day 24
of the HRP), we have reached Salardu. Ton Joosten’s Cicerone Guide
describes the section as “the hard or the easy way to Salardu”, presumably
referring to the option to walk the middle 3 days on the GR11 to avoid the
high, difficult, boulder-strewn, snow-covered, steep-sided passes. Well,
we did it the hard way, and although non-trivial, requiring pretty much
all the gear we’ve been carrying, being challenged in the middle by
untoward weather, and resulting in another 2 burst drinking pouches
between us, we’ve made it.
We walked most of the stage with a french dude (whose name i never got)
who dropped out temporarily with a hurt ankle a couple of days ago. We
also ran into quite a few interesting people including a pair of very
funny & witty germans who’d just finished 2 weeks of the GR11 (backwards)
and who we stayed up late drinking with at hospital de viela on day 22 to
see them off in style. Adie also picked up a young admirer or 2 
For anyone considering walking the pyrenees by such a high route, i’d
strongly recommend you leave this section to mid-august when the snow will
have melted more. Otherwise the large snowfields on either side of the
steep cols, and the small ones scattered across the paths down steep-sided
valleys containing torrents of meltwater make for some additional big
challenges.
Apparently food supplies and navigation are the big issues of the next
stage but adie is confident that it’s “all downhill from here”…
