Category: Hiking

It’s cold and cloudy. We drive to Spain – to the Canfranc ski resort. There blows a strong cold wind. We get into all the clothes we have and walk on. Strangely it gets warmer and the sun shows up from time to time between the clouds. We walk uphill by the Canal Roya – a several kilometer long dell, sided by the mountains.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Marmots greet us whistling. Some of them show up. At the heigth of 2km there should be the lake Anayet. We don’t see it because of the (ir fog). We procees to the summit hoping it will be above the clouds. Still the summit is in cloud as well, no sightseeing.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Descending from the summit we do find the lake Anayet and horses next to it. We stay here a while and enjoy the lovely sight. Then move on to the cold and windy (still) parking place. Shortly before it we notice the flock of about 40 vultures. This is impressive – time to time some of the huge birds take off, other ones land. We can not guess the reason for them collecting here. Hopefully not some tired hiker 😉

Download file: Lescun-j1-Anayet.gpx

Todays route starts near the (Espelunguere) parking place close to the French end of the Somport tunnel. The last 700m of the road is a wooden road featuring large pits. The path goes steeply uphill from the very start. Soon we get to the waterfall, then to the meadow full of beautiful flowers. After a couple of hours walk we take the wrong path and climb it about half an hour before we understand we are at the wrong side of the mountain. We don’t see another option than to turn back and to find the way to the correct side. The rocks are brownish-violet here.

• 

• 

Getting on a 2019m high pass we take a short rest and then by the mountains Spanish side climb to the 2258m high Pic de Gabardaille. We enjoy the stunning views despite of the strong wind that blows here. We recognize our yesterdays Pic d’Aspe. Very beautiful is Lac d’Estaens. We discover that laying down one can save oneself from the chilling wind 🙂

• 

• 

• 

• 

Nokļuvuši pārejā 2019m augstumā nedaudz atpūšamies un tad jau pa Spānijas pusi uzkāpjam 2258 metrus augstajā Gabardajas virsotnē (Le Pic de Gabardaille). Te pūš spēcīgs vējš, bet tas netraucē baudīt skaistos skatus. Atpazīstam arī Aspe virsotni, kur bijām uzkāpuši vakar. Ļoti skaists ir Estaens ezers (Lac d’Estaens). Izrādās, ka guļus stāvoklī no vēja var labi paslēpties 🙂

• 

• 

• 

• 

We take another side of the mountain for the descend. Having lost the path we descend just straight down. This turns into a couple of hours of adventure. Several times we have a trouble to find a way to continue 🙂

We feel relieved when we find the path at last.

Download file: Lescun-30-Gabardaille.gpx

The Lescun is covered by clouds in teh morning. We decide to go to Spain for the sun. We abandon the option to take a route at the French end of the tunnel of Somport because it is cloudy here as well. So we get into the tunnel and get out of it in a totally sunny weather 🙂 We drive to Villanua then turn West and proceed a narrow serpentine to Aisa. Then we take the road to the North and drive to the end of the road – el Riguelo parking. A cow feeds her calf in the middle of the road – we have to wait before we are allowed to park the car 🙂

• 

• 

We follow the flat path to the shepherds hut, then cross a stream and then by a steeper path proceed to the “uneven carstic terrain” (a citation from the itinerary). The terrain is oneven indeed – it takes an hour to make our way between (šķirbainas klintis). The last section of the route to the summit is a very steep path and a strong wind. We spent another half an hour at the Aspe summit for recreation and shooting – Spanish mountains in a brigth sunshine to the South, West and East, clouds over the French mountains to the North. Perhaps the clouds get stuck in Lescun 🙂

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Download file: Lescun-29-Aspe.gpx

Having seen everything we move downhill.

Through the 8.5km long tunnel of Somport we drive to Canfranc in Spain. Canfranc is located only a couple of kilometers after the Spanish end of the tunnel. Initially we walk the forest road and path, then about 20 minutes we ascend the hillock full of dog-rose bushes in blooms. We ascend to the shepherds hut and then follow the stony channel to the Cueva helada de Lecherines (ice cave).

• 

• 

• 

• 

We approach the cave from the flank and notice it only when almost there. The entry hides itself in a rocky wall (at a 2050m height). The cold from the entry is as from the fridge. We put on extra clothes, take the lamps and in we go. We have to walk carefully because of the ice and water between the rocks in the cave. Having examined the cave about 100m deep we return – it is cold there and full of rocks and ice.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Returning back the same way we notice wild goats. and enjoy another time the hillock with dog-roses. Benita on the way back collects milfoil flowers. In the evening the terrace of our house gets decorated with a plate of milfoil and clover design 🙂

Download file: Lescun-28-Lecherines.gpx

It’s sunny and for the afternoon 36 degrees are forecasted. Therefore we get up earlier and move out to Le Pic d’Anie about 9am. Le Pic d’Anie is the highest summit in this part of Pyrenees – it has 2504m above sea level. The first hour we walk almost plane forest path. The sun is low and out path is mostly in a shadow. Despite of that we see some lizards by the path. Later on the forest ends and we come to stone covered mountain meadows with sun and wind. The wind is just what we need because it’s getting really hot.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Soon we are at the shepherds hut. Here the path turns into two and we are not sure wich one to follow. The shepherd helps us to decide. He guards himself with the large umbrella and we see why – his face and nose is badly burned.

After the shepherds hut the path gets steeper and stonier. We walk another couple of hours uphill around the mountain to get on the summit. We have spent for this almost four hours. There are more hikers on the summit except us. We shoot the mountains and ourselves, take a rest and then walk back down the same path. The descending is rather steep here and there 🙂

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Download file: Lescun-27-Anie.gpx