Sunday, October 7, 2007

Oooops. tech problem

Hi guys,
You will have noticed a lack of updating of the blog over the last week. Unfortunately, as the TV people used to say, this has been beyond my control. First of all, at the beginning of last week we were in a valley in the Pyrenees that did not have Vodafone coverage. Then we climbed over a high pass into the country of Andorra which of course is a separate state and appears to have a state monopoly on cellphone coverage. This has meant that I can receive calls to my cellphone but as I have no data contract with the Andorran cellphone company I cannot send emails. I update the blog by sending emails to the blogsite and no email means no blog updates.
I am writing this from a cyber cafe so you will have to wait until we get back into Spain before I can continue with the blog.
We crossed into Andorra in the northwest of the country through a high pass called the Port de Baiau (2757 mtrs). We had to wait two days for the weather to be right and even then we almost froze and got caught in a wild hail storm but managed to overnight in an emergency refuge up near the pass.
We have been 2 days in Andorra (in Arinsal and today Ordino). Tomorrow we make the climb through to the town of Encamp and then we will go overland for 2 days without seeing any civilisation until the town of Puigcerda in Catalonia. We will be meeting up with friends, Olga and Albert who have a house near there and staying the weekend of the 12th Friday / 13th Saturday with them. From there it will be 10 more days of walking to the end, Cap de Creus. I think that by now we have had enough of struggling up vertical climbs of mountains only to get to the top and see...more mountains that we have to climb. All 3 of us are looking forward to sweating our way up to the top of a mountain and seeing...the sea. We have been at it since the 1st of September and it has been bloody hard work. Fantastic views, great experiences, but we are all looking forward now to the end. We still have many more hard days to go and the weather could still close us out with winter coming on, especially in the higher altitudes. But we are now determined to finish the damn thing.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fantastic effort,congratulations not too bad for elderley folk.your weather loks better not much rain in future,hope the boots last out along with the medication Have fun on the RUN in so to speak.Press on beat the challenge and may the Luck of the Irish be with you

Unknown said...

Oh WOW!!! your sea is your light. may it come quickly. you guys are awesome. i'm lost for words over this mammoth walk that just seems like a fairytale to us. good luck!!

Anonymous said...

Vicki Said - Puigcerdà is the capital of the Catalan comarca of Baixa Cerdanya, in the Girona province, in Catalonia, Spain, located at 1,202 metres above the sea, by the river Segre, right by the border with France. Population 6,356 (1996).

It was founded in 1177 by King Alfonso I of Aragon, Count of Barcelona.

Puigcerda was unique during the Spanish Civil War in having a democratically elected Anarchist council.

Enjoy the anarchy. Hugs.