The Pyrenees!

Let's see... a quick post since I need to get back on the bike if I'm going to cover some more kilometers today...

On Sunday I took a train to Montserrat from Barcelona, since I figured that would be a relatively easy way to navigate out of the city. It was pretty cool, but I ended up spending more time there than I anticipated (and money), but that was all right - it was nice to hike around there and explore the mountains.

That evening, after waiting out a big thunderstorm in a village with some new Spanish friends, I spent the night in a casa rural (pension) near Cordona.

On Monday I rode to La Seu, found a place to stay, and then did an out-and-back ride to check out Andorra. La Seu was a really nice town, with everything from a 12th-century cathedral to bike paths to boutique shops.

From there (Tuesday) I rode over a pretty high (5500') mountain pass to Sort, where I sorted out some food and met two British bike tourers, and then continued to Espot. At the Casa de Parq for Aiguestortes National Park I bought a good topo map and then did a late-afternoon hike up to the closest refugio. The terrain up there was just like the Enchantments in Washington!

I realized, once up there, that the refugios do serve food, so I would probably be able to stay overnight at one, even with my tiny little backpack.

So last night I stayed at a great refugio at about 8000'! There is still a good deal of snow up there, so my options for hiking were a little limited in running shoes, but I still managed to get up to a 2700m+ summit. All I brought was a light jacket, my fleece, some food for lunch, and one water bottle (0.75 l).

Today it was back on the bike and up over a 2000m+ mountain pass and into the town of Vielha, where I got some stamps and mailed some postcards. :) I'm torn between staying here for the night and trying to make some more progress on the road (I've only covered about 50 km on the bike so far today). I met my first American bike tourists today, who happen to have met a guy I know from Microsoft (yes, it's a small world!).

Sorry, no chance to post pictures yet!