Tuesday 6th October 2015 – La Guingueta d’Aneu, Spain

We are very close to the Parc National d’Aigustortes and planned to visit this side before heading through the mountains to the western side. That was the plan. We drove to Espot to the national park tourist office and asked them about walking in the park. They told us that we could drive to a car park at the entrance to the park and then walk up Lake Sant Maurici. Sounded like a good idea but we got part of the way only to discover that you weren’t able to drive motorhomes to the car park. After some difficulty, we turned round and returned to Espot. Here we could take a Land Rover taxi to the lake but they would only take a minimum of 4 people. We sat and waited but had actually decided to give up and move on when we spotted a group of people approaching. Fortunately they want to take a taxi and the six of us set off for the lake. We were glad that we didn’t take the walk from the car park to the lake as it is mostly through forest and the views were very limited. The views from the lake were stunning and starting the walk from the lake gave us much more opportunity to explore. Joining the cows at the lakeside, we walked along the shore and then started climbing gently with great views of the Ratera waterfall. Continuing to climb we reached Lake Ratera, which provided an excellent location for lunch with views of the lake, a waterfall and stark mountains. On again and the path eventually brought us back to the other side of the lake for the taxi back.

Given the weather yesterday morning, we were very lucky today – idea walking conditions with blue sky for much of the time and little wind. The clouds started to gather as we waited for the taxi and rain was threatening. The walk really was tremendous with gorgeous views, flowers, fungi and a few vultures and one golden eagle thrown in.

It was now too late to drive to the west of the park, so we returned to Nou Camping for another night.

Photos: The Land Rovers in Espot waiting to take us to the lake; View over Sant Maurici Lake at the beginning of the walk; Some of the few walkers that we met – this group were from Israel; The lunch spot at Ratera Lake; Jagged mountains – note the impressive refuge in the most glorious position; View from the mirador (viewpoint) halfway round the walk.