We arrived in Espot on a sunny
Friday afternoon at the end of August. Espot is a pleasant, bustling town where locals and tourists mingle. It is here that you take a 4x4 taxi into the Aiguestortes national park (you are not allowed to take your own car) – of course, you could
walk the 8km up the road if you wished. We
stayed in the comfortable Apartments Les Picardes. From our apartment we looked out at lovingly-tended
allotments and up to the mountains. Each
evening we would wander back to the apartment passing old barns reeking of
sheep and groups of elderly men and women chatting in the sun outside their ancient stone houses.
Walk 1
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| Estany de Ratera |
We took a taxi to Estany de St
Maurici. The lake is a popular
destination and starting point for many walks.
It felt strange arriving in a taxi and I wondered where all the people
being dropped off would go. We began our
assent up the track and the going was tough, made tougher by the fact that a
taxi passed us on its way to the refuge d’Amitges, our destination, with six
smiling passengers on board. We stopped
for a snack break – it helped. The air grew noticeably thinner. We reached Estany de Ratera – a wilder,
pretty lake with a waterfall.
We arrived
at Port de Ratera. The original plan had
been to climb Pic De Ratera, but time was short so we had to content ourselves
with reaching the pass at 2,550 mtrs. We
took the GR11 (the long distance path that runs along the Pyrenees) – the sign
close to the pass said 1.5 hours back to Estany de St Maurici – it’s wrong and
should say 2.5 hours as the sign an hour along the path reads 1.5 hours! It was a long slog down, but great scenery and
we heard the high pitch warning cry of a Marmot – we didn’t spot him
though.
Walk 2
This walk was a recommendation
from the friendly staff in the visitors’ centre in Espot. Again, the starting point was Estany De St
Maurici where we followed a track passing the refuge Ernest Mallafre and up to
Monestero. The scenery was spectacular
as the path, which hugs a gurgling stream for most of the way, took us through
meadows, woods and over boulders to arrive at Estany de Monestero where we sat
and ate our lunch surrounded by high peaks.
We chatted to two Spanish walkers who were heading up to the pass and
beyond. It would have been nice to
continue, but we were heading back down.
Walk 3
Today storms were forecast, but
the clouds didn’t look too ominous so we decided to head up to the
mountains. Again, the starting point was
Estany De St Maurici, but the weekend crowds had departed and the lake was
peaceful. The path was mostly up, but
after two days of walking I felt fairly fit.
It was another beautiful, walk with different scenery and we only saw a
handful of people. Estany de Subenuix at
the top was stunning and deserted. But
we didn’t linger as it was becoming increasingly cloudy. We were nearly down when the heavens opened,
but a mountain ash provided good shelter from the rain. We finished off the day with a walk to the
cascade at Maurici, stopping to take in the view.
On our way back to Espot the taxi driver
pointed out a herd of deer. We arrived in Espot at the same time as a thunderstorm. It was a violent one with lots of thunder and lightning. We felt lucky to be safely indoors!
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| Estany de St Maurici |
