The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

A Spanish Pyrenees walking holiday

June is such a wonderful time to hike in the Spanish Pyrenees! Many wildflowers are at their peak. The weather is generally good: fairly dry with moderate temperatures. The summer hordes have not yet descended (or rather, ascended) on the mountain villages. Did I mention the wildflowers?

Maggie and I spent nine days hiking: the first six from village to village in and above the Valle de Tena in the central Pyrenees and the last three doing center-based day hikes in Ordesa National Park, located less than an hour’s drive from the Valle de Tena. (I then spent a final two days soloing a couple of peaks in Andorra). To arrange the accommodations and luggage transfer from village to village in the Valle de Tena, we engaged Hike Pyrenees. For our self-guided hikes they provided daily maps and directions which were definitely a help as some routes were not at all obvious. I highly recommend Phil and his team and they do guided hikes as well if that is your preference.

Enjoy the photos which follow, many of flowers. The book Mountain Flowers Pyrenees & Picos by Cliff Booker & David Charlton was invaluable in flower identification, though augmenting it with Wildlife of the Pyrenees purchased from a Hike Pyrenees guide, was beneficial as neither are comprehensive but used together there were only a handful of flowers we couldn’t identify.

A buttercup field and the Valle de Ripera path. Our first day was our only circular hike, looping around this side valley from the village of Panticosa.
Elder-flowered Orchid. One of 35 orchids found in the Pyrenees. Both pink and cream colored varieties are often seen together.
A Trumpet Gentian, one of my favorites.
A rock garden along the Valle de Ripera. Still beautiful though the saxifrage is not in bloom.
Common Mallow
Valle de Tena vista above Panticosa with the northern end of Embalse (reservior) Bubal. We headed from Panticosa to Sallent de Gallego on the second day.
Likely Bedstraw Broomrape (Orobanche caryophyllacea)
Early Purple Orchid
Maggie ascending a scree field to the Ibones (lakes) de Arriel on the third day. To our village-to-village walks we added one night at a refugio high above the upper end of the Valle de Tena. This was a tough day hiking.
One of the Ibones de Arriel, a lovely set of high mountain lakes set in a rocky cirque, on the way to the Refugio Respomusa.
The Refugio Respomusa in a stunning landscape at 2200 m (7218 ft), our abode for the night. Both trekkers on the GR11 and climbers of some local peaks frequent this refugio.
Snow reflected off the Embalse Respomusa in the morning light
Fire Salamander near the Refugio Respomusa. Usually nocturnal, we were lucky to see it as we started our day 4 descent.
Rio Aguas Limpias. This riverside meadow provided a charming rest stop both on the ascent and descent from the refugio.
Vista with Sallent de Gallego on the lower right at the start of day 5. Marginal weather in the morning added atmosphere to some of the photos.
View north from Punta de la Cochata (1901 m, 6237 ft). A pleasant little scramble during our day 5 lunch stop.
The bucolic barranca below Ibon de Piedrafita on day 6
Bell flower (possibly narrow leaved, Campanula persicifolia)
Pyrenean Poppy

Our short drive to the Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido gave us a break from hiking and a day to explore Torla-Ordesa, the charming mountain village where we would be staying for the next three nights. As the hikes are well established and several of the best start at the same trailhead in the Valle de Ordesa, we stayed at an AirBnb apartment within a 20 minutes’ walk of Torla-Ordesa. A very picturesque village only a few kilometers from the park entrance, it proved a great choice. What’s more, we were able to relax on our balcony after hiking all day and cook dinner ourselves if we didn’t want to wait until 8 or 8:30 when the restaurants opened!

Bridge across Rio Arazas, Valle de Ordesa, with the Mondarruego massif looming behind. Our first day in the park was a short loop hike on the south side of the valley.
Rio Arazas featured numerous waterfalls and cascades as it descended the Valle de Ordesa.
Bears Ears (Ramonda maconi)
Punta Mondarruego, Ordesa, seen on our second day in the park. We did the Calzadores (Hunters’) loop, a 7+ hour hike with 900 m (3000 ft) altitude gain that ascended and traversed the slopes on the south side of the valley and returned along the valley bottom itself.
Mountain vista along Calzadores path, Ordesa
White Asphodel. We only saw it two days, but a couple fields were filled with it.
Another cascade along Rio Arazas, Ordesa
St Bruno’s Lily, the only example we saw the entire trip
Globe Flowers
Pyrenean Cranesbill (Geranium endressii)
Large-flowered Butterwort (Pinguicula grandiflora). Insectivorous, the dark dots are insects trapped on the sticky leaves and slowly being digested.

After returning to Barcelona so Maggie could fly home, I drove 3 hours to the Principality of Andorra the following morning. For the three nights I had booked a room in Hotel Babot above the village of Ordino, which had the twin advantages of being centrally located and away from the ugly conurbation of the main valleys of the Principality. Enjoy the photos!

View from summit of Casamanya, Andorra. This was a quick exercise hike (about 750 m, 2460 ft gain). Ordino is seen directly below.
View from summit of Casamany towards Coma Pedrosa, which is indicated by the arrow. As a climb, Coma Pedrosa was a horse of a different color from the hike up Casamanya.
Butterfly and flowers, one of only two I managed to photograph
What primary colors! Spring Gentians and Buttercups were running riot on the slopes of Casamanya.
Early view of some peaks during my 7 hour climb of Coma Pedrosa, the highest mountain in Andorra at 2,943 m (9,656 ft). At this point, I wasn’t sure which is the actual peak. In fact, I’m still not certain!
About half way up the climb, a natural amphitheater provided the site of the Refugio Comapderosa, behind me to the left. Notice the bee on the right of the photo?
The upper Negre Lake on Coma Pedrosa, mostly still frozen. The steep gully route above here was covered in deep snow, so I opted for the ridge route (next photo) for both the ascent and descent.
The long ridge route to the summit of Coma Pedrosa. The summit is the high point furthest back in the center of the photo.
Coma Pedrosa summit view northeast towards France
On top of Coma Pedrosa with the orographic summit “cairn” and Andorran flag. I took a selfie as there was nowhere convenient to place the camera.
From the summit, a view towards the Coma Pedrosa trailhead about 1500 m (5000 ft) below. A long way back to the car for tired knees!

I write this from Hastings on the south coast of England. My next post will either be some highlights of local walks on England’s south coast, or if I don’t have the time to organize the disparate photos from the past several months, from my two week trek in the High Atlas of Morocco coming up in July. Either way, keep enjoying the outdoors!

The Vagabond Hiker

Comments

  1. As a lover of all things mountains, I loved this! That summit was a terrific reward for the hard climb! And, yes, loved the bee photobomb!

    As always, thanks for sharing!

    Terri

  2. Hi Kent
    This looks like a trek I definitely want to do! Looking forward to seeing you in August! Happy trails,
    Leslie

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