established tracks. We had rain this morning and this afternoon but did not feel under pressure with the weather. The rain feels like summer rain, you don't even need to put a rain jacket on.

The route was quiet and there were no other hikers. In total we climbed 903m and also had a long descent. We made use of three great picnic areas for hikers, one just out of Irun, one after about 7 km where we sat at a picnic bench and had lunch, watching a pair of horses walk about and the third a little off the GR11 where we ended up camping as it has a water fountain. We ended up getting to the end of our day at 17:00 and we had a lovely view from our little campspot which we could enjoy. The sun sets at 21:00 so evenings are more relaxed and so much warmer.


The only sounds last night were the hoot of an owl and the gurgling of the water fountain at our tent. What a perfect campsite! This morning we woke to misty conditions as cloud lay over the hilltops but it soon burned off. It's amazing what a change the weather is. In Scotland we didn't drink any water other than tea and coffee and there was water everywhere. Today we were thirsty with the climbs and the warm temperatures but water is not as readily available! We had 8 km to walk to Bera, town of the day. Basque country is hilly and there were views of hills and steep roads and tracks all around. There were were quite a few people out hiking and cycling today, being a public holiday Friday. Bera is a pretty place, but the small supermarkets were closed due to Labour Day. There was a coffee shop open with a bakery and we were able to buy bread for two days (Elizondo is the next town), eggs, mayonnaise, spicy sausage and jam. We sat in the square behind the shop and hard-boiled the eggs to eat later with mayonnaise on bread. After the town was a steep climb which was just straight up a track, so we had a long rest at the top.

The trail just wandered along after this, all on good tracks, through forest, winding along. We picked up water at a fountain and filtered from a stream. At the top of all the climbs was La Purdie, on the French border. There was a restaurant and quite a few people in campervans, on motorcycles and bicycles. There was a herd of horses with foals and all were amazingly tame, walking right up to the people and passed you as you sat in the shade. We picked up a few litres of water for a shower here and a few hundred metres up the track was a large, flat grassy area and also a shelter and bench. It was a lovely place to sit and eat, and we had our shower. Thunderstorms were rolling by when we set the tent up, once again with an outlook over the rolling hills. We had left Spain briefly at La Purdie but are about 3m back in Spain, which explains the great camping!


Unexpected things happened last night. The darkening skies, huge grey clouds and rolls of thunder did not result in any storms, instead they moved off away from us and we remained completely dry and strangely warm. The wind picked up around 22:30 and Mike put up guy ropes. I got up too and the weather just felt off, warm and windy. We went back to bed and not long after heard the "clanketty-clank" of a cowbell, sheepbell or horsebell. It was one of the La Purdi horses and it wandered about, bell clanking away for hours. At times you could hear it munching the grass at the tent. The grass in the area definitely looked manicured, and now we know why! It got windier as the night wore on and by morning it was cloudy and dark and still very windy. We could see a horse and foal through the tent window, standing just behind the tent. When we got up we saw that the entire herd was up here, having wandered up overnight.We had breakfast inside the little shelter.

We hit the trail just after 08:00 and again just kept making progress along excellent tracks. You barely need to navigate, you just keep your eyes open for the red and white stripe marker. Farmland and forest. We stopped for tea at a picnic site. They have these all over and even when only walking or cycling routes exist to be serviced by them. It was just really, really windy though. No rain. We had a climb to take us up to 800 m which was exposed and the wind was a battle. We passed many hunting hides and some wartime military defence bunkers. We saw a herd of minute miniature horses, hyperbole I know but they were next level miniature. There was even a baby miniature miniature. You almost couldn't see it. By now we were expecting to be wet as the rain was falling to our left and right over all the hills and valleys. With about 2 km to go to our planned end point, the track passed through a beautiful forest with good camping down the hill deep in leaf litter. By some miracle we got the tent up and I packed our stuff inside while Mike went to get more water from a nearby stream further down the hill. Then we quickly showered and were in the tent by the time the rain started. It's been raining pretty hard all afternoon. A nice early finish for us and we relaxed in the tent, the tree canopy keeping the worst of the rain off. A disappointment was that then sausages I bought yesterday which I assumed were some sort of cured meat were actually raw and needed to be cooked. Very sad face. Luckily we have enough food and have shops at Elizondo tomorrow morning after 7km.


We had plenty of rain overnight but set off in dry weather. We knew rain was forecast for the afternoon. Just over 2 km down the track was a picnic site where we had breakfast and from there around 5 km pretty steep downhill on narrow paths, now wet after the rain, to Elizondo. We shopped for the next couple of days and sat in the grounds of a public school to eat. After Elizondo we had a 700 m climb over about 7 km so off we went. It was pretty warm and also dry for about half the climb. Then the rain started.

After the first heavy shower it looked like maybe stopping but returned with a vengeance. We had pack covers and rain jackets on, so our top halves and packs were kept mostly dry but the rest of us were soaked. The climb started in farmland but ended in high forest and when it got down to the last 600 m we still had 140 vertical metres left to climb. Very steep climb on a very narrow path which was a river of clay in very heavy rain. We had planned to check out the shelter marked on our map but when we got there found it locked. It was maybe a hunting lodge or something. We sheltered in the wood store for a bit. There was a possibility for camping just after it but it wasn't that flat so we pressed on to where we could see a forest, but there wasn't good camping there. After passing through the forest we could see up on the ridge in the distance the wooden pole with route markers, Mike said, "Worse case scenario we camp there.". In the end that's what we did, the hike up there wasn't too bad and on top it was open with a lot of grassland being grazed by horses up there. We are camped right at the French border again and as we arrived the rain stopped. We even had a little sunshine, but after all that wetness were cold. The rock formation of Argibel is very striking and the large soaring birds we have seen every night camping are many up here, flying off the rocky ledges. It was in the end 824 m of climbing today.


Very heavy rain all night last night, but the horsebells could be heard clanking away so they weren't scared off by the weather. As there was some sort of hunter's hut 2 km or so along the route and heavy rain forecast for 09:00, we decided to get going and have breakfast there this morning. The walk followed the French-Spanish border for a while before turning back towards Spain. There was no rain but it was quite misty or cloudy. We arrived at the hut which was locked but had some stone benches to sit at under shallow eaves. As we made breakfast it started to rain and grew very heavy. The eaves had no gutters and it was quite hard to shelter under them. Eventually we set off in the rain and that would be the way of things today, we walked in the rain all day. At times it was torrential.

We passed a herd of sheep in the mist with a shepherd walking with them. We stopped to make tea in a forest. We walked down to a road which we crossed where there was a hut with eating area and a double bunk in a bedroom and we stopped for lunch. The walking was really good, beautiful forest, open grazing pastures. The rain set in. After the hut we climbed up into the mist, passed 1200m, thunder rolling above our heads. The descent was steep and often a stream caused by the heavy rain. The soil is very clayey and can be slippery. The path zigzagged down alongside a gorge which became a river. We were to camp just as the gorge flattened out. We came across flat grassy areas alongside the river and the rain got lighter, until we decided where to put the tent when it fell heavily again. We got in and sorted ourselves out and then sat outside for a bit as the sun finally peaked out for a few minutes. From the weather forecast, it looks like the rain will continue for the foreseeable future. At least we have the trail to ourselves and the walking is good.


It didn't rain last night and we walked in dry weather today which we really appreciated. We are finding fabulous places to camp and really missing being able to sit outside and enjoy our surroundings due to the weather. We got an early start as we had 11 km to walk to Buguete-Auritz where there was a supermarket which closed from 13:30 to 16:30. We were on the trail before 08:00 and had a steep climb over the first 4 km. Some of it super steep! After this it was just a nice downhill to the town. We were at the store in very good time and happy with that. We had cycled through this village last year when leaving Spain for France. A Camino also passes through here. The shop was fine with a good variety of things, but we do struggle a bit with the food options here. We bought what we needed for the next couple of days until the next town. We got cornflakes and milk to eat at the picnic tables in the adjacent park, but of course the minute we left the shop it rained hard and do we took shelter under some trees while we boiled some eggs. After 15 minutes or so the rain stopped and we could enjoy some tea and coffee.

We set off into the forest again, passing a field with mares and foals. There are many horses everyday. The forest walking over the next few km's was great and the sky was blue! We passed a good camping spot to get water at the next river and walked back to it. By the time we reached it it was pouring with rain so we ended up setting the tent up under a tree canopy for some rain protection. The forest floor was bare and flat so good camping, but no sun. We had very cold showers and spent the next couple of hours trying to warm up. It was really good that we had no rain while walking.


Very quiet and very dark night under our tree canopy. No rain until this morning of course! We had breakfast in the tent and a later start at 08:50. We had a mostly gentle climb through the forest but the tracks were wet and muddy. The clay soil holds a lot of water. We passed by some horses and a bit later on had a fairly brutal descent down to a tiny village. The path was narrow, slick with rain water and over sometimes very slippery rocks. In the end we walked for nearly three hours before our first proper break for morning tea in the village centre. The village was called Orbara and had an encouraging sign carved in wood suggesting coffee and bread was available. When we got to the village square the coffee and bread place was obviously undergoing renovations, judging by the painter's van parked outside. We sat on a stone bench with backrest and made tea and coffee. We decided to have lunch as it was already 11:30. We were visited by all the village cats, maybe 7 or 8 in total. There was a large stone church and quite a few houses. Not one person to be seen.

We climbed up to Hiriberri, next village, this time with dogs and also a man doing renovations. Not one other person. Even the water fountains were dry. We chanced apon public toilets, a tiny room with a door to the cobbled streets, but the basin tap dispensed water and the toilet flushed so we were able to pick up water, from the basin that is. We continued up the climb through a field of cows up towards where Mike knew there was a spring. Our plan was to pick up more water for a shower and walk to the top of the escarpment, a further 1 km to camp. However, the spring was at the end of a lovely meadow with good camping so even though it was only 15:30 we decided to call it a day. There didn't seem much point in carrying more water for only one more k. May as well carry it over til tomorrow. The weather was pretty bleak today again, misty rain. No wind though which is good. Tomorrow we are supposed to have sunshine! We are going to a town called Ochagavia where we plan to camp in the campsite and have a rest day. It will be nice to have a hot shower and wash our clothes.


We were very happy with our campsite last night, it was flat and comfortable and very quiet. Also our coldest night yet in Spain. I got up around 04:30 to make peepee and the sky was completely clear! You could have seen stars had it not been for the moon shining! So that explained the cold night. The morning was clear with some small clouds and we happily had breakfast outside admiring the morning. We had a climb for the first half of the day, firstly up through the forest above us and then out into the open and up to the escarpment. It was beautiful! The most scenic of all the days yet in Spain! We could see a range of jagged peaks covered in snow in the distance. We really loved it! The horses which you come across everywhere graze the grass down perfectly and up on the higher hilltops it is flat and we could see forever. We reached 1500m today, our highest altitude yet on this hike. Apart from a muddy, narrow path at the start of the day and a bit of that at the end, the walking was easy underfoot.

We could see Ochagavia before we descended to it. It was steep downhill at first but on an easy grassy track. We chose to leave the GR11 route with 4 km to go and picked a local forest trail instead to avoid unnecessary height gain and loss and were happy we did that. The rain started in the last hour of the hike and we made our way carefully through the cobbled streets of the village and out the other side to the campsite. We very seldom use campsites, and this was our first in Spain and very nice too. We spent some time sitting in the restaurant on site waiting while it rained heavily, enjoying our cafe con leche. There was a large undercover area with picnic benches as well. Eventually the rain eased and we got the tent up and headed back to town as the supermarket closed from 14:00 to 18:00. We also visited the pharmacy as my boots and socks have been wet for 5 days and so I now have athletes foot. And also very mus hy and smelly feet. It is a situation best avoided.

Campsites and showers. Now there is a roulette wheel to spin if you are a gambling person. You never know what you are going to get. The temperature is obviously key, more so if you haven't had one in over a week. Even more so if you have been wet for most of that time. The showers at Osate were sublime. So hot you scalded yourself. It was perfect. We slept like logs for nearly 12 hours and then did the laundry. Again, the campsite did not disappoint with really high quality machines and now our clothes are clean and dry. No rain today and it even got sunny in the late afternoon.We met another hiker, Padraig from Cork, Ireland. He had been hiking the same section as us and is getting the bus to Pamplona from here tomorrow. He was a top bloke as he gave us a brand new gas cannister and another half full one.

We charged our battery and phones and went back to town for resupply for the next 5 days. Something is up with our solar panel. It won't charge anything anymore, that is even when the sun is out. We only got it this year so this is a bit rubbish. We have decided to buy another battery and just forget the solar power. Our current set up with the 25 000 mAh battery we have gets us through nearly a week so we will be fine with two as we use accommodation often enough.


NO RAIN. Today. Yippee!!!! The entire day was one long climb from our campsite in Ochagavia to about 5 km short of Isaba. No descent at all, just up, up all day. Our packs were really heavy too as we were carrying 5 days worth of food. The next shop en route is in Isaba, but we will go through there on Sunday and so the shop will be closed. Thereafter the next shop is in Candanchu, but there is a better shop about 2 km off trail, in Canfranc. Looking at all this we have decided to take 5 days to walk Ochagavia- Canfranc from where we will get the train to Zaragoza. We have booked into a hotel for three nights there and then travel back the same way to pick up the trail again.

So our packs were very heavy, but we have good food, such as eggs, mayonnaise, breads etc. Ochagavia has a good bakery. The route today was all on a high quality unsealed road. Even though it was a no rain Saturday no one was about, except for a couple we came across in the middle of the day taking a walk. We saw no horses today either, and no rivers or streams. The area we planned to camp looked to possibly have a stream just before it, but there wasn't one Where our walking path turned off the road we could see ahead what looked like a stream crossing and were very happy when, walking along the road a bit more, it was a tiny trickle and we could filter water there. The area we are camping is beautiful. It was a lovely walk all round today, a lot of conifer trees and views of the mountains. We have even sat outside IN THE SUN to eat dinner and enjoy some warmth.


Mike woke in the night feeling nauseous, took a tablet for it but ended up having a puke in the early hours. Fun times. Must have been too much mayonnaise in his egg mayonnaise. Luckily for him it was not raining! Due to this disruption to our sleep, we got up a bit later and left at 09:00. We heard cuckoo's today for the first time in Spain so it must be spring! Mike also spotted our first processional caterpillar....procession, reminding us of how many of them we saw early last year in Spain. We had a 5km downhill stretch to Isaba, a lovely village however pretty useless to us on a Sunday with everything closed. Just before Isaba the trail passed through a lovely old Hermitage and we had morning tea there. After Isaba we climbed a lot, often on road and had our first close up views of the rugged Pyrenees.

The weather was pretty sunny today but we had heavy showers around midday. Beautiful rivers with very clear water. Part of the trail passed an area of dairy farming and we encountered an anxious herd of cows with many babies. One of the babies had wandered across the path so was in the bush to the right of us with all the cows and a bull to the left. We hung back to give the calf time to reunite with the cows who were shrieking at it. The path from here was shredded by the herd of cows, so it was very muddy and sticky. We ended up on the sealed road to avoid a steep climb on the cow path. This added a little distance but was quick walking on a beautiful road.

We left Navarre and entered Aragon, walking up a stunning valley until our route left the open road by means of a narrow path and steep climb. We had very heavy rain for the last half hour so were pretty wet once the tent was up. We are very much in the mountains now for the first time on the hike and the views are outstanding.


It rained very hard overnight and we did well to motivate ourselves and get on the trail around 08:30, in our wet hiking clothes. It looked like a pretty good weather day, cloudy but no rain threatening and we dried out pretty quickly. We had the steep climb up to the Col de Petraficha and it was beautiful. The last bit was deep in snow but we were okay walking through. Over the top the scenery was very dramatic and the snow deep there too. As it was a steep downhill and you couldn't see the end of the snow we used our crampons for the first time and that worked very well. You can't actually feel them on but they very much help the grip. It was steep downhill and we stopped on the way down for tea and lunch.

At the bottom we joined a road and saw quite a few other day walkers and vehicles. The area is a drawcard for nature lovers. We walked up the valley alongside a beautiful river. We climbed up to the top of the valley and found shelter in the little cabin there just in time for heavy rain to hit. We had a snack as we were hungry. When the rain passed we continued down the next valley which was wide and very green with grassy pastures. We had nearly 3 km to walk to a gushing river and found a place to camp. It was a good days walk and we made good progress. We climbed 1031 vertical metres today. By doing those extra few km's we have reduced our climb tomorrow by quite a bit. We were delighted when the sun came out and we could have a river swim and sit outside in the sun and eat. It is pretty unusual to be able to do that! We got in the tent around 19:00 and the rain started again.


It was a perfect morning, clear skies but very cold. The tent was iced over. So obviously it was actually freezing, camping at 1630 m! We had breakfast inside the tent and got going before 08:00, up the first little climb, still in a grassy valley. We have three nights booked at a hotel in Zaragoza from tomorrow and will take the train there from Canfranc. However, with the distances we have been doing lately it seemed possible to get the train this evening (there are only two trains from Canfranc per day, 06:35 and 18:19). Mike saw that we had internet access and we booked a hotel for tonight in Huesca which is a 2 hour train journey from Canfranc. As Zaragoza is a 3 hour trip so we would only arrive there at 21:30 so it seemed a good idea to break the trip. There are also more trains from Huesca to Zaragoza so we could get one tomorrow morning at 09:00. After all that we got going in earnest. We had a steep climb to the pass between two valleys and there were a few snow drifts to cross where there was no sun. One of these was hard ice. We used our crampons effectively again and as we did not want to keep taking them on and off even walked over the rocky ground with them on. We are pleased we bought heavier steel crampons as opposed to lightweight aluminium one's as you wouldn't want to stress aluminium spikes this way. I didn't like this bit, the hard ice on a steep side incline, but the crampons do their job. Mike loved it! We are now seeing the odd chamois when we are in the rockier, high mountain areas. After this high point, just shy of 2 000m, we made our way down passed a beautiful alpine lake. This area was difficult to navigate as the path was often under snow patches and wouldn't have been straightforward to follow in good conditions. We were enjoying the sunny weather however!

Once passed the lake we had a climb up over grassy slopes again and then down the other side. There was a large group of school students up there on an excursion. We had a 4 km nightmare through France. This section was a narrow route through forest and then contouring round the valley head over a mixture of scree slope and ice and snow. There was one particularly dangerous river crossing. The river was fast flowing and dropped away quickly over large boulders. It was even difficult to get to it as you had to climb over huge boulders to do so. On the other side lay a mixture of snow and pebbles all churned up. We do not like these ice and snow patches when they are melting from underneath as the part that you walk on can be thin without appearing so. After the snow/ice we had to get low down on the scree slopes to be on the right path which entailed sliding down the tumbling stones, gripping where you could. Mike got down okay but I really struggled and was afraid. It was all made worse by the rain which was now falling and also we were under pressure to get the train. It's typical that the route became so technical and difficult on the day we needed it to be simple and manageable! I was in tears by this point, it was frightening stuff!

Suddenly we popped out of France and back into Spain at Candanchu, a ski resort. From here we walked a Camino route to Canfranc. The train station is before the town and in the end we were there over an hour early which was good. We had barely had any breaks during the day but it was not raining any longer and the station had lots of benches outside the old building and also a water fountain so we made tea and had something to eat. What a day! A diesel train took us to Huesca and it was a scenic trip, particularly coming through Riglos with its huge domes of rock which pop out of nowhere. Then we were suddenly in the flatlands and off the train. It was nearly 21:00 by the time we got to our hotel, a short walk from the train station. We were too tired even to get dinner, the idea of sitting in a restaurant for an hour was impossible. Cornflakes for dinner! Lovely hotel in the old town.


Breakfast was cafe con leche and a bite to eat at the bakery close to the train station in Huesca. An hour long train trip took us to Zaragoza. We expected to check in to our hotel at 15:00 and took our time walking through the city, getting a drink, doing the laundry and sitting in a park for our tent to dry out a bit laid out in the sun. We enjoyed laying out in the sun too! We went to drop our packs off at the hotel at 12:30 and were so happy when they just checked us in! The hotel is great! Our room has a bath, happy days! We are so pleased to have three nights here. We had the most delicious hamburgers and patatas for lunch and went to a couple of stores. We have decided to get rain pants. We have been using rain skirts up to now, but in the heavy rain we have had they are ineffective. We ended up ordering them online to be delivered to our hotel.

Unfortunately Mike was very ill overnight with stomach issues again. It is concerning and he was up from the early hours. By midday the next day he seemed to be over the worst of it. I went off to get my hiking trousers repaired as the seams in the crotch keep wearing out. The lady at the alternation store ironed on patches for repair. Amazingly they are the same colour as the pants even though she only had a couple to choose from! Then I got a haircut and went out for coffee and cake!

We have done some forward planning on the route. It was always a gamble, tackling the GR 11 (or any of the high altitude routes) so early in the spring. We already knew that the highest passes eg. the Col de Terrebay at 2800m would not be possible due to snow, but had chosen to take a wait and see approach. Our experience on the route into Candanchu was that dangers lay much, much lower and for the meantime are not confident on the certainty of being able to progress at altitude much higher than 2000m. We can't say that we are surprised by this. Most people tackle this hike July-August. We came into this thing understanding that we might have to make changes on the fly

We have now picked the lower-lying GR 15, which is called a Pre-Pyrenean route and sits mainly around 1500m, going up to 2350m. We will get the train back towards Canfranc, getting off at Castiello de Jaca and then walk east to Mollo, 450 km away. Mike has then planned that we will walk the GR 11 again west back to Canfranc again, another 450 km. This means we should hit the GR 11 again in late June which will give us a better chance of coping with the snow conditions of the higher altitude climbs. Of course, all subject to change.

A combination of other circumstances too complicated to describe have led us to have an extended break in Zaragoza, with one night in Tudela thrown in due to exhorbitant hotel prices in Zaragoza on a Saturday night! So we checked our of Hotel Exe Boston on Saturday and took the train to Tudela (halfway between Zaragoza and Logrono) and then came back to Exe Boston on Saturday. We hope to be back on the trail sometime tomorrow, Monday 18th.

We had our rain pants delivered to our hotel in Zaragoza on 18th (this delivery had taken longer than anticipated). We then took the train on the afternoon of the 19th to Huesca again where we stayed at another great hotel (different part of town to the place we had stayed there a week before). We will catch a train to Castiello-Pueblo to start hiking the GR 15 on the morning of the 20th. Our plan is still to walk east on this route and then loop back on the higher-lying GR 11. Of course now that we have our fabulous rain pants summer has arrived and the daily temps are heading into the 30's, around here anyway.

Neither of us slept well last night, not sure why. We caught the 09:51 train from Huesca to Castiello-Pueblo which took two hours. This was a regional train once again and the carriages are so warm, the aircon doesn't work properly. There was a technician checking it out. Castiello-Pueblo is a village and the train station was tiny but with a bench undercover. It was a perfect day. Summer is here! So nice not having to chase the weather! We walked along a small road in the pine forest, along the beautiful River Ijuez. We passed by a dairy farm and rested in the shade with a couple of donkeys and some miniature horses. We weren't keen on doing much distance, just getting back into the walking. Our packs felt very heavy. We reached a picnic area with undercover tables and benches and access to the river. It was a lovely spot below the pine forest. We had the place to ourselves. The only people we have seen on the way up here besides the farmhands were a few cyclists.


It was a perfect morning and a perfect, sunny day! We had breakfast at the picnic area and set off up a climb through pine forest. We passed some old, ruined villages. The walking was good and we had views of the snow-capped Pyrenees. Down the other side, we chose to take the mountain bike route instead of the walking trail as there was a warning about a difficult river crossing. The Rio Aurin has changed its course so that there is now a 9m high cutaway in the river bank. Sounds dodgy. We were pleased with the route we chose, it took us quickly down to the road and we had a short walk along it to an open area off the road where we could also access the river. As this was the only reliable water source today, we chose a shorter day. We spent the afternoon lying in the shade and having dips in the river.


We both slept really well last night which was good. Woke up around 06:30 still a little sleepy. Another beautiful, still, clear morning. It is so amazing to us that we are warm and don't have to worry about the weather. We heard a boar in the bushes at the river this morning. We set off along the sealed road but soon turned off up a dirt road and spent the day walking forestry tracks really, pretty nice, easy walking. We spent a couple of hours in a small refugio which was very cool. So much so that we got cold inside there. It was so worthwhile as we left and felt comfortable in the afternoon warmth. The temperature is only around 24 or so midday, but it has been such a sudden change for us, we are still acclimatising! We saw a VERY bright green lizard on the path! Heading downhill after this we passed through a pretty Spanish village and then headed into the Aras River Valley. There are many weirs built over this very steep river as it descends rapidly towards Biescas. We found a small open area to sit in the shade and then went to have a lovely dip. The area proved popular with two groups of youngsters and a bloke on his own coming to spend time at the weir. We had a relaxing afternoon.


It was only 2 km to the town of Biescas and a very pretty place too. We waited for the supermarket to open at 09:00 to pick up some supplies for a few days. Just after the town was a picnic area where we sat and had morning tea. It was already warm at 10:30. We had a lot of climbing today over a short distance and this started making our way up the path to the village of Gavin. Just after the village we had a great dip in the cold river and then started the climb to Yesero. This is a tiny village with a restaurant or bar and we had ice cold Cokes in glasses filled with ice which was very refreshing. We sat in the little playground with a view over the valley and relaxed. We are going to have a siesta probably every day so as not to walk in the hottest time of day. We were able to charge our batteries at a wall plug by the playground. A group of motorcyclists turned up and had lunch in the restaurant. We relaxed on the benches in the playground. An hour or so later three of the motorcyclists came wandering into the park. One glanced at me and I relinquished my bench and went to sit with Mike, whereupon the bloke lay down on the bench for siesta One of the other blokes lay down on the children's slide and the third lay on the ground. They slept and as if pre-arranged at 15:30 they all woke up and shuffled off when their motorcycling wives appeared.

We left Yesero shortly after for the final climb of the day, a very, very steep track up to a saddle and panoramic view. I took strain on this climb, it was very steep and sweaty. Over 2.4 km we climbed 525 m. About 1 km before our end point Mike followed a GPS waypoint to a spring to collect water but it took him a very roundabout way and was much quicker coming back. At least there was some water, but only a trickle. At the top of the climb we met a local who was on his way back to his car after hiking up to the highpoint we would cross tomorrow. He was very friendly. Later two women passed our campsite going up to the same spot to watch the sunset! We were pretty happy to get into our tent!


We were up a little earlier than usual and that beautiful view of the Pyrenees, still partly under snow and all the ranges of hills greeted us. First up was a 300-odd m climb over less than 2 km to get to the top of the hill closest to us. Fabulous views! We could see so many of the towns and villages we had walked through. We hit a wide track or road after this and made good progress. The day ended with a descent of nearly 1 300 m on a narrow track littered with large stones. The track had led to what is now an abandoned village and in parts it was still in good condition, but overall made for tiring walking, concentrating on where you put your feet all the time.

We turned off the path at the 9 km mark as there was supposed to be a stream or some other water source, but there was nothing. Finally a couple of k's later we crossed a stream and were so happy. Mike filtered water for our bottles. This was the first water we had seen since Mike went off route last night hunting down that little stream. It's a bit concerning, the lack of water on this trail. We had thought we would find camping before Oto but the river we had earmarked had been munched up by cows and was in no fit state to provide a dip, which we needed. We were so sweaty! So we ended up in the campsite at Oto which was good. The swimming pool was still empty. We could have done with a swim! The ablutions were brilliant, hot, hot water for showering and everything is spotless.


We had a 2 km walk from the campsite at Oto to a hotel in Broto where we had booked 2 nights. The weather is still sunny and warm. Broto is a pretty village on the River Ara. We enjoyed our hotel, especially the aircon and liked staying in the village. Unfortunately we found after our first shower in the hotel that our torso's and backs were covered by a rash. We had done laundry at the campsite but we used the dryer so did not hang anything up. We both felt fine, we were not ill. Suddenly we realised, this must be a reaction to the pine processional caterpillar. These are active during spring. We have encountered them before in Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands, but never been effected. The reaction can happen days after being in the vicinity of the caterpillars, you don't have to touch them or see them. So, not very nice, but the rash should ease in a few days.

Upstream of Broto lies Torla-Ordesa, another beautiful village and the gateway to Ordesa National Park. The Ordesa Valley is a major tourist attraction and we are very pleased to be in the area outside the summer season. We walked from Broto to Torda-Ordesa which took about an hour and was a lovely walk along the stunning river. We sat in a park with views of the valley and downed a litre of Coke each in preparation for the climb out of the river valley. We had a steep, hot climb up to the little church of Santa Ana and then followed the gravel road further up. At the church was a farm with a herd of cows and calves, bells ringing. As we climbed higher up and found a place to camp we can still hear the bells although they are far beneath us. We are camped near a small stream and were able to relax in the late afternoon shade. We climbed 786 m in 8 km today which was pretty tough!


We are now waking up at 06:00 by alarm to try to get as much walking in during the cool of the morning. Today's walk was the most scenic of the trip. We walked along the rim of the national park and had amazing views down into the valleys and across into the mountains. We walked mainly on an unsealed road which has no vehicle access, except for the little tourist shuttle bus which takes people up to the viewpoints. There was only one of those and a couple of other vehicles. We spent the day up high, the high point being 2201 m.

We saw some chamois and marmots and amazing rock features. There was little water up there but Mike filtered at a tiny stream. Once we had turned away from the national park suddenly the landscape became very arid. Dropping down into the next valley there was a water fountain into a trough and a well-placed tree giving plenty of shade so we could relax there for the afternoon. There were thunderstorms forecast and as it grew a little cloudy, mosquitoes appeared so we pitched the tent and showered using our waterbag. We had to get into the tent due to the mosquitoes but as the sun had not set it was quite warm. We were very happy with the day though.


We hiked down through the village of Sercue, still along the unsealed road. Here we returned to the GR 15 route which took us down into the Anisclo Canyon through which the Rio Bello's ran. This was spectacular, the sheer rock walls of the canyon and the clear blue pools and white water rapids of the river. No swimming allowed, it looked very dangerous. It was lovely and cool down at the river and there is a little church inside a cave, the Ermita de San Urbez. We filled up with water at a fountain and then started the climb. This was 612 m in 2.7 km. It was steep and sometimes very steep, but as we climbed it grew a little cooler. At the top we were really up close to the rock cliffs and the huge eagles that nest in the crevices in them. We hit a very narrow contour path which we followed for a bit. We were amazed it was even there and doesn't get washed out over winter and with rain up here. It was so tiny and just dirt, not even gravel. Also you had to be careful where you put your feet as over the edge the ground just fell away.

We were concerned about water availability up here and also finding a spot to camp as it is a very steep-sided valley. We were very excited to come across a tiny pool of water accumulating from dripping down a rock wall. Mike filtered 4 L and so I carried our two 1.5 L bottles and he carried the 4 L bag. We were also excited to come across a flattish area to camp with the most amazing views of the valley and surrounding rockfaces. It was a pretty warm day at 27 degrees with the effort of the uphill climb. The area we were to camp in was in the sun so we sort of lay around on the path in the shade for a few hours. We do miss the river swim most keenly, but are pretty happy that we could get water for a shower!


The nights are so quiet. Complete silence. We were up at 06:00 and our view whilst breakfasting was pretty unbelievable. Such a massive landscape! The trail continued very narrow and right on the edge of a sheer drop at the base of the massive cliffs. It is a well-forested area though and so if you fell off the edge at least your fall would be broken by the trees! We had a longish descent to a beautiful canyon which we viewed from above when crossing the river by bridges at two places. The rushing water carved a smooth passage through the rock. Unfortunately, before we got to this point, I slipped on some bits of woods in the leaf litter and really hurt my right knee. The pain was excruciating. I was able to get up and walk though, but realised that the damage had been done more to my outer calf muscle than the knee. Walking was very painful, but improved as the day wore on.

After the river came a longish climb to Bestue over a rocky path. Bestue was a lovely village. The path took us into a little picnic area with a view over the cliffs we had just walked down. It was amazing to see it from this angle, even having done the walk we could not fathom how it had been possible! There were interesting information boards in the village about the geology of the area. We relaxed there for a bit and Mike found a big tick on his leg. A few cyclists rode up to Bestue, it's an in and out road.

After Bestue we had a descent all the way to Lafortunada. This is because we had shortened the route a bit which took out a climb. The road walking was pleasant and quiet. The area is full of hiking routes. We reached Hospital deTella first, which is on the Rio Cinca like Lafortunada. The river was beautiful viewed from high up as we descended through a very arid area. It was hot and we were desperate for a river swim, having not had one for over a week! We had a bit of a complication with the shop in Lafortunada. It closed from 14:00 to 17:30 each day, according to a photograph of the sign on the door posted in Google Maps. Being a Saturday, the actual closing time given in Google Maps was 13:30. We decided to find a spot on the river to swim and stay cool until 17:30 as it was already 13:10 and we still had 3 km to walk. We would not make it in time to the shop. We did find a great spot, under the road bridge which crossed a tributary of the main river, or rather it's empty riverbed. It was cool under the bridge on the concrete footings and we had a lovely dip in the river and a sleep, something to eat....so a siesta! We set off for the shop before 17:00, walking along the main road in the shoulder. This was not very nice walking but we could not cross the river to the path on the other side. We did walk by the dam on the river which was interesting. We got to the shop as the lady opened and were able to get a good selection of things for the next 5 days. The lady presented us with a jar of foie-gras for free which was very generous of her. The thunderstorms which had been threatening for hours finally brought some rain as we walked up the trail to find a place to camp, which we did under some trees at the river. Another river swim and fresh bread and eggs for dinner!



Today's walk was made up of two main climbs with a descent to a village in between. The total climbing for the day was 1 119m which was once again high over only 13 km. The first climb had some tricky bits over scree slope and at the top we made our way just off route to a refuge where we made an early lunch and had a nap. The views were really good on the climb, the surrounding mountains are impressive.

We then descended into the village of Saravillo, which is postcard perfect, very pretty. Once again, great views. After this we climbed again towards Ibon de Plan, which we will pass tomorrow. We were really lucky on the walk today as we seemed to be in shade alot The first climb was all in morning shade (we got a 07:15 start and the climb took 3 hours). The descent was also often shady and on the final climb the weather was overcast with thunderstorms. It was still a warm day and sweaty work. We stopped near the end of the day to eat and have a dip in a stream. At the same time a couple running down the path also stopped to have a dip, which was such a coincidence as we never see anyone on this trail! We set off to complete the final kilometre with heavy packs as once again we carried 7 L of water between us. We found a really good place to camp on a grassy track and managed to get the tent up and have another rinsing shower before the rain arrived!


Today's walk took us to the highest point we have been yet in Spain, the Colladeta del Ibon at 2 345m. In total we climbed 1 168m and descended 1 082m so we were on the move a long time, nearly 10 hours! We started the morning with the climb up to the Refugio de Lavasar, which is also the place where cars can be left to hike to Ibon de Plan. This is an extremely popular walk for people to do in summer and even now, when we don't see anyone hiking, we saw 8 people walking in various places in the area. We stopped at the Refugio and were joined by a small herd of 5 goats who were extremely interested in all our belongings, licked our hiking pole handles and generally tried to steal our food. The walk to Ibon de Plan was beautiful, through pine trees. The lake itself was perfect, clear and cold and surrounded by the towering mountains and scree slopes. We had a refreshing swim. We then set off to climb up to Colladeta del Ibon which was an amazing climb, the first part was still in forest and then suddenly we left the forest behind and it was very dramatic rocky scenery and scree underfoot until the top. We are lucky that the weather was cooler today and even the breeze was cool.

We are really impressed with the GR 15 hike and this area particularly so. Unfortunately we are limited for walking days between resupply points as you could easily spend a couple of days just camping here. The views are remarkable. After the top it was very steep down to the Refugio de Armena. We stopped soon afterwards for a bite to eat in the shade of the pine trees. We had a huge amount of height to lose over very few kilometres and the hike down was very steep too. We kept looking back at the scenery. One really good thing about the day was that there was a lot of water around, many rivers, streams and two lakes. Some of this was snow melt from the patches of snow still to be seen up on the high slopes. We reached the unsealed road which connects to Barbaruens and there was a spring along it to fill our shower bag. We then turned off this road onto another track and found a nice spot to camp just on the track shoulder.


We had an easy walk downhill to Barbaruens. We stuck to the unsealed road which was a lovely walk and avoided the hiking path which has a steeper drop. We felt pretty tired after yesterday. Barbaruens is a tiny village but as usual there were garbage bins (garbage and recycling are all collective public points in villages and cities) and a water fountain. We sat on a bench in the village and a local man chatted to us about where we had come from and where we were going. We managed to communicate our route to him. We continued walking along the now sealed, but very quiet road until turning off into the hiking route again into Seira, which took us along a very arid, stony route.

It was much warmer being lower down with no cooling breeze. We popped out at Seira and crossed the bridge over the raging Rio Esera into the new village of Seira. This place seemed more like a town though! The hydroelectric plant must have driven the development of the place and it was on an N-road so quite a bit of traffic. We made our way along the main street to find a bench to sit on. We were pretty tired. The council offices had a shady front porch and a bench where we sat. Apart from the council office, there was a dispensary (medical we presume) and a post office. There was a busstop and even a municipal swimming pool. We had a 5 day stint from Lafortunada to El Pont de Suert for resupply and we research each place we pass through to make sure we don't miss any opportunities to get food so we knew that Seira had nothing, but we couldn't believe it looking at the place and it's facilities. But there really wasn't anything. I took a walk to where there was a restaurant but it was shut and the Tienda (shop) next door looked like it had been closed for years. What these people do when they run out of bread we do not know, not even a panaderia. There is a daily bus service to bigger towns, including Huesca. We were tempted. One really good find was the door open a crack behind the bench leading to a room containing a defibrillator. We didn't need the defibrillator but there was a plug which we used to charge our batteries. This wasn't really necessary as we hit a hotel stay in 2 days time, but you can't bypass a charging opportunity. We ate our sandwiches and made coffee and then set off at 12:30.

We had a climb of around 500 m to end the day so followed the road out of town onto a really good 4WD track which the route followed uphill. The views were good and the surface was good too, often with large stone slabs. We passed 2 cyclists, 3 motorcyclists and 2 4WD vehicles. One Frenchman offered us water which was nice. It seems a popular route. Before seeing all the people, the track crossed a small river and we had a refreshing dip. Much further on we came to a tiny stream with a grassy patch next to it and big trees for shade and decided to camp there.


Last night got pretty chilly and it was 5 degrees C when we got up, bit of a change there! Added to that, today's maximum temperature was 20 degrees so it seems the "heat dome" which has swamped Europe over the last couple of weeks has lifted. The air today was very clear and we could easily see our route down from Colladeta del Ibon a couple of days ago We walked along the 4WD track for a few k's before our route turned off to Gabas. We enjoyed the 4WD track which is also a mountain bike route but thought we would stick to the GR 15. We quickly regretted this choice when the trail plunged down through long grass, over large stones and lastly under unkempt wildrose creepers. It was an obstacle course and clearly not used. When we popped out at Gabas, in a steep uphill we were rushed at by sheep dogs that barked and chased us. We got back on the mountain bike route and after walking through a small pine forest and seeing wild boar for the first time, we sat down for a rethink. The mountain bike route added distance but not height and we could see how the GR 15 trail was going to go, climbing up to and dropping down from one village to another. The villages are mostly useless, unless you want to dispose of garbage or need water. As we set off, a mountain biker rode passed us, a race number on his bike. He said hello and then two more passed. Pretty soon we realised this was a race, or at least a tour of some sort. We were going uphill and so all the riders flew towards us and were mostly very friendly. Finally we came across 2 who had stopped for a bite to eat. They were Flemish. They told us it was a 7 day race across the Pyrenees and they started on the Barcelona coast and were headed to Irun. We looked it up online later, it's called TransPyr and seems to attract a diverse field. Some of the riders seemed pretty experienced and others were much older and on e-bikes. They ride over 100 km a day which is pretty tough.

We stopped to have lunch just to the side of one particularly tight hairpin bend and watched the last riders come by. After that we had the road to ourselves again. We had hoped to find water at a river but there was none. We would have loved to have camped up high under the shady pine trees on the flat green grass, but we had no water and had to keep going. We decided to leave the mountain bike route where there was a signposted trail to Espes as this would get us back onto our route and was much shorter than the mountain bike route. The trail down started nicely but became crazy. As it descended the valley to Espes, there were many fallen trees and other obstacles. We got to the river which made for a pretty wet and muddy track and finally came out below the town. Mike filtered water from the river there and we decided to just walk the sealed road which was pretty quiet, until we found camping.There are deep ravines in the area so the rivers are far below the road. We walked 5 km in the end until we found an area which was campable and with easy access to the river. We covered a lot of distance today and were tired, but it was possible as we had very little climbing compared to other days and also it was a cooler day today. From here we have only 12 km to El Pont de Suert and a 3 night hotel stay which we are looking forward to.


We were pretty pleased that the distance we had managed yesterday left us with just 13 km to walk today and it was pretty easy walking. We used the trail when it made sense to do so, one section went through a nature park and it was really well-manicured. There were short sections around farmland near Bonanza where the path was pretty dodgy, but generally it was good. We were very happy to drop down into El Pont de Suert by 11:30. The village is just in Catalonia. We went straight to the laundrette and luckily we were the only one's there and it was inside a building on a very long passage with a dead end so we could get out of our walking clothes as everything needed to be washed. Well, Mike did not have to wash his shorts as he had new ones waiting for him which he had ordered on Amazon. We got the washing going and he went to the Amazon collection point at a Tabac shop nearby. He came back, opened the box and had been sent a pair 2 sizes too big! Oh man, so disappointing! He messaged Amazon and they refunded him for the shorts which he can keep but he still needs new shorts!

We went to have lunch at the local Doner Kebab place which was delicious and then went to check in, a little early. The hotel is little, it seems to have only a few rooms on one floor and a living area and kitchen downstairs. The lady who runs it is so sweet. We can use the little kitchen which has a coffee machine and fridge etc. She will give us a small breakfast in the morning which is lovely! We are here for three nights.

We are now finished the GR 15 which crosses Aragon. We have decided to get back onto the GR 11 as with the warm weather we feel we can risk the higher passes and if not we can get around them. Mike has been really keen to spend some time in Andorra, but has assumed that the hotel prices would be really high there, being a tiny principality with a reputation for luxury. But in fact the hotels at this time of year are very cheap indeed! So we have decided to spend three nights in a hotel there too. We will travel from here by bus, which actually means we have to take a bus to Lleida, 130 km south of here first and then take the bus 150 km back to Andorra which is north-east of us. After our little break there we will then get a bus to Puigcerda, further east and start walking the GR 11 route back towards Canfranc, where we abandoned it before going to Zaragoza weeks ago. So that's the plan! We are really enjoying taking our time through Spain and making route decisions as we go based on what we want to do.