Another stage on the GR-7 that only confirms to me that it is a trail that has been a bit overrated. I think that it quite often gives you a boring walk, often on forest roads with limited outlook for mile after mile, and if not that it follows tarmac roads, or God forbid, goes in steep ravines cut out for high-voltage transmission lines and with a surface of loose rocks. Having said all that I also have to say that none of this really matters anymore as soon as the backpack is put down for the day, and you have had a shower and a cold beer 🙂
The hostess at my guest house for the day told me her name was Ingrid and that her grandfather and her mother were from Sweden, her father from Spain, and her grandmother from Switzerland! A truly cosmopolitan family.
This day involved walking forty-three kilometers in heavily undulated terrain and it was almost dark when I at last walked into La Seu d’Urgell at nine o’clock in the evening. The march was made easier though by the fact that there were several restaurants in the mountains around Tuixén and halfway between Tuixén and Coll de Bancs. I think I walked on a surface of loose rocks 30 of the 43 kilometers and all of the time either steeply upwards or steeply downwards. I went through a heavily eroded area at one point where I felt very uncomfortable and almost made a huge mistake climbing down a deep ravine that would have been very difficult to get out of and that because I didn’t grasp at first where the track continued. Almost always when I get lost it is for not noticing information around me because my eyes are fixated on my feet because the often very difficult surface makes it necessary to guard every step in order to avoid stumbling or sliding. The solution to the problem is to stop frequently and have a look around. But everything went well and in the end I arrived safely to La Seu d’Urgell with only 25 kilometers left to Andorra la Vella of the about 2000 kilometers that lay before me when I started out in Tarifa some 50 days before.
The last stage was a stroll in the park compared to the day before: a twenty kilometer walk in level terrain and in beautiful surroundings along the river Gran Valira. I checked in to hotel Florida in Andorra la Vella where I had stayed once before, did some shopping for clothes and just relaxed and strolled around in the city for a couple of days. My next walking plan was taking shape in my mind and I decided to go back to Tarragona once more and walk from there to Portbou at the French border along the GR-92 that runs close to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. But that is a different adventure that I eventually will summarise in the Adventure section of this website.
