Núria, Finestrelles & Queralbs

We stayed over at the apartments in Núria, which were very luxurious in comparison to where I had stayed previously around this area. We awoke with the sound of the cog train, realising it was already 9 in the morning. Luckily (or not) Jaume was also a bit late, and his train arrived at 10 in the morning. Somehow, we ended up walking at 10 in the morning. No comment....

The excursion starts behind the sanctuary of Núria, where we take the path that goes towards Finestrelles. which passes through the camping zone. It is rather well indicated, although we did do it the day before the race - cursa de l'olla - for which there were marks and indications everywhere.

The first idea was to go and hike the Puigmal, and that was the direction we were going in, but Narcis had already gone there, and the weather was not very convincing, so we decided to do Finestrelles instead.

Once we arrived at the 'Roc de la Maula', we decided to go along the ridge, rather than following the path. It seems much easier than what its like, and we struggled a little to reach the summit.

Once at the summit, we eat and take a picture. The food, sun and the break helps us retain our strength.

To descend, we take part of the tour of the mountains, in the direction of the Pic d'Eina. We had the intention of going there, but the clouds were worrying us... so at the col of Eina, we take the return path, which takes to the Coma d'eina and to Núria.

During our descent, we crossed the path of several chamois, and at the foot of the Coma d'Eina there was a herd of cows and horses... some marmots came to say hi and when we began to walk again we crossed another herd of Chamois that came to give us company.

When we arrived at Núria, a cog train was leaving. We had one in 30 minutes, and then another in 1 hour 30 minutes. Which gave us time to have tea and a little snack... the waiter was not very quick in serving us, and we were not in a hurry either, and before we knew it, the first 30 minutes had passed, but we thought we still had an hour until the next train came... but to our surprise, there was no such train - it only left at that hour on fridays...

The hotel was overflowing with people, as the next day there would be the race - cursa de l'Olla...

Solutions? Walk all  the way to Queralbs... a descent of 3 h 30 m

In the end we walk for 11 hours, but despite the clouds, a fantastic day.