French and Spanish Pyrenees (pic heavy)

[knoefz]

During July and August we had a great camping trip in the French and Spanish Pyrenees.
It was so beautiful the I couldn't leave out many pics... Hope you guys have the patience to scroll through them all. Many day hikes though incredible nature, super friendly people, great food and beverages.... I'd love to go back there someday.

We had troubles with the van twice... luckily we found mechanics close by and they fixed our troubles (gear issue and oilf filter problem) very quickly so not much delays... even on saturdays at 16.00! Can't think of getting that lucky over here.

The trip started in France... the Cirque du Gavarnie

Its surrounding mountains

Manny many butterflies everywhere in the Pyrenees

It was hot so had to keep hydrated

Forgot where this was, I think at Odessa valley in Spain

Bbq near one of the many many streams....

High trees when at lower altitudes

Did I mention the manny streams?

The streams helped cool down the myself..

helped cool down the dog... resting on the rocks after a swim

And most important... they helped to stay hydrated... cool

This must be the greenest part of Spain together with the Costa verde

Here we saw many vultures... hard to get on photo though

Less trees higher up the mountains... still hot in the sun though

coming into a mountain village

 

[knoefz]

And another village

Breakfast

In the Valle the Boi iirc. many lakes up high in th mountains in this area

Incredible valleys... marmots lived there. The made our dog crazy

Bad weather while we were up on the mountain.... we turned around early

We saw helicopters searching after the storm when we were descending. Someone else had been very unfortunate... these guys are true heros

Beautiful mountain village called Durro

Guinness blending into the landscape

One of the locals

They were with the thousands

Lunch?

Anothe wonderful valley in the French part of the Pyrenees

Hope you guys enjoyed the pics.
It was truly incredible.

 

[ThePeacent]

Great pics and writing!

I go every year to Vall de Boi, it's a beautiful place

Most of my Summer pics are taken in those valleys!

This is Sant Climent de Taull, a Romanic construction similar to Durro's

Durro is nice indeed. Did you visit Taull, Pont de Suert, Viella or Barruera?

The Aiguestortes National Park is nice indeed, I recognised the pics instantly. ?

That lake is just pretty

In any case, i hope you enjoyed your stay...

and enjoyed the nature that my country has to offer to all of us!

Have a nice week :thumbup:

 

[Alberta Ed]

Fabulous pics! Thanks! I think I had the best beer of my life at an alpine "hut" above Murren in the Swiss Alps last summer. The scenery wasn't bad, either: the Eiger and Jungfraujoch towering above deep valleys and alpine pastures, grazing cattle, superb local cheese...

 

[jmh33]

Super pics!! Thanks for sharing!!! John

 

[knoefz]

Great pics and writing!

...Did you visit Taull, Pont de Suert, Viella or Barruera?
In any case, i hope you enjoyed your stay...
and enjoyed the nature that my country has to offer to all of us!

Gracias amigo
We visited 2 out of 4 places you mentioned...Pont de Suert and Barruera. We stayed at a campsite in Barruera I think.
there was a parapenting landingspot next to the camp site iirc.
I love your country and its people... nothing but good experiences every time we visit.
My parents in law live there half the year, just below Alicante.
Oh, and thanks for adding th eknife pics I forgot to take

Fabulous pics! Thanks! I think I had the best beer of my life at an alpine "hut" above Murren in the Swiss Alps last summer. The scenery wasn't bad, either: the Eiger and Jungfraujoch towering above deep valleys and alpine pastures, grazing cattle, superb local cheese...

Thanks buddy. Beer in the "huts" are the best beers... as you have really deserved them once you're there

Super pics!! Thanks for sharing!!! John

Thanks for the kind words buddy.

 

[tknife]

Excellent pics! Looks like some beautiful places to spend time :thumbup:

 

[Mikel_24]

During July and August we had a great camping trip in the French and Spanish Pyrenees.
We had troubles with the van twice... luckily we found mechanics close by and they fixed our troubles (gear issue and oilf filter problem) very quickly so not much delays... even on saturdays at 16.00! Can't think of getting that lucky over here.

What are you driving and what did you break? Did I point to you the FURGOPERFECTOS map you can locate on www.furgovw.org to aid you finding the perfect spot for van camping/parking/overnighting? This map provides (based on GoogleMaps) provides information about every spot found by forumites who want to share them with other forumites (or whoever needs it). It will tell you if the parking spot is free of charge, has/has not water source/WC/electricity, etc. Quite handy! Can be downloaded in several different formats to use those POI's in TomTom, Sygic, etc. And it is not limited only to Spain.. There are "furgoperfectos" all over the world. I have been like four times in the one located right in the middle of Marrakech in Morocco!

The trip started in France... the Cirque du Gavarnie

Now that you have enjoyed it in summer... you have to come back in winter! The Cirque du Gavarnie is probably the most interesting spot for ice climbing in Europe...if not more (I live like 5h away driving). The whole Cirque gets frozen in winter, all the way to the top. I have been there three times and while the conditions are not always great (we don't have as intense cold as I would like) the views are stunning. The waterfall on the left side of your picture, when frozen, is caled OVERDOSE (grade 6 or 6+). It lets go tons of ice without warning... so you better don't get anywhere within a 75m radius of it. The first wall (before a big snow slope) gives you up to six pitches of ice. And then you have even two more walls on top of it!

Boi is another ice climbing spot... but the cascades are not so close to each other and it gets much more sun than Gavarnie... so the ice is worse usually.

I am glad you had fun!

Mikel

 

[Herlock]

Amazing landscape and great pics :thumbup:! Pyrenees are definitely an area I need to check out. Never been there. Thanks for "taking me along". If you ask me, I'll never say pics in posts like this are too many , the more the merrier .

 

[lambertiana]

Beautiful area!

 

[Mistwalker]

Hope you guys enjoyed the pics.
It was truly incredible.

I enjoyed them very much, thanks for sharing! It looks like a truly incredible adventure :thumbup:

 

[Catherine_Montana]

There are so many beautiful pictures and writing in this thread!

Thank you for sharing.

Cate

 

[scout1sg]

Very nice, wished we had that sort of view and landscape here in Kansas.

 

[willrise]

Truly AMAZING.

 

[tech25]

Beautiful pictures, looks like you had an amazing time!

The beer is definitely an important part of gear for a hike!

 

[Aias]

Wow--what an adventure! Thanks so much for sharing!

 

[A.W.U.K.]

Beautiful pics, I want to go now