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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 2899 |
26th May 2012 Hiking - Walking: Pic du Canigou Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: Max Speed: Distance Covered: Saturday 26TH May 2012 – walking **** sunny periods Our 33rd Wedding Anniversary! :) We had breakfast watching the many hikers setting off up the gorge with their camping gear – dogs and kids too which is quite scary! Some parents had karabiners to clip their kids to the hand rails! We left about 10.30 and it was only 2 Euros to get out of the car park so that was an excellent result :) We stopped at Orlette for bread then drove to Casteil where there were lots of walking signs. We walked through the village having a look at the walks available but instead took a very steep road out of the village which eventually turned to a forest track. Amazingly, for the first time, they were actively encouraging you to drive along this track, signing 4 more parking places and a refuge/restaurant at 1718m. We drove on up and the poor van took the brunt of the rocky, steep, potholed road which eventually lead to a car park with the most amazingly close view of the Pic du Canigou, the refuge, and even more surprisingly about 20 cars, most of which were Spanish. You can’t believe that many people attempt the road. As a coincidence the vehicle in front of ours was exactly the same vw van as ours only red! It is another beautiful day so we packed our lunch and set out towards the Pic not intending to reach the summit as it looks a long way! The piece of the signpost telling you how many hours was broken. The path started off downhill to a waterfall with a bridge over it then turned very rocky and went up and up through pine forest. We stopped for lunch at a waterfall then thought we would just have a look round the next corner (like we do!) as there were several people coming back and I was convinced that they had been to the summit and were coming back. We walked for about another hour and came to a massive waterfall, the biggest this holiday for sure, where 4 waterfalls met. We watched some hikers coming down the other side to cross the rocky falls and they all fell in to some degree, one poor lady went right in up to her hip! Most had wet feet :( Surprisingly for Spanish people they were very chatty – we can always tell the Spanish because they look at their feet instead of saying hello :( They said they had been to the summit but it was at least another 3 hours walking from the waterfall (where we think most people turn round) and the cloud had started to drift up – there were a few claps of thunder again and a few drops of rain. I was disappointed we did turn back as would love to reach the summit at 2784m perhaps we can do it in the autumn? We met lots more hikers with their camping gear walking up – it is going to be a very crowded refuge tonight! It is bank holiday weekend so people are making the most of it. When we eventually got back to the car park (3 ½ hours) and looked at the map we realised we were not even half way at the big waterfall so good decision to turn back. There’s no way I would have gone to the peak anyway because I hadn’t got the GPS!!! We are staying here so moved down the car park for a better view and watched lots more people the night to probably start the big climb early tomorrow. After a drink we had a wander down to the refuge ourselves and had a good nose round. It was like a very basic ski chalet and the big tables had over 40 places set for tonight!! It is 17 Euros to stay, 18 for dinner and 7.50 for breakfast – so basic doesn’t always mean cheap!!! There is a free refuge with plastic covered mattresses in the loft which is really quaint and smelt wonderful – wood smoke :) The scenery is absolutely stunning, a 360 degree view of lots of peaks to the west as well as Canigou and surrounding peaks. Later on in the evening the whole valley filled with candy floss clouds but it’s clear up here – this coupled with the sun set reflecting off the cloud and turning from gold to pink and purple made it quite a special evening :) The Spanish people in the refuge thought so to and all came to join us – none spoke of course!!! The French are so much more sociable. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3473040817404.2143007.1012660562&t ype=1&l=a72e103ae6 |
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