Today we would climb Le Canigou - the symbolic mountain of Catalonia. We couldn't make it on foot from anywhere that could be reached by road, so we took a 4x4 taxi to the Chalet de Cortalet to start.
Rosie was happy - it was a Defender 110! No inferior 4x4 for us Laurie.
We stopped on the way up a bumpy track to look down - there was cloud below us.
Aid ready with his camera.
We looked down on Vernet-les-Bains.
The view of the Canigou from the Land Rover as we approached the Chalet.
The Chalet itself.
Here we divided, with Mark and Aid off to climb the Pic du Canigou while the others entertained themselves at lower altitude. The first view of the Pic and the Cirque du Canigou.
Off on the first (pedestrian) climb of the day.
The path to the top, not the GR route around the mountain.
Up and up - and pauses for breath and to take the view back...
..and up ahead.
We saw lots of interesting alpine plants.
The view back from near the top.
The view across the cirque to the Crête du Barbet, with the Canigou glacier beneath.
We made it!
Texting the others to publicise our achievement - then a high-altitude luncheon, perched above a 1,000 feet drop.
It took us 2 hours to the summit - and an hour back down to the "lake" 2,000 feet below where we met the others.
They had been doing their own exploring
We had a drink at the chalet, visited the ponies, then bumped our way down (5,000 feet down) back to the campsite
The intrepid explorers back at the campsite.
