Day 65: Monte Perdido and the Pyrenees

Northwards again today, as we headed towards the Pyrenees mountain range on the border of France and Spain. Thankfully only a couple of hours of driving, but we were hoping to do a decent length hike so it was off again fairly early in the morning. Zaragoza was an annoying city to drive around - not large particularly, but stuffed full of traffic lights in a way that other Spanish cities haven't been. It was also rush(-ish) hour, so the going was a bit slow.

Eventually we left the city and headed north, aiming for the centre-west of the Pyrenees at a place called Monte Perdido. The surrounding national park is of course World Heritage listed, for its beautiful alpine landscapes and evidence of humans living in peaceful coexistence with fairly inhospitable terrain.

The drive started fairly flat but got rockier and rockier, until eventually we were surrounded on all sides by tall mountains and sheer cliffs - very dramatic, though not a lot of snow around since it was early spring. Passed through a few small communities and eventually found the national park entrance with the trailhead - quite a lot of people around as it was a warm sunny day and still probably a holiday period for Spaniards.

The walk we wanted to do was listed as about 3 hours each direction from the carpark to a vantage point over a waterfall where Mont Perdu was visible (though still at quite a distance). It felt a bit optimistic, mainly because we had Schnitzel in tow, but we're both experienced hikers and it was great weather so off we went!

The track started in a pine forest along a wide gravel path, essentially a fire trail I guess. It wound alongside a river with rapids, which slowly got smaller and smaller until it was more like a creek. The trees got thicker and we climbed, though the path was still vehicle width and easy to follow.

Found a beautiful spot with a waterfall after an hour or so, where we stopped and admired the view. Mountains still towering over us with small amounts of snow still visible - obviously the melting snow was creating the waterfall and the river system below us.

We pressed on, further into the valley still following the main path and the river. After another hour we came across a large-ish picnic area flanked by two very high waterfalls. Judging by the number of people around enjoying their lunch, this seemed to be the highlight spot, so we halted here and enjoyed our lunch as well. Although it was populated, there weren't a huge number of people around and it was fairly quite aside from the constant roar of the falls.

Took some photos and a couple of videos, though it's going to be an odd video of this site I think! Realising that we were still an hour from the final waterfall where Mont Perdu is also visible, we made a joint decision that we'd turn back to the car from here. We'd already walked for nearly 2 hours and had the same amount to go back - plus a slowly tiring dog with us!

We walked back much the same way, though this time part of the trail crossed the river so we got a different view and saw some different mountains which was quite nice! Took our time heading back to the car but thanks to all the downhills, we made it back in about an hour and 40 minutes, so a fair bit quicker heading back. Schnitzel looked exhausted, though he kept walking quite happily and wagging his tail!

Drove another hour or so further into the mountains to our home for the night, the tiny hamlet of Servise. We had a small B&B accommodation booked, so we checked in and relaxed in the warm sunshine of the front yard. Around 8pm we freshened up and drove into the next town over for dinner - just as small but this one had the distinct advantage of an open restaurant! Decent food, especially considering the location.Read more