Outdoor Adventures with Ancient Brit
Pyrenees GR11 2003 - Day 7: August 15th
Friday 15th August
When I woke at 7.30am the Germans were already up and sorting out their breakfast.
There had been a light drizzle overnight and it was a typical Basque morning with heavy
grey cloud. I left at 9am, before the Germans, and followed the Pista to Embalse de Irabia
through shady forest. Fortunately there wasn’t much of a view of the reservoir as it was
half empty and was an eyesore. I continued on to the tourist parking at Casas de Irati.
The walked up the road, rather than follow the GR11, which climbed unnecessarily steeply
up through the woods. I took a break where the trail left the road to climb for the 1537m
Abodi. The sun appeared as I climbed up through the woods and then grass slopes to the
summit.
From the summit, I got my first view of the “real mountains” to the east. This was a
limestone ridge and there were a number of sinkholes.
I arrived at the Santuario de Muskilda at about 5.30pm. This was an old monastery
and still the objective of pilgrims. I picked up my second supply bag from the nearby
woods and stopped at the popular picnic site, beside the monastery. I had a tea-break and
sorted out my supplies. There wasn’t a good place to camp so I dropped down to
Ochagavia. The steep path down to Ochagavia was the old pilgrim route to the sanctuary.
There were crosses at regular to encourage the devout; closer together at the top than the
bottom! This town seemed to be a tourist resort, which had forgotten to cater for the
tourists! I couldn’t find anywhere to buy fruit juice or cans of beer, but the bank was
open! I couldn’t find anywhere to get water and eventually got some from a garden hose
in the grounds of the bank.
I trudged out of town with a heavy pack, with 5 litres of water in addition to 4 days
supplies, following a minor road up to 950m where I was able to camp in a recently cut
hayfield. A Thunderstorm hit at 10pm and thunder was rumbling away for several hours.
When I woke at 7.30am the Germans were already up and sorting out their breakfast.
There had been a light drizzle overnight and it was a typical Basque morning with heavy
grey cloud. I left at 9am, before the Germans, and followed the Pista to Embalse de Irabia
through shady forest. Fortunately there wasn’t much of a view of the reservoir as it was
half empty and was an eyesore. I continued on to the tourist parking at Casas de Irati.
The walked up the road, rather than follow the GR11, which climbed unnecessarily steeply
up through the woods. I took a break where the trail left the road to climb for the 1537m
Abodi. The sun appeared as I climbed up through the woods and then grass slopes to the
summit.
From the summit, I got my first view of the “real mountains” to the east. This was a
limestone ridge and there were a number of sinkholes.
I arrived at the Santuario de Muskilda at about 5.30pm. This was an old monastery
and still the objective of pilgrims. I picked up my second supply bag from the nearby
woods and stopped at the popular picnic site, beside the monastery. I had a tea-break and
sorted out my supplies. There wasn’t a good place to camp so I dropped down to
Ochagavia. The steep path down to Ochagavia was the old pilgrim route to the sanctuary.
There were crosses at regular to encourage the devout; closer together at the top than the
bottom! This town seemed to be a tourist resort, which had forgotten to cater for the
tourists! I couldn’t find anywhere to buy fruit juice or cans of beer, but the bank was
open! I couldn’t find anywhere to get water and eventually got some from a garden hose
in the grounds of the bank.
I trudged out of town with a heavy pack, with 5 litres of water in addition to 4 days
supplies, following a minor road up to 950m where I was able to camp in a recently cut
hayfield. A Thunderstorm hit at 10pm and thunder was rumbling away for several hours.
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Limestone pavement