Refuge de Engorgs to Puigcerda

7 september 2022

I just love waking up in the mountains as the sun starts to creep up from behind the mountains.

It's so peaceful and quiet. The sheep dogs start to stir as we get up and about - the shepherd is not here yet to release the sheep out into the mountain pastures.

I'm able to pack and get going in about 20mins now, so the routine is the same this morning. Up and off early to do what is described as a 'tortuous' traverse of the south side of our nearby mountain. The walk was full of twists and turns but not at all difficult. There were plenty of grassy flat sections along the way and sooner than expected I came out towards the lake where the refuge, campsite and horse field were basking in sunlight.

I enjoyed a hiker's breakfast sat on the veranda of the refuge in the glorious sunshine. There was another GR11 hiking couple here so we exchanged some advice for our up coming sections.

The rest of the day's hike was a descent towards Puigcerda. Initially this was straight forward following local paths through the forest and deep into mushroom picking country. Literally hundreds of people were in these woods, with their baskets, collecting huge quantities of the most succulent mushrooms. Seemly this week is the main week and its been a good year.

I started to loose the way quite early on in the late morning and found a Spanish hiker with a yellow hat and a GPS walking in the same direction as me, to reassure me of the way. I ended up doing a huge detour through the forest and then eventually giving up and going down hill towards a track, as way markers seemed to be non existent. At one pint I was getting very despondent and thought I had totally lost the direction, only to see ahead a sign post and the yellow hatted hiker. Funny how things turn out sometimes! I followed him through a valley and along a road to make sure I took the right track off to the left towards the town. He then disappeared ahead of me.

It's along trudge along the road to Puigcerda and I was aware of more dereliction and aging amongst the properties on the outskirts of the town, than I'd seen before.

I decided to head straight for the railway station to see what the train times were to Barcelona before arranging accommodation. The station is a lovely old building standing prominently at one end of a square. Train times were infrequent and I decided to wait until tomorrow morning.

Finding accommodation proved interesting. There were a few basic hostals by the station. I fancied something a bit more substantial for my last night so carried my pack up the multiple stairways to the main town which is on the top of the ridge. In the main square, I asked around to find there was only one main expensive hotel next to a lake on the outskirts of the town.

I decided to return to the station area down the hill, only to find that the station itself has a wonderful character hotel upstairs in a clever renovation of the old building. A lovely place to spend the last night of this section of the trek.