Montana Pyrenees Episode Two

Dear friends,

Tis the second time I attempt Pyrenees and with strong determination to reach the peak of Punta Acuta (Acuta Top), I marched forth but in a gradual manner this time so the down south part of my anatomy suffers a minimal fatigue. For those of you who need specifics (just in case), I am referring to my legs and specifically the thighs and knees.

Along the way, this contrast in color caught my eyes and I had to capture it.

And after some moments, a break was in order and this was the view from mid hike.

Guess what you can find other than greens? Sheeps!

In the photo, the subject appears to be very relaxed but that is not quite the truth. And was the subject at the peak?

Not quite. What seemed like a 10 minutes’ walking distance to reach the peak was really a 30 minutes out-of-breathe-dragging-of-the-feet.

All was glory and grace of mother nature as soon as I reached the peak, I thought.

But NO. A bunch of flying mountain ants decided to “welcome” me by assaulting my face. What you see in the photo is 0.00001% of the assault. It was such a potong steam moment to reach the peak and running down again to fend off the attack of the ants. Pfffff!

That was not the end, for black clouds from afar away were closing in and the first sane thing to do is to stay clear from trees. So, with my back against a rock cliff…I embraced the heavy downpour. If you think that was it, not quite. The raindrops suddenly felt really hard like small pebbles striking from above, yes…the nightmare of hikers out in the open – a blizzard. Fortunately, the windbreaker had a hood, which prevented PHD. The whole time when all of those were taking place, I was just cursing on one hand and toughing out the ice cold raindrops and ice on the other. What was perhaps a ten minutes ordeal felt like an eternity.

And here you might be able to see a little bit of aftermath of the blizzard on the ground.

Now, it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience to be enjoying sunshine, under rainfall, enduring blizzard and the next moment to have bright sunshine again, all within 15 minutes.

Even a mountain toad would agree…hehe.

The journey down is much faster and that goes without saying. What many people might not realize is that it takes much more to travel down as this is where it really exerts pressure on the knee joints. It is possible to the point which requires conscious focus for each step, failing which may result in the knee giving way and a fall on the ground in front of you (best case scenario) OR possibly down the slopes at the edges (worst case scenario). However, if elderly people can manage it, I can say that anyone else can successfully do it with time and care. Anyway, those are some of my notations on the second hike and here I end this entry with a photo of a shop, which is possibly the most colorful one in Pyrenees.

So that is my tribute to one of the most beautiful place I have visited (twice!) in Spain. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for I would love to visit again in the future. Till then, have a good one!



D Way