DAY 23. June 20th. PLAN TO EL RUN. 7.30 hours.

Pista up, up, up to 2100m. Boring as there are hardly any views but not too hot. Find nice refuge at collado and have lemonades. Good views from here but it’s all pista. Man picks us up in a van and takes us to El Run albergue, 20 minutes from Castejón where we can get info etc. Eat in Castejón and buy map and food. We decide to try to walk to the village of Aneto where we can rejoin the GR11. Back in the albergue they tell us that we would get lost and take 3 days to walk to Aneto. Decide to take taxi for €50. Sleep well as we get a room to ourselves but the breakfast is rubbish with no service before 8am. €16 per person incl. breakfast.  Abandon my stupid Prames book here.

DAY 36. July 3rd. Camping Puigcerda to Planoles.

2 km of road to Puigcerdà, buy bread and croissants and then get lost. Colin was right and we didn’t listen (sorry Colin!) so we end up adding an extra one and a half hours on to the day. Gradual climb up to pistas is a bit boring. Over 2 passes under very black skies but it doesn’t rain. Slow and tired, carrying heavy, wet washing. Tiny campsite with nice bar above Planoles. Washing, walk down to town for €10 menu in Daldo with OK food but the best flan of the whole trip. Poor wine.

DAY 37. DAY OFF IN CAMP SITE NEAR PLANOLES

Days off are strange in that there’s not really anything to do except wash and watch the washing dry. Sunny days off are the best as we can sun-bathe and not have to seek shelter anywhere. Day 37 was a sunny day off spent doing a bit of shopping for provisions in the small but well-stocked town of Planoles (a bit of a hill down to it). Fruit salad and sandwiches for lunch by the tent, lazing around and listening to the I-pod. Dinner again at The Fonda in Planoles (not being anywhere else to go) and a lovely flan again.

DAY 38. PLANOLES TO NURIA

Decided to take the easier route which I think was the GR11.8. This route avoids going down to Queralbs for no reason except maybe to eat and back up again. Pleasant enough walk but maybe a little long towards the end. A bit hot and getting nearer Núria meant having to encounter civilization. Núria was the usual Disneyland of the mountains with the bride on the lawn and the day-trippers in their pedal-pushers. Coincided with the Núria-Queralt mountain run. The pseudo-religious, super-profit making organization (The Church) at Núria permit camping round the back on gravel and charge a few Euros (sorry, can’t remember how much) to pitch and have a completely cold shower. Dinner is a sorry buffet affair in the hotel which costs you €22 without a glass of wine. The maitre d was a megla-maniac who seemed to be sacking people and reinstating them in between setting the tables. Helped out 2 American girls from San Francisco who had come up to spend the night with no tent and nowhere to stay by giving them warm clothes for the night. They were very lucky it didn’t rain.