Next stop on our road trip was the Panticosa Valley (or Garganta del Escalar to give it its proper name), a new valley for us near the Spanish/French border. We stayed at the head of the valley, next to the Balneario de Panticosa, a spa and cross country ski resort in winter and possibly the weirdest complex of buildings I've ever seen! As a so-called trained planning officer(!) I was astounded by the mish-mash - beautiful stonework and Victorian style architecture nestled next to dilapidated ruins, mixed up with tin shack factories/scrapyards next to modern 4 star hotels that look more like a a brand new university campus...
But anyway, above the slightly strange and eerie empty resort the scenery was far more consistent: sharp sided valleys, big peaks, canyons and lakes. So we had a couple of steep day walks here to keep beasting our legs!
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| The beautiful Lagos Azules - the reward after 700m ascent. A joy with only day sacks! |
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| A nice place to paddle and finish my book too :-) |
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| Descending back down towards the weird and wonderful Balneario de Panticosa... |
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| Some gnarly weathered signage on the way... |
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The very cold and deep Azule Lake. No swimming in this one!
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| Some canyoners in action, as seen from the path (well, just off the path as Ali was teetering off the edge of a cliff as usual!) |
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| Canyoner number two preparing to get a dunking... |
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| Splash! |
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| Our path took us on the incredibly well-marked GR11. I want the job of GR sign painter! |
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| A beautiful yet slightly eerie 4* Hotel - it's closed up until winter. |
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| Next to wooden "wild-west" style bars and shops... |
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| Old-school railway station in front of University Campus? |
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| Remains of stone buildings tucked away... |
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| More colourful wood... |
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| The next day's walk followed the same GR (11) up the other side of the valley. Again well marked! The only person we met all day was following this route across the whole Pyrenees, on day 20 of 35 and desperate for some company! |
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| The impressive cairn that marked our col and destination for the day: the "Puerto Bielo del Brazato at 2578m to be precise. Nice views whatever its name! |
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| Not a bad place for some lunch either. Views of Vignemale (one of highest mountains in Pyrenees) in front. |
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| Starting the steep descent back down. I'm not actually about to walk off a cliff edge by the way... |
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| Just down past the lakes and towards valley bottom... |
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| The final meadow before it's back to zig-zagging all the way down to the Balneario (and dinner). |
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