Day 22: Camping Can Fosses to Setcases

A short day that turned into a long one.

Yesterday I planned every stage to the end of my trip. Just seven days of walking remain, and each day's finish should have somewhere suitable to camp.

Today's stage was shorter, although it still involved plenty of ascent.

I also had a choice between a shorter variant or staying on the classic GR11 route, which meant an extra 400m of descent followed by the same amount of climbing. I stuck with the classic route because the guidebook said the Núria Gorge was worth seeing, and it was right. It was well worth the extra distance and height loss.

As I descended towards the first village, I heard what I thought was a train whistle, which seemed odd given the terrain. As I climbed through the gorge, there it was: the rack railway making its way up to Núria. I'm sure the guidebook didn't mentioned it.

At the end of the line was Núria itself. I'd imagined it as a village, but it turned out to be more of a ski resort, with a hotel, church and even a boating lake.

The map showed a convenience store, but it was really more of a gift shop, and I needed food for the next few days. Lunch was sorted at the café, but I'd have to rely on tomorrow's village for supplies unless my plans changed.

From Núria it was a surprisingly straightforward climb to the highest point on the GR11 at around 2,808m. After crossing a few smaller summits, the descent was easy, and as usual I reached my planned wild camp far too early to pitch the tent.

The guidebook suggested another possible wild camp just beyond Setcases, another four hours away. It would only work if I reached Setcases before the convenience store closed, and it also meant I could have a proper meal in a restaurant. Long story short, it all worked out. By 9.30pm my tent was up, I'd stocked up on food, had a decent feed, and settled in for the night.