The Bernia ridge was traversed by Colin, Anna, and Kim. They made excellent time and had the place to themselves. Me and Jill enjoyed a splendid walk around the entire ridge, the high point (or low point depending on your height!) being the squeeze through the forat (tunnel through the ridge). This leads from the cold and shady north face to the bright & blazing sunshine of the south face, within less than 50 metres it had felt like had arrived in a whole new country!
We stopped for lunch at the 15th Century fort before continuing on back to the starting point.
Tuesday was back to rock climbing, this time at a small crag near the town of Pego.
This roadside crag was certainly convenient, but many others had thought so too and the polish was evident immediately. I left the others at the crag and enjoyed a walk along the valley with Don.
Wednesday was earmarked as a walking day and we chose the Val de Gulabdar or Echo Valley as it's sometimes referred to. Even from the parking area the views to the coast are breathtaking, and these were to improve hugely during the course of the day. From the Collado del Llamp to Passet de la Rabosa we had a birds eye view of the magnificent Castellets ridge the whole time, wow! For anyone visiting the area I can't recommend this walk highly enough, an absolute must do. For those wanting to climb too, a visit to the area can be combined with excellent 'cragging' on the Echo valley crags.
Today we've been to Font d'Axia crag near the villages of Jalon & Lliber. Something of a backwater and all the better for it. We arrived whilst the crag was still in shade, this made the climbs feel a little easier, but by lunchtime the sun was warming things up nicely and tiring us out to boot! We climbed half a dozen routes here and every one of them was of excellent quality.
The photo at the top of the page shows the magnificent Castellets ridge in the Sella valley. A serious challenge by any mountaineers standards. And below shows a typical view of Font d'Axia crag as the midday sun comes onto it.
