Day 47: Angaka to Andorra (a river valley near Inclès)

Waking up in our cosy yurt, emerging to misty cloud, breakfasting and leaving origami birds for the yurt lady, making good progress on the plateau de Beille where the paths are cross country ski slopes in the winter, mountains of all shapes and sizes peaking out from the sea of clouds below, a raven perched on a post, etorki sarnies for first lunch, clambering over bouldery paths, up golden sandy coloured grass banks that were dotted with the red autumn foliage of myrtille bushes, heading up and along a crête that gave amazing views either side of jagged teethlike ridges and lakes and their wiggly inlets impossibly far below, choughs squawking as they flew by, vertigo related panicking from me when the path did stupid things and much reassurance from Gavin, heading down to the refuge de Ruhle where the cloudsea tide came in fully overhead shutting off all views, second lunch cooked by the sleepy gardien who had been napping -omelettes, mmm! - then out into the mist for a wee diversion off the GR10 to Andorra, passing two lakes but seeing nothing but cloud until we peaked over the Port to Andorra where a marmot yipped but stayed hidden and the sun shone down on a beautiful valley where the tent is pitched, a fire is lit and the sky glowed pink as it disappeared…
 

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Our golden Andorran valley

Before heading into Andorra we popped into the Refuge de Ruhle for a late lunch. We managed to procure some very tasty omelettes and wine once the gardien had woken up from his nap! At this point we were still uncertain about whether to bivouac near the refuge or press on to Andorra, but our decision was confirmed when the gardien told us that there was a snow warning in place for places over 2100m – which included the refuge itself. We could see from the map that it would be possible to descend much lower to wild camp in Andorra, and that's what we did. It was a very windy night, but no signs of snow whatsoever – and we kept ourselves warm in the evening with a wee campfire. If weather conditions are better and you're not interested in diverting off the GR10, it is possible to bivouac near the refuge.

The Vital Statistics:
Total hiking time: 8h45
Peak: 2400m
Total ascent: 1095m
Total descent: 880m