The Besiberri range

We are staying in a village called Erill la Vall in the Boi Valley of the Western Aiguestortes, an area of cultural significance because of its Romanesque churches and also because it is the gateway to the Besiberri Range in the Aiguestortes National Park.

It was raining the evening we arrived, but the next morning was quite sunny, though rain was forecast later in the day. This made our choice of itinerary easy. We would walk for half a day, and then spend some of our afternoon en route to our next booking touring some of the Romanesque churches of the valley.

Vehicle access to the park is restricted, and our hostel advised us to maximise our time up high by taking one of the taxis which operate in the park. This saved us 2 hours of walking uphill to the really spectacular scenery on the Plannel d’Aiguestortes. From here, it was possible to do a number of walks, weather and time permitting.

The drive up to the Plannel was lovely, past one of the estany, or upland tarns or lakes which are dotted throughout the park (there are over 200), past numerous little streams, jumbled boulders everywhere and into an alpine area ringed by craggy mountains still with quite a bit of snow.

We had planned on doing a short walk on a nature trail before walking back down to our car, but we got chatting to a very nice Dutch couple who were walking out to Estany Llong, which was as far as it was feasible to walk into the mountains before the snow became too deep.

This sounded so nice, and the area was so lovely to walk in, that we also decided to head that way for an hour before turning back. So, stepping it out, we headed along the plain towards the mountains with the serious snow cover. The only way to describe this walk is “delightful”.  Easy, well maintained path, little streams and rivulets everywhere, crystal clear water, cascades, lovely forest, and views to the mountains. Around every bend was another photo opportunity. We kept putting off the decision to turn back…

Just before Estany Llong we met snow on the track. As we were so close to the lake, we decided to continue until we had a view before we turned back. We had to crunch our way upward across snow for about 5 minutes before coming to the saddle – and the wonderful view down over the lake was worth the extra time. We again met our Dutch couple who were on their way up as we finally headed back to the car park. We couldn’t linger - we now estimated that we wouldn’t get back to the car until 3 pm.

As we had left the lunch in the car, and had a 2 hour drive to do, we again stepped it out, detouring via the nature walk before beginning the 2 hour trek down the mountain. Although parts of the descent were lovely, especially around the Estany de Llebreta, much of it proved to be ho-hum after our morning’s walk. We must be getting fussy!  Also, it began to cloud in, then to rain, and then to hail (ball bearings, not golf balls, thankfully!). And it was really steep in some parts, so much so that it was very slow walking down hill on the scree slopes.

By the time we reached the lake it was hailing…

Finally, lunch (at a fashionable hour for Spain), a quick look at two of the famous churches, only one of which was open, (but lovely) and then on the road through more rain as we headed higher into the mountains and up into the snow over the Port de la Bonaigna pass.

At last, Espot and an apartment for the next two nights.  M spends a very frustrating evening trying to get our netbook and the apartment’s wifi to talk to each other, without success.