Hiking - Walking - Circuit of Grau Roig

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Owner: squiz
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15th March 2018
Hiking - Walking: Circuit of Grau Roig
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Weather: sunny periods with light snow
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Thursday 15th March – Snowshoe ***** Circuit of Grau Roig – sunny periods with light snow.

A bit of a wild night in the mountains at Grau Roig in Andorra, really strong winds and rain which must have turned to snow as we had an inch in the carpark and the van was covered. We still slept well and were not cold. Woke to a nice sunny morning and still not sure what to do ski or snowshoe? The snow plough came and cleared the car park. After breakfast we walked over to the ticket office to check the prices and it is 49 Euros each for the day plus 4.50 for insurance which makes it expensive but that does cover all of the Grandvalira and several resorts link into here. It did look nice up the mountain, quiet here too as there is only one hotel so no accommodation! They don’t offer a 4 hour pass just a half day for 37 Euros which is still a lot and we had left it too late for that today. With it starting to cloud over we decided on snowshoeing the first time this holiday! Picnic packed and GPS on we set off at eleven, asked in an activity tent if there were any marked racquette walks and were pointed to an hour circuit marked with blue poles. That would do for a start as it headed down the valley in the direction of Soldeu. We past the sledge piste, the start of the snowmobile run and followed the blue poles successfully for half a mile before they disappeared we then made it up as we went along. At times we followed other snowshoe tracks then we made our own, great fun especially through the trees. We saw the odd snowshoer below us and groups of snowmobiles going around a marked track but they were very smelly. Best of all were the husky sledges with the dogs that were left behind barking and whining, wishing it was their turn! We could see the entrance to the Tunnel d’Envallira a toll route taking you to France avoiding going over the mountain and when we were past that we headed down to the stream which runs down the whole valley. This was the best bit as lots of the water was covered in deep snow and you had to be careful crossing. We found a nice spot to sit in the snow for our picnic before heading back following the stream mainly along the dog sledge track. A 13-dog sledge past us and I was told to get out of the way Signor! The sun had made a welcome return, warming things up and we definitely had our six miles legs, we forgot how tiring walking in snow shoes can be and we were glad to make it back to the van having been out 3 hours 45 minutes covering nearly four miles! Then cuppa and cake, dozing and reading enjoying the sunshine. Mags mobile just doesn’t work here so walked over to the ticket office to ask about the free wi-fi but you only get it if you buy a lift pass. Then as Mag was cooking tea (a yummy turkey surprise) a French camper parked beside us nearly hitting our van! We then had the excitement of a helicopter landing in the carpark in the dark! It is much calmer tonight as the wind and rain have gone. Still undecided about skiing tomorrow it would be nice to say we have skied in Andorra as I can’t see we will ever come back! If we wake to clear blue skies we might be tempted we will have to wait and see?

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