GRP - Andorra (part I) скачать в хорошем качестве

GRP - Andorra (part I)

GRP days 1-4, Wednesday - Saturday, August 24 - 27, 2022 Andorra la Vella to Les Bordes d'Envalira Since I'm over the hill, you'll have to excuse me for confusing the years in the intro. We didn't fly at all in 2020. In 2021 we flew to and from Colorado. After the USA and other countries relaxed their Covid-testing requirements for international travel we booked flights on American Airlines for this trip from San Diego to Barcelona. Our plan was to hike the Grande Randonnée Pays (GRP), the 75-mile circuit around Andorra, and then follow the GR11 from Andorra through the Catalunya region of Spain to the Mediterranean. Hiking the GRP has been on our radar since 2017 and, since it has 39,000' of elevation gain/loss in only 75 miles, we figured we ought to do it sooner rather than later. Upon arrival at Barcelona El Prat airport, we cleared Spanish immigration, Covid-control, and customs very quickly. All we needed as far as Covid was concerned was proof of vaccination and a booster within the last nine months. A recent negative test or proof of recovery from Covid would also have been acceptable. At the airport, I bought an Orange SIM card and we caught an "Andbus" to Andorra la Vella (€32.40 each) with 5 minutes to spare, which was a stroke of luck because the bus runs every two hours. The driver was ever so nice and happily let us ride the 10 am bus even though I'd purchased tickets for the noon bus. We were going to walk the final mile to our hotel but when we arrived at the Andorra la Vella bus terminal a girl working for Andbus said, "No, don't walk. I called a taxi for you. It's included in the bus fare so you don't pay for the taxi." Andorra is the best. I'd booked two nights with half-board (dinner and breakfast) at Hotel Eureka in Andorra la Vella to give us time to recover from jet lag and buy the items that we couldn't bring. The breakfast was good but the dinners were disappointing and our room was cramped with a view over nothing. We wouldn't recommend staying there. It was disappointing but it turned out to be our only bad hotel experience in Andorra. The next day we went shopping for an Andorran SIM card, isobutane canister, and a USB charger because I discovered that one of our two chargers was broken. I had forgotten, until I reminded myself a couple of weeks ago, that Andorra isn't supported by EU roaming plans (with the notable exception of Orange, France). Catalan is the native language of Andorra, but almost everyone also speaks French and Spanish fluently. Many people also speak English. Andorra Telecom had a security guard and a door that you have to request be opened, just like banks in Panama. Upon my inquiry, the woman who was helping us said people had become crazy during Covid and there had been a couple of incidents. "It's not like America though", she hastened to assure us. Phew, well that was a relief! Andorra has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. At Viladomat, the largest sporting goods store in Andorra la Vella, I bought the last can of isobutane and it was the French Campingaz brand with the click-twist Lindal valve. Fortunately, I'd brought a screw-on/twist-click adapter otherwise we'd have been out of luck. Cold coffee and dinners isn't my thing. At LeClerc in Andorra la Vella, I bought a couple of bottles of Chimay Blue, Belgian Trappist beer, for only €1.69 each. They're over $5 in the USA. Andorra, a tiny country sandwiched between France and Spain in the heart of the Pyrenees, is a tax haven. The day we had planned to start hiking the GRP the weather looked very unsettled with thunderstorms predicted for every afternoon into the near future. We were not in any particular hurry, especially not in a hurry to walk in a thunderstorm, so we booked a night in the Hotel Sol-Park in Sant Julià de Lòria. We stayed there in 2016 and really enjoyed it. By happy coincidence, it's also right on the GRP. We thought it was only going to be a 4 or 5-mile walk so we figured we'd easily be able to make it before the rain started. After we left Andorra la Vella and started on the GRP it was hot and humid. We were alone except for one runner who passed us. It turned out to be an 8-mile walk (4 miles on the GRP) with 2,500' gain. We arrived at Sol-Park at 2.15 pm, just as the first drops of rain started to fall. The tariff was only €63 which included breakfast. The young guy working reception was ever so nice. He gave me a complimentary beer and there was also a complimentary 1.5 L water bottle in the fridge in our room. Patsy thinks it's the same guy who was working there when we stayed in 2016. What a pleasant change from the Hotel Eureka. We were ever so happy to be sitting on the balcony, enjoying our drinks and relaxing, waiting for the thunderstorm to start, which it did around 4 pm and kept going well into the night. The same weather pattern repeated for the next several days but we soldiered through and camped the next two nights. It was quite exciting!