Three Go Adventuring Again

[Just smiffy]

I guess it would be a bit hard going in my wheelchair then...!

Would love to go to off beaten places like that but I do try....


Keep em coming...

 

[DBK]

I guess it would be a bit hard going in my wheelchair then...!

Would love to go to off beaten places like that but I do try....


Keep em coming...

At the campsite we stayed at near Predazzo in Italy one of the longer walks was along a track to a remote lake. The track stopped a little short of the lake but they had built a wheelchair suitable path from the end of the track to the lake. From what I read in the information leaflet you could take your car to the end of the track with "special dispensation" which I guess means a blue badge as there was no physical barriers stopping you driving up the track.

Unfortunately, that's the only place we have seen with such provision on our travels.

 

[Just smiffy]

At the campsite we stayed at near Predazzo in Italy one of the longer walks was along a track to a remote lake. The track stopped a little short of the lake but they had built a wheelchair suitable path from the end of the track to the lake. From what I read in the information leaflet you could take your car to the end of the track with "special dispensation" which I guess means a blue badge as there was no physical barriers stopping you driving up the track.

Unfortunately, that's the only place we have seen with such provision on our travels.

I can get to quite a few places on my electric trike, on one battery on the flat it can do about 15 miles but throw in a few hills and rough terrain it's down to about 5 miles... It goes about 14 mph on the flat and is excellent fun and it really gets me out and about....

 

[Anthea M]

@DBK All looks lovely thanks for sharing.

 

[DBK]

I can get to quite a few places on my electric trike, on one battery on the flat it can do about 15 miles but throw in a few hills and rough terrain it's down to about 5 miles... It goes about 14 mph on the flat and is excellent fun and it really gets me out and about....

View attachment 115738

Neat trike but with front wheel drive probably skids a bit on rough ground uphill?

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[Just smiffy]

Neat trike but with front wheel drive probably skids a bit on rough ground uphill?

Yes it does, have to get up and lean on the front some times, great bit of kit, can fit it to my chair in 5mins and it goes in the garage with Mrs bu'ckett' folding electric bike.... Although she's not that confident on it yet....

 

[DBK]

Yes it does, have to get up and lean on the front some times, great bit of kit, can fit it to my chair in 5mins and it goes in the garage with Mrs bu'ckett' folding electric bike.... Although she's not that confident on it yet....

I had realised it fitted to the front of your chair. A very clever bit of kit.

 

[DBK]

I went for just a short walk this morning though it took me nearly three hours as I spent quite a lot of time taking photographs using my tripod.

The route started as yesterday's but at the top of the canyon I turned right and followed the ridge in that direction for a while.

You can see the ridge I walked along in this picture taken from the campsite as I left. I ended the walk at the highest point on the right. The hill you can see is a long way behind the ridge, beyond a road.

Once I had reached the start of the walk after climbing up out of the canyon I could look back and get a good view of the ridge we had walked along yesterday.

Looking back from a bit later - and yes there are two figures in the picture!

The bloke was quite adventurous - he went right to the very edge - I don't think she was so keen. Here she is looking down into the void, he is out of sight down there somewhere.

View from near the top looking down onto a little church.

It was very hazy but these photographs I have processed using Adobe Lightroom Mobile which has a dealing filter. It doesn't do a perfect job but the shots are better though no doubt I overdo the other effects.

Another shot from the ridge. The campsite can be seen below.

I had brought my tripod with the intention of taking some shots of flowers but this part of the ride was very arid and there weren't the flowers we had seen yesterday. The best I could manage was this blue job just outside the campsite. I think it is some sort of chicory but I haven't identified it yet.

On the way back Charlie enjoyed the spring and I refilled our water bottles too.

I'm not sure he really enjoyed the walk, it was a lot hotter than yesterday and when we got back he did his abused dog impression.

 

[Anthea M]

The walk and scenery look amazing! Poor Charlie! But I bet by tomorrow he will be up and begging for a walk!!
Thanks for taking the time to post!

 

[jumartoo]

It looks a good area for us to visit. Thanks.

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[DBK]

Typo alert: in the boring bit about photographs I mentioned a "dealing" filter. Predictive text strikes again, it should have been dehazing filter.

 

[Geejay]

Do you use a polarising filter? If not, why not? Just interested to know.

 

[DBK]

We've moved again and are now heading inexorably back towards France. We left behind the Parc Natural de Cadí Moixero and after a shopping trip to Berga (where we bought some fino sherry - how I will miss Spain ) we headed back north through the Cadí tunnel (€11.57 again - unfortunately you pay in both directions). My original plan was to go west from Berga over the Coll de Jou but common sense from the co-pilot prevailed and we took the much quicker main road route along the N260 although this too becomes a minor yellow road on the atlas as it goes over the Coll del Canto.

Stopping for lunch on the way up to the Coll del Canto (picture below) the thermometer read 31°C and this was at about 1500m but there was a gentle breeze and the humidity was low so it was quite pleasant - in the shade of the van.

From the curiously named town of Sort we drove north up the valley of the River Pallaresa which was a fair sized river and was obviously very popular with canoeists. Sort and all the villages north were very busy and I began to wonder if our chosen campsite would have room for us, not having made a booking.

We needed have worried, Camping Voraparc (http://www.voraparc.com/index.php/en/) did have a few pitches left although the remaining few with electric points were virtually all gone by the end of the afternoon.

On the map this is where we are:

The site is about a kilometre or so past Espot on the road leading to the Parc National d'Aigüestortes (which means twisted waters) which has some of the most striking Pyrenean scenery. I don't think we will see much of that but tomorrow if it isn't too hot we will have a gentle stroll up the valley to see what we can see. For the moment here are a couple of shots from the campsite. In the first you can just see our back box in the bottom right hand corner. And many thanks to @jumartoo for the suggestion to come to this region. It looks a cracker and not an area known to me as my previous visits have been to the areas a little west of here.

 

[jumartoo]

Glad you like the area but you'll only touch the edge of it this time! The best way of seeing it, I think, is to either walk up from Espot or take the landrover taxis up into the park.

Not one of my photos but gives an idea of the beauty of the area.

 

[DBK]

Do you use a polarising filter? If not, why not? Just interested to know.

Good question! Never considered it, but worth investigating. Thanks.

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[DBK]

Glad you like the area but you'll only touch the edge of it this time! The best way of seeing it, I think, is to either walk up from Espot or take the landrover taxis up into the park.

View attachment 116054

Not one of my photos but gives an idea of the beauty of the area.

I believe you can get taxis from here to the Sant Maurici lake though I'm not sure if they take dogs. As you know only authorised vehicles are allowed into the park. But I fear it is going to be too hot for any long walks, we should have been here six weeks ago.

 

[jumartoo]

Some years ago we did a hut to hut trek in the Park for three nights. The scenery was fantastic. Feel another trip is needed. Not this year though .

 

[DBK]

Some years ago we did a hut to hut trek in the Park for three nights. The scenery was fantastic. Feel another trip is needed. Not this year though .

In my keeness I bought the 1:25k map at the campsite office today. It comes with a little booklet which amongst other things lists the park rules. No wild camping, do not deviate from the paths and no swimming in the rivers or lakes. I already knew the Spanish took their national parks seriously but they certainly are trying to keep this remarkable area pristine.

A traverse across it staying at the refuges would be superb. Note to self: Ignore 65th birthday this November. There is still time for adventures.

 

[vwalan]

you are or were near the vielha tunnel thats a real long one . you think its never going to end . but very nice pics again .

 

[DBK]

you are or were near the vielha tunnel thats a real long one . you think its never going to end . but very nice pics again .

That's the one that's €50+ to go through I think - we will join the road north of it on my planned route. Which might be in France but I'm not counting on it after my experience of the Cadí tunnel!

Edit: my suspicions were right, the tunnel is all in Spain, France doesn't start for another twenty or thirty kilometres further north.

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[vwalan]

wasnt very expensive last time i went through it . might have gone up . its 5km long .
have to google and see .

 

[jumartoo]

That's the one that's €50+ to go through I think

Where did you get this from??? We've not paid in the past! As far as we know only the Cadi tunnel has a toll charge.

 

[vwalan]

i really cant remember if its toll r not . but have used it a few times . if it was expensive i,m sure i would have remembered and not used it again . hee heee.

 

[DBK]

Where did you get this from??? We've not paid in the past! As far as we know only the Cadi tunnel has a toll charge.

i really cant remember if its toll r not . but have used it a few times . if it was expensive i,m sure i would have remembered and not used it again . hee heee.

No, you are both right, I must be thinking about some other tunnel! Some days I shouldn't get out of bed....

 

[vwalan]

think we all have days like that . ha ha

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[DBK]

This morning we walked up the footpath to the entrance of the park. The path is a GR and well marked. The shot below was taken looking back the way we had come after an hour or so of walking. The campsite is down in the valley in the distance.

It was warm walking but there was a breeze every now and again.

As we went higher we could see the peaks of some big mountains just becoming visible which spurred us "onwards and upwards" as they say.

The path became much wider as we entered the park and we had our first proper look at the peaks.

And at the furtherest point we went the view opened out.

The mountain on the left, if I have identified it correctly is known as els Encantats. The pointy peak on the right (Encantat Xie) is slightly lower at 2734m than Encantat Gran which you can just see to the left. A path leads to the summit of this 2748m (9018 ft) peak.

There were some more distant peaks off to the right, which I didn't photograph, which still had a few small patches of snow.

At this point we turned back, crossing the Riu Escrita river at a bridge where Charlie made full use of the cold water for a paddle.

Where we had reached was the start of the walk for most people as the road here is as far as private cars can be taken. Only the Land Rover taxis can go on to the Sant Maurici lake unless you walk from the car park, which takes about an hour.

The path between the road and the bridge we had crossed has been converted with an elevated walkway to be wheelchair accessible, though unfortunately the path beyond the bridge is not.

At the bridge there was an interesting sign in Catalán and Spanish.

Trout and Dipper I recognised, but who is the curious character on the right? The answer is written at the end of the Spanish section. It is a Pyrenean Desman, a nocturnal relative of shrews and moles. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19260705

It would have been nice to walk up to the lake but that would have made this a five or six hour trip and this wasn't for us in the middle of July. As it was we covered about seven km in two and a half hours with 400m of ascent - it was gently uphill all the way. We returned by the road, which was easy walking downhill and we were encouraged in our step by lots of wild strawberries, which were as sweet as the ones we had had in Italy.

I used my GPS to record the route but it had some sort of a wobble on the return leg, which you can see by the wavy line! It must have lost GPS signal for a while.

In the map below you can see our path - and how little we actually went into the park! (shown by the green bit) Definitely an area we would like to come back to but in June or September I think.

 

[jumartoo]

Love, love love the area! Pity it was too hot to get to the lakes but you have to have a next time! Late May or June for the flowers.

 

[DBK]

Forgot to mention I was disappointed this morning by the virtual absence of birdlife. Apart from a Jay and a Blackbird that was it, even the usual twittering in the trees was almost absent. I even carried my telephoto lens with me in case of something exotic like a Bearded Vulture! They must have all been snoozing.

I also forgot to say we did share the wild strawberries with Charlie!

 

[DBK]

Firstly, a big thank you (or should that be commiserations?) to all who have looked in on this little thread about our travels as I've just noticed it has now attracted 10,000 views. Is there nothing on TV back in the UK?

We are now in France, at CamperContact #28629 which is a really good place for a one or two night stopover. It is a sort of Parc Verger by the Pyrenees, being a campsite for motorhomes only with showers etc and a little shop. The owners (very friendly but not a word of English) seem to be extending it with new fully serviced pitches to come I think. The only problem is it is in the middle of nowhere. It is a mile and a half to the local village and we are surrounded by farmland. There are one or two residents but we are the only tourists - and this is the middle of July. This may explain why we have been given a free jar of paté.

Talking of French, what is the French for "normal rubbish"? I asked the lady owner where the" poubelles" were and she showed me the recycling bins. I couldn't find the words for "but where do Charlie's poo bags go"?

Getting here was fun. We went over the Port de la Bonaiga which was probably the twistiest road we have yet been on. This Google maps image shows how the road does a good impression of a small intestine as you climb from the bottom left up over the pass then descended through some big zig zags. The latter were a bit unnerving in places. On the left hand turns, with the vehicle on the outside of the bend you could look right down into the airy depths as you slowly swept around the bend.

The top of the pass is a skiing place, hence all the coloured lines on the map.

 

[jumartoo]

As always, it's been a really good read.

Thank you.

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