The Pyrenees is my favourite
place. In 2005 we walked along the whole
length, something we had always wanted to do.
It was an incredible, but exhausting experience (I hope to post my diary
from the trip here, one day!) En route
we visited many special places, one of which was the Anisclo Valley in the
Spanish Pyrenees. This weekend we
decided to go back so we packed the camping gear and headed off to CampingValle Anisclo.
We had hoped to do some
high-level walks from the refuge Viados, but there were lots of storms forecast –
tormentos sums it up nicely! Having been
caught out in one too many storms in the mountains we opted for a relatively
low-level walk instead!
For our first walk, we parked on
the main road just after San Juan de Plan and took the green and white marked
path (S7) towards the refuge Viados in the Posets-Maladeta National Park. The path followed the course of La Cinqueta,
a tributary of the Rio Cinca that runs through the town of Bielsa. The route was easy going. We immediately crossed the river along a
narrow stone bridge high above a narrow gorge, we could just see the river
tumbling far below us. We have never seen so much water in the rivers
in summer before and there was still snow on the high peaks. The path led up through a forest, where tiny wild
strawberries were just beginning to ripen.
The fields were full of deep purple Iris and other wild flowers. The
path led back over the river passing the Puen Molin and then uphill. After 45 minutes it swung back again crossing
the river at Puen Micale, over a concrete bridge, which had been partially washed
away. I was a little nervous walking
over this bridge, but it turned out to be an easy scramble over some boulders. We returned by the dirt track to our starting
point. A 3 hour round trip. We wished we had carried on further up the
valley as there was no sign of the impending storm – it arrived that evening. |
| Half a bridge! |
 |
| Tella |
It is a beautiful area. We were last here four years ago when we
explored the Anisclo Gorge and the Escuain Gorge in the Ordesa National Park. They are not as well-known as their neighbour
Ordesa, which attracts huge numbers of visitors, but I think they are far
superior.
On Sunday we took a diversion on
our way home to visit the village of Tella high up (1200 mtrs). From here we took the Circuito Ermitas walk,
an easy 1 hour walk. The views were
stunning, although I would hate to live up here in the winter!
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We stopped off for a picnic at
the Dolmen de Tella. Then it was back in
the car and through the Bielsa tunnel to sunny France.
