Section Four Complete

The weather has been a constant source of concern now for the forty-three days since I began walking at the Atlantic (I may have already mentioned it once or twice) but one thing we haven’t had to deal with too much so far is extreme temperatures. The last few days though have been grey, windy and unbelievably cold – we’ve been walking in fleeces, hats and gloves, and sleeping wearing socks and hats.

The temperature fell surprisingly as we arrived in Llorts on Friday, was even colder at Cabana Serrera (2,200m) on Saturday, and coldest of all at Refugi de Juclà (2,300m) on Sunday night. I don’t normally have anything hot for breakfast but the last few mornings I’ve been very grateful for the hot chocolate sachets that Sarah left me last week.

Waking up in a tent, the first question is almost always “Is there any condensation?” There doesn’t seem to be any consistency to the answer but it’s generally worse when it’s cold, unless there’s a decent wind, so we’ve been packing away wet tents the last few days.

The skies have been mainly overcast the last few days so the temperature has only risen very briefly when the sun has poked through the clouds, otherwise we’ve been keeping well wrapped up. We’re now at a campsite in l’Hospitalet-près-l’Andorre, and are still wearing almost everything we own. Somewhat surprisingly the other campers aren’t wearing as much, so we’re beginning to wonder if the reason we feel so cold is because we’ve got less fat to keep us warm!

We had a long day (by our standards) on Sunday, getting from the cabana to Refugi de Juclà, with three big climbs through the valleys opposite the ski-resort of Soldeu. Despite the cold, the tourist were out in force – we saw loads of families and some big groups too.

Yesterday was a shorter day but, after 10 days, we were both feeling a bit jaded so took it slowly and arrived in l’Hospitalet around 15:30. Both days were grey and threatening, but we’ve been quite lucky dodging the worst of the rain.

We’re now on a campsite, preparing for the final section of the trip, and dreaming of the sand on the beach at Banyuls-sur-Mer, which is hopefully only 10 days walk away. The other thing we’re preparing for is the break-up of the partnership, as Klaas is planning a different route to Banyuls and aiming to finish a few days later than me, so from here on we’re both going to be solo again.

The first photo is a small snowman I had to build to keep the blog’s youngest reader (three) happy. Unfortunately snow is getting harder to find and he was crafted in the middle of a boulder field at 2,400m, so there weren’t any twigs to use for his arms. As a result the arms are made of stones and look a bit special, so I called him Joey.

The second and third photos are to satisfy further requests regarding my abilities with a needle. The priority with both the tent and the rucksack straps was function rather than form…

The fourth photo shows the mended hip belt, and also the bite the bear took out of my flip-flop!