Era Artiga de Lin y Uelhs deth Joeu

Today’s principal excursion was a short drive along the main road through the valley to Es Bordes, where we found the twisty road leading towards Era Artiga de Lin y Uelhs deth Joeu. The former is a beautiful valley, the centre of which is about 1500m up and the latter being one of several dramatic waterfalls fed by glacier water from the high mountains above.

Ordinary cars have to be parked in the spacious car park about 9km from the village of Es Bordes. From there, we took the tourist train 3 more km up to the plain in the centre of the valley, close to a Refuge or mountain hut. We had debated whether to take the train up or down, and to walk in the opposite direction - we opted for the former and were very pleased when we saw the steepness of the remaining climb up to the plain.

At the start of the day, the forecast was for sun, there was not a cloud in the sky. With a gentle breeze in the air, the temperature was very pleasant in the shade but out in the sun it was starting to get very warm indeed.

We enjoyed our picnic lunch in the shade under some trees and set off to follow a trail, which was meant to take us to one of the lesser (but higher) of the easily accessible waterfalls in the valley. After walking for twice the estimated duration of the walk and being able to hear but not see the said waterfall, we concluded we must have taken a wrong turn at some point, despite checking the signs as we set off. It appeared that the signage or our understanding of what the sign was telling us wasn’t quite on point and we had followed the wrong path - we were further up the mountain above the waterfall, when we retraced our steps.

We decided it was the time for a snack and a drink at the Refuge. The very friendly staff served up a couple of Tostado con Tortilla and a slice of homemade cheesecake, and some very welcome ice cold drinks.

However as we enjoyed our snacks, thunder and then heavy rain started. The thunder seemed quite distant, but the rain was very much falling on us! We briefly sheltered under the tiny roof over a map of potential walks and then we set off on a slightly shorter version of our planned hike - not wanting to be caught up in the high plain if the thunderstorm came closer.

The rain mostly eased as we started to follow the road initially and then a path down towards the car park through the forest.

We soon reached the main waterfall for which this valley is famous, Els Uelhs deth Joeu, with the rain falling again and thunder sounding around the hills, but still about 9 miles away.

We stood for a while, mesmerised at water rushing down the Uelhs deth Joeu waterfall. The name apparently is Aranese for “Eyes of the Jew" or "Eyes of Jupiter". The water comes from the glacier on Tuc Aneto, a 3,400m peak far above the valley, but then disappears underground and runs through the limestone for 4km, to reappear magically in the valley above the waterfall.

We continued down through the forest, mostly shelter from the rain stopping at a second dramatic waterfall, with an amazingly blue pool at its foot.

The thunder was gradually getting closer as it “chased us” down the valley. Eventually the path led us back to the car park and we relieved to take refuge, secure in the knowledge that the car would act as a Faraday cage if the thunder storm caught up with us.Baca selengkapnya