GR11 - Day 17 - to Refugio de Pineta

We knew that today would be a long hard day, so we were off by 7:30. The way up to the first pass was easy then we had to go down near cliffs to eventually get to the valley bottom Some spots in the trees and tall grasses below were not too interesting. The climb up to the Collato Anisclo was kind of steep but also okay. We were afraid we'd have to climb in scree where you go 2 steps up and one step back. We reached the pass in 5 hrs, so we were really quite pleased. The view at the top was absolutely breathtaking. Looking back where we came from you could see the canyons and deep valley and on the other side where we were going was one giant closed-in cirque. The way down looked extremely steep. We had lunch and set off, oftentimes walking along the edges of cliffs, zigzag, back and forth. Then the rain stared in earnest. That's really all we needed for a 1150 m downhill trek in less than 3 km. Down and down we went. We could see the parador hotel become larger and larger so that was heart-warming until we had to make a giant semi-circle into the next valley. That was just awful. In pissing rain, with ponchos and heavy backpacks distorting our sense of balance, we had to go down one small cliff after the other. Bare rock would have been bad in the rain but this was covered in rotting leaves. It took us a whole 5 hrs to get down to reach an unbridged river which we had to cross before reaching the Refugio de Pineta. We had been underway nearly 10 hr. It's amazing how the body adapts. There was only one bed available. We decided to take it anyways and Peter was to camp. He could shower and eat here, but not sleep. Finally he relented and said that he could sleep on the floor, and and hour later, said that there was another free bed. Halleluliah!