Outdoor Adventures with Ancient Brit
Pyrenees GR11 2003 - Day 17: August 25th
Monday 25th August
There were clear skies in the morning and I left at 8am for the easy ascent to Collado
de Anisclo at 2440m.From here there was a daunting 1200m descent down to the Rio Cinca
in only 2 km. The route (it would be wrong to call it a path) initially dropped down a very
steep, grassy/scree slope, then scrambling down easy rock buttresses before reaching the
woods. Here there was a path, but it was just as steep as the open hillside and involved
much scrambling down broken rock buttresses. It was fortunate that it was dry as it would
have been very difficult in the wet. It was the thought of this descent ahead that decided
me to camp early the previous day as I didn’t expect to find anywhere to camp and didn’t
want to get caught by storms or benighted on such an awkward descent. In fact there was
one spot about halfway down the slope where it would have been possible to put a tent.
This site was occupied by a lone sheep, which had got separated from one of the flocks on
the gentler slopes on the opposite side of the valley. I eventually found my way down to
the Rio Cinca, which was another underground stream appearing further up the valley and
was underground again where I crossed it. People often asked me how many miles I did in
a day. In this terrain this question is meaningless. 2km of descent to the Rio Cinca had
taken 3 hours!
I then walked up pista and the road to the chapel of Capella de Nuestra Senora de
Pineta, originally Romanesque and restored in the 17th century. This spot was a popular
tourist attraction with a big campsite, as well as a Parador (hotel).
I now needed to climb from 1290m up to the Collado de Pietramula at 2150m. I
climbed easily up a well-maintained path to La Larri in a big valley with a flat floor, much
visited by both tourists and cattle, and then steeply up grassy slopes to a grassy shelf
offering magnificent views the glacier on Monte Perdido and of the hillside I had
descended in the morning. It looked impossibly steep and craggy!
There was a pair of the fairly rare Egyptian Vulture on the hillside and another large
flock of Alpine Chough. I was back in cow country and with it the flies that had been
noticeably fewer in the National Park I had been traversing for the last few days. I then
climbed easily up to the Collado de Pietramula and descended a grassy, but craggy valley
to the Rio Sobrestibo. Here I picked up some water from the small stream and camped
lower down, where the stream went underground. I was camped in an area with many
marmots. The European marmot is much shyer than its American cousin and they quickly
disappeared into their burrows. Also darting around the camp were many Black Redstarts.
There were clear skies in the morning and I left at 8am for the easy ascent to Collado
de Anisclo at 2440m.From here there was a daunting 1200m descent down to the Rio Cinca
in only 2 km. The route (it would be wrong to call it a path) initially dropped down a very
steep, grassy/scree slope, then scrambling down easy rock buttresses before reaching the
woods. Here there was a path, but it was just as steep as the open hillside and involved
much scrambling down broken rock buttresses. It was fortunate that it was dry as it would
have been very difficult in the wet. It was the thought of this descent ahead that decided
me to camp early the previous day as I didn’t expect to find anywhere to camp and didn’t
want to get caught by storms or benighted on such an awkward descent. In fact there was
one spot about halfway down the slope where it would have been possible to put a tent.
This site was occupied by a lone sheep, which had got separated from one of the flocks on
the gentler slopes on the opposite side of the valley. I eventually found my way down to
the Rio Cinca, which was another underground stream appearing further up the valley and
was underground again where I crossed it. People often asked me how many miles I did in
a day. In this terrain this question is meaningless. 2km of descent to the Rio Cinca had
taken 3 hours!
I then walked up pista and the road to the chapel of Capella de Nuestra Senora de
Pineta, originally Romanesque and restored in the 17th century. This spot was a popular
tourist attraction with a big campsite, as well as a Parador (hotel).
I now needed to climb from 1290m up to the Collado de Pietramula at 2150m. I
climbed easily up a well-maintained path to La Larri in a big valley with a flat floor, much
visited by both tourists and cattle, and then steeply up grassy slopes to a grassy shelf
offering magnificent views the glacier on Monte Perdido and of the hillside I had
descended in the morning. It looked impossibly steep and craggy!
There was a pair of the fairly rare Egyptian Vulture on the hillside and another large
flock of Alpine Chough. I was back in cow country and with it the flies that had been
noticeably fewer in the National Park I had been traversing for the last few days. I then
climbed easily up to the Collado de Pietramula and descended a grassy, but craggy valley
to the Rio Sobrestibo. Here I picked up some water from the small stream and camped
lower down, where the stream went underground. I was camped in an area with many
marmots. The European marmot is much shyer than its American cousin and they quickly
disappeared into their burrows. Also darting around the camp were many Black Redstarts.
Erratic boulder
Fuente Puensanta
Monte Perdido
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