Chapter #18

Well, I never quite got to 

finish this diary of my adventure
 while I was away.

The last few weeks flew by so fast 

and before I knew it,

we were home again.

But for the sake of completion,

I will finish the last

couple of chapters...

The last time I posted,
we were heading for Andorra.

Stayed in the same place as we did

at the beginning of the trip,

but this time

no accidents, broken bikes or body parts

... always a bonus :)

The racing was good,

weather was amazing,

and the mountain hiking incredible.

Andorra is a must see if you are ever

in that part of the world,

especially if you love the mountains.

It is a hikers paradise :)

It never fails to impress

with sheer majestic beauty.

I'm sure it wouldn't matter how many times

you visited,

you would never run out of

mountains to climb.

I must admit, though, to feeling a smidgen nervous

on one of my walks...

half way up the mountain a guy dressed in

hunter's camo gear emerged from behind a bush

and asked me if I could please proceed quietly,

because they were hunting!!!

Um...

well yes...

I promised I would be as quiet as possible,

but what the heck!!!

The seasons were changing,

of course,

as it was almost three months since our

first visit.

Mushrooms and toadstools

of every colour and shape...

...wildflowers,

still,

in abundance,

but different ones to the first visit...

...and the trees were taking on their 

autumn tones...

I squeezed in as many walks

as possible...

...it's not hard to see why,

with views like these :)

We stayed a couple of extra days in Andorra

after the race was over,

and then headed west.

The next race was just across the border

in Spain,

but we had a few days in between,

and not quite knowing where to pitch camp

for those few days,

we almost randomly picked

a little town called 

Luchon.

What a find!

The most stunning scenery,

mountains and forests!

This walk took me high up into the mountains,

to a small lake at the top.

The waterfalls along the way

were out of this world :)

...I adore these exquisite little flowers,
which seem to be so delicate
you wonder how they survive even
a ripple of wind...

The town of Luchon is nestled in

this valley,

surrounded by mountains

and I can only imagine how

beautiful it must look in winter...

Another walk took me around the hills
and up into the back country..

...it was a magnificent walk,

but I do have to giggle a little

over the signage.

It indicated a time of three and a half hours

to complete the circuit,

and in the normal course of events,

this would be a generous amount of time.

So I set off with very little in the way of supplies,

thinking it would be an easy morning walk,

and I had another one planned for the afternoon.

Three and a half hours into the walk I was pretty sure

that I was,

in fact,

still heading away from the beginning of the track!!

I did eventually get back to the starting point

some six hours after beginning!

Do feel that perhaps they may have got that one

just a little bit wrong :)

It didn't really bother me that much

as I'm pretty happy to wander for hours over the hills

but at one point I did wonder

quite how far I had gone,

and quite how far I had to get back

to the car :)

Here's my favourite wee flowers again...

The village of Luchon was a delight,

and I was glad of a whole day to wander and explore...

...this is quite possibly the biggest house
I've ever seen!!

...gorgeous little winding streets...

...and again, touches of autumn

turning leaves to gold...

Luchon was lovely

in every sense.

I hope one day to return to 

walk some more of the dozens of tracks

that wound around the mountains.

From here it was a short trip over the mountains

to Spain.

See you there..

Jenny xx