w3w ///thirst.consolidate.booksellers

A bad night’s camping – no real sleep. With my head at one end, my forehead touched the wet tent wall and my feet still stuck out of the bottom ! On the plus side, despite the thunder, it didn’t actually rain down on us.

We set off just before 8am, probably about 90 people all leaving at the same time but going different ways – a buzz of excitement in the air. Quite a few seem to be climbing Mt Perdudu which looks good for another time – maybe…

We got to the first Col and then followed the line of the original GR11 – which we didn’t plan on doing (!), so backtracked and lost a little time. But it was kind of fun too – on the fells trying to find the waymarks and discussing options with some Spanish girls and others – at one point, there were 3 or 4 groups strung out across the top looking for the way. (And it’s potentially really serious here if you get the wrong way, the official paths are bloomin steep enough !)

So back on track we dropped 800m down to the valley floor – only to have to turn left and climb a straight 1000m back up to the next col. It was beautiful, stunning even but we simply don’t have time to stop, rest and swim etc – we knew it was going to take us 10 hours and we needed to get back down before the daily storms which start rumbling from mid afternoon.

So at the top, knackered but still enjoying it and then looked down the other side – blimey ! We knew this was going to be tough, but it was horrible – 1200m of very steep, loose scree, boulder fields and even when the ‘path’ got to the forest, there was sections with chains and needing to down climb rather than just walking. Quite exhausting actually, mentally as well and the worst moment was a (incorrect), sign that said, 2 hours 40, still to go – actually only about an hour from the finish. We got back just as the rain started – another jelly bean stop along the way and we would have been soaked through as well.

Happy to report I will not be doing that descent again ever – I think most people here at the Refugio would say the same !

So tired tonight, aching all over – my left knee (the good one !), is screaming at me – and both feet are throbbing ! These long mountain stages are just a few hours too long to be only enjoyable, they seem to all need to be epic days.

Recovery tomorrow and a bit more planning required to see us through the next few days.