Andorra
Finally I can start my chapter called Andorra. I've been there so many times, and if you ask me I will still be going there.
This was my 4th year there. I always go in summer, and let me tell you, it is absolute pleasure be there. Generally Andorra treats really good all doggos. It will be enough if I say that there was my first time eating in restaurant, and being in mall. And when I say in, I mean in, not restaurant terrace, or some pet shop that is outside the actual mall.
Let me be clear, they don't let you anywhere. In fact, it is not easy to find the accommodation for example, but is sure different from the Spain. there are more restaurants and stores tat will grant you access.
This time, I will not write much. When I am in Andorra, I am mostly outside, hiking. So, I will maybe say something about place, and I will let the photos to tell you the rest. I will also try to include some technical details of the route, and maybe give some feed back from my previous trips here.
So, let's start. My trip occurred from August 10, to August 17, 2019. That is a good time to be in Andorra.
Trip from home to Andorra was a bit different this time. For some reasons, people here where I live, decided to start fireworks at 3AM. We were all up, and couldn't sleep anymore. So we decided to hit the road. That being said, we were in Andorra unusually early than any other time.
First years we would make a stop in Pamplona, and do something there and sleep there, and we would continue the next day to get to Andorra. Now, we are doing it in one day. Same happened on our way back to home.
So, there we were. First day I don't count. It is like loosing time here and there, stopping to eat and stretch paws. But the very next day, we were out bright and early.
IMPORTANT EDIT:
On the day June 10, 2020, we had the official information from the personal of the apartments
Font del Ferro,
and they are NOT PET FRIENDLY anymore!!!!
I will keep you posted about other PET FRIENDLY places to stay!
This time we stayed at apartments Font del Ferro, as we did the year before that. But this time, they told us it is the last year they are allowing dogs to stay in the apartments. I will keep you posted, if I go this year, if I stayed here or not. They do charge you extra for dog (5€ per dog per day), but it is quite comfortable and great apartment.
Two years before that I stayed in hotel pretty close to these apartments. It is called Segle XX. Exact address of the hotel is: Crta de Ransol S/N, Ransol AD100, Canillo – Andorra. There they charge you 9€ per dog per day. Still can't complain. But you are bit more comfortable in apartment.
We have our own tradition when we are in Andorra. At least one day, you have to make one route, or variation on one in Grau Roig, a sector of the Grandvalira ski resort in Andorra, located in the parish of Encamp.
We always park at the same spot, and we start our route from there. You can see it on the map.
We also have a name for the route we are doing in this area. We call it hamburger route. You wonder why?
Well, I will explain a bit. We always finish route at the same place, and that is normal, because we have to get to our car, right? But a bit more, before we get to the car, there is this place by the lake that is a restaurant and a snack bar. Well, we time our routs, more or less, to finish at the time of the lunch... and the lunch is.... well, you guess it... hamburger!
Last time, snack bar wasn't open, so we needed to check with the restaurant. And boy, oh boy... they let me in, and we all had a great lunch there. I will tell you more about it later.
Ok, so off we go. It is bright and early morning of August 11, 2019. This time we started our route different. Usually we are coming back this way.
We called the route Grau Roig - Montmalus. If you want to check some technical details about it, and some more photos, you can click here.
We started climbing, and climbing... and I was enjoying. My human with camera not so much, but who cares, as long as I am having a great time!
After 4,3 km going up we we were at about 2750m above the see level, and we started off the 1864m.
There we were, at the Montmalús hill, from where the original plan was to go to the lake downhill. But as you can see on the photos, the weather was not smiling upon us. It was too windy, and clouds... well, look it yourself.
We made a decision to go back.
If you can't see me on the last photo... here I am.
I forgot to tell one thing. For me it is quite important. All routes of Andorra are incredibly good marked, so there is no way you can get lost. And then I have to admit that maybe, just for a little we were a bit freestyling.
As I already told you, this would be more about photos speaking for themselves, than me explaining. But here I am, enjoying in one of the many Andorra's lakes.
And just like that, after 7km of going up, then down, I was almost there. And it is almost lunch time.
There at the background you can see Restaurant Refugi del Llac dels Pessons - Grandvalira. The most amazing place that allow dogs inside their restaurant. So it is PET FRIENDLY!!!
I highly recommend this place, or snack bar beside it. Food is great! Not so cheap, but it worth it!
After having a lunch, we went out, and what a surprise! It was all sunny. So now, I officially present you Lake of Pessons.
From there to go down, there is one dirt road for about 1km or so, and it is used by the all terrain vehicles, for lazy people to go for a lunch, or just to the first lake of many in the zone. I am not sure if they allow dogs in this vehicles.
The rest of the day, we just used to play, to lose some time and make some interesting underwater videos. To see more photos, go to gallery.
Next day, after good breakfast, we went on our adventure. Everyday we move in a car to the beginning of our route, although there are some routes that start nearby.
My she human says this route we did on the August 12, 2019, it was easier than the one from the day before. I don't know, they seem pretty easy to me.
We parked here in Arinsal:
It seemed like we had fine day that day. We called this route Arinsal - Pla de l'Estany - Cami de la Percadela. And, again, for more informations about kilometers, high points, meters abowe the sea level and similar, look here.
This day was hot. So what do I do? I see some water (no matter where), and I go and give myself one refreshing spa treatment.
We continued going up for some time, and it doesn't look, but it was a bit tough.
After about 3,5 km walking, we came to a field Pla de l'Estany, where the wild horses were. It was so beautiful, but I was occupied with another matter, far more important. I have a beef with the marmots, and they were calling me, and I didn't know from where, so I would be just going from here to there, while my humans stayed there laughing at me.
We made a quick stop to eat here, and then all of a sudden, across the mountain peaks, fog started to coming down. It looked like it is crawling. It started to rain too.
Yeah, my humans are little bit cowards, one more than another, but I will not go to the details. They decided to run away from the fog. We didn't even get to the mountain shelter.
Only tricky part about this route is coming back to a car by the road that doesn't have sidewalk, and it is road with a bit of traffic. So, be careful!
We walked for about 3 hours and some minutes, and only stopped for about 30 min. In other words, we finished our hike quite early. So, this time, we had to find some alternative. We visited some more places, and did more walk too.
A few minutes ride in a car, and we parked again. This time, we parked a bit far, because we wanted to do more km for this day.
Few minutes up the road, we saw one great sculpture called Storm in a cup of tea by Dennis Oppenheim. And it literally looked like that.
Later on, we went to a border with Spain. It is down the same road till the end. Asphalt ends there and dirt road starts on Spanish side. Place is called La Masanna.
We made small walk there, looked at spectacle that birds made for us, did a little photo shoot, and it was already time to go and charge batteries for the next day.
Ok, let's start a new day! It was August 13, 2019. We get up early, because we wanted to do the route from the free parking, that is not so big. So, you know how they say: early bird catches the worm. More or less around 9AM we started our route.
Here it goes. The map of the beginning of the our route:
This route was special for me. I saw from up close a chamois, that was poor lost his track in the fog that day. But one information at the time.
We did a "lollipop" route. I name all routes that has a circular part, and a little "stick" like that. This time, the "stick" part was because we went to see a Lake Blue in France (fra. Étang Blau). Yep! That is right... I went to France all by myself, on my own paws.
For more info on the Sorteny - Estany Blau - Rialb route, click here.
It was a cold morning, but it all seemed well, until the moment when we started to notice very thick fog, and strong wind. Oh boy... it was cold, but this is the third day that weather is not on our side, so after a moment or two of talk, we decided to continue.
Friendly reminder: if you want to do this like we didi it, bring some waterproof shoes, you will need them! Everything was so soaked and I was looking like I got out of the bath.
With every our step, the fog was thicker, and we could see less. But we kept going.
After 4km, we get to the some point, but I couldn't know where, because you couldn't see a thing. Leter on, I figured that was the border.
So, I was walking on a French soil, and then my nose started to work so intense. I noticed some trace, but I couldn't place it where. Then is when I saw a chamois. We were so close, and we didn't see each other, and when we finally did, we were so confused and surprised. It started running away, and I was there standing and watching it still being surprised what on earth just happened.
You are supposed to see the lake from way above, but I just saw it when I was 100m far from it.
Even like that, with the fog, it was magnificent! We stayed there a bit, and it looked like the fog is going away. But false alarm, it started coming down again after a few minutes, so we decided to go. You can check more photos in gallery.
We went back the sam way we came here. So we crossed the border once more, and we started to go downhill. Oh boy, everything seemed so easier. The weather started to smile upon us, and fog was gone.
On the photo below, I was doing logistic plan, looking paths and roads how to cross the river and go up and border the mountain from the other side.
After 6,5 km I was all the way down at the Vally of Rialb, and I needed a break. To cool my tummy of course.
After that, we started climbing, and after another 1,5 km we left this scene behind.
And then, for another kilometer or so, we don't have documented photos, because my human was dying trying to catch me. In fact, I was already at the top, at Portella de Rialb. It is the highest point of our route at about 2555 meters above the sea level.
We stopped there for a bit. They said it was to take some photos, but we all know it was for my human, so she can catch a breath.
I even photo bombed one of the photos with some serbian cookies on it. Am I right if I say you can see only me, and not cookies?
Do I have to tell now that we continued downhill?
Then I was doing my thing...
And I didn't even notice, they told me we are almost there, at the parking. We just need to go down to the shelter of Besalí, and about 1,5 or 2 km more, and we are done.
How it started, it certainly finished good. You can see it for yourself on these photos here. After hike of more than 14 km, and 5 and a half hours walking, we went to apartments to rest, and get ready for tomorrow.
Our 4th day in Andorra started as usual. We were at the parking lot before 9AM. I will give you a map of a parking, and don't get confused. On the Google Maps you will see some empty field, but actually, there is a parking now in the place of the field. So, it is not a mistake, we parked here:
This route I called Vall del Madriu-Perafita-Claror: Estany de la Nou, and as usual you can check it here.
We started going from there to direction of the Fontverd shelter, climbing constantly for about 2 or 3 km. After 4,5 km we were at the shelter, but we just continued without stopping.
Just a few kilometers ahead, going to Collada de la Maiana, we started climbing again.
Next 4 km were complete disaster if you ask me. The route was not marked good. We had difficulties to find the signs, and it was so steep. So you are guessing... not too much of a photos.
Finally, when we got all the way up, we had a surprise. A whole herd of horses, with their young ones, were coming our direction. To respect them, I separated myself on one side, and I peacefully waited that they pass.
After they passed, I went back to the main path, and... well you know. I started goofing around.
Here comes the best part. After 11 km of going up and down, running, playing and having a spa, we came to our restaurant.
Everybody, let me present to you lake Estany de la Nou.
We stopped there to eat, rest, play and take some videos. Now tell me, didn't we have restaurant with the best view?
And only because I am so friendly doggo, my friend posed for me. This marmot was sunbathing on this rock.
We had 13 km behind us, and 4,5 km more to go. Those last kilometres were not so easy at all. We went trough a very steep and rocky terrain toward the parking lot where we had left the car.
The day was over, and I was exhausted. We headed straight to the apartment.
The next day we headed to one of our favourites parts of Andorra. I mean, we love them all, but you always have some favourites. I am talking about Vall d'Incles.
This time we decided to start our route from a different place. I called the route Vall d'Incles: Entor - Estany Cabana Sorda, and you can check it here.
We started from here:
As always in Andorra, you start your route climbing. But after a 2,5 km more or les, we got to our first lake, Estanyó del Querol.
We have another tradition here, and after we finished it, we continued the route.
Not far from previous lake, there is another one. We needed to move for about 800 m further, to get to Estany de les Salamandres.
After another splendid spa treatment, we walked a bit more, and we got to the biggest lake of the day, Estany de Cabana Sorda.
There I met some doggo friends, some horses, I played a bit, eat some snack, and we continued right after that.
On the 7th km of our route, there is another lake. It is small, but absolutely beautiful. It is called Estany d'Anrodat.
From there, we took a turn and started going downhill to get to the valley of Incles (Vall d'Incles). This time, I didn't see it so difficult to go down, as I saw it last time. It can be a bit tricky, due to the rocks and instable terrain, because rocks are moving. It was a bit steep, I can't lie, but with a bit of precaution and in no time, you are all the way down.
We made a little break there to rest, hidden from the wind, because the weather started to change. On our way back to the car, fog followed us constantly, so we didn't make spectacular photos of the valley. But the ones we did make, you can see in gallery.
Even with the weather like that, it was hot, so I needed to do something about it. And I did:
On our way, through the woods, mostly of black and red pine, at about 14 km of our route, we came upon a Standing Man Rock (Roca de l'Home Dret). This is an enormous eroded formation of schist, from where you can see magnificent views over the whole valley. This formation gets its name because it looks rather like a human figure.
Another 2 km of walking, and we were back to the starting point. It was not bad. After 5 hours and 20 minutes of walking, I felt like eating... so I ate one snack, and we headed back to the apartment.
Our vacation was almost over. We had one more day in Andorra, and we decided to do one good route, but not too difficult, so my human can be prepared and rested for 10 hour drive to home next day.
We got up early, but without too much pressure. Between breakfast, getting ready and all, we were at beginning of our route at about 10 AM.
It was August 16, 2019, and it seemed this day would be hot one. We parked on a place showed on map, and we did the route I named Estanys de la Val del Riu. We did the perfect circular route, we played in various lakes, we climbed a lot, and some of those details, as well as some more photos you can see here.
First kilometer we had to walk by the road itself, and then you can see signs that direct you to the path of the route.
Climbing 5 km trough the forest and fields, we got to the shelter Vall del Riu. After we passed the shelter, there were some seriously steep dozens of meters to climb, and on the top, we had a surprise. Not pleasant one.
As we didn't see, because while climbing that steep terrain, you don't see the top, on that very top there was this cow. I guess the cow was surprised and afraid, so at the moment it saw us, and we saw it too, it started chasing us. Oh boy... is this material for some comedy or what?
Anyhow, cow had a calf, and of course it was protecting it. But I think this abrupt reaction was the product of surprise. After it chase us off the path, it went back to her calf, and we needed to pass that way. At the end, it let us pass without any trouble... but all situation was so hilarious.
We continued climbing, and me enjoying the day.
After 7 km we left behind, we got to the first lake. Ok, someone got there faster than others. And I am not pointing fingers, but she made excuses like she was taking photos, and usual. Let's face it my human.... you are weak.
There was I, taking my well deserved spa treatment, completely relaxed, when then, all of a sudden I heard some loud bad singing.
I looked, and on the other end of the lake, there was this guy, so happy, wearing only underwear, making his tent, and completely ignoring our existence.
At hat moment I decided: when I grow up, I want to be like him, just I already sing way better then him, but who counts. Ok, so we stayed there a bit longer, and we decided to leave and give this guy some privacy.
Couple hundred meters from there there is another lake, where we, of course, stopped by to play a little, and then we continued to the biggest lake of the zone, Estany Gran del Vall del Riu.
At about 8,5 km of our route, we got to the highest point at 2670 m above the sea level, and from there you can se peak of the mountain we conquer one of the times we were in Andorra. It is called Casamaya, and here is the splendid view of it. Rest of the photos you can se in the gallery.
From there, we had 4 more kilometres to get to the car. It was not that hard, but the day was way sunny and hot. So... you know me well by now.
When I got to the car, I took the liberty and went to play in the river for about 10 minutes. What a great way to cool off a bit. After that I was ready for a long rest while my humans are doing hard job of getting ready for the road.
Next day, we got up so early, and we were on the road at about 5 AM (or earlier). We made a few stops to eat and stretch the paws, and in no time, I was home.
I hope I didn't bother you too much with my photos and stories, but it is impossible to put just a few words and photos when you talk about Andorra. I highly recommend you to go and visit this place, especially if you love nature. Andorra can offer you soo much.
Until my next time in Andorra, love you all!
Aby
