GR11 - Day 35 - to Puigcerda

The way to the Refugi de Malniu seemed really long to me. I didn't expect it to be so steep in crumbly rock. I'm glad we didn't do it yesterday. From the Refugi, on the left, the landscape went up to a low ridge, in the middle, down to the valley. We left, following the red/white signs, which led us up the ridge, where, all of a sudden we could only see stone cairns, no more signs. Why use the GPS? The trail is so obvious... We had to come back down and finally get on the right trail. We made a pit stop at the Refugi de Malniu where we had a lukewarm instant coffee and toast. After that, the first part of the trail was really nice until we hit the tocky trails once again. I was low on energy. I dragged my butt, getting on Peter's nerves. We stopped at the pueblo of Guils de Cerdanya for a beer. I also had an orange juice and an omelet. That finally perked me up and we kept on to Puigcerda. It took about 7h15. We're really starting to feel the heat of the sun now. We found a cheap hotel and Peter went looking for a grocery store as I did laundry. He came back empty-handed. The town is celebrating its annual 4-day Fiesta del Roser. It celebrates la Virgen del Roser, the patron of Puigcerda. It went on from Friday to Monday, inclusive, and every store is closed... Are we surprised? This is Spain after all... Our guidebook stated that the next town, Age, had a store, so off he went in 30 degree heat. He said that it took over 15 minutes to find a living soul who told him that the store was now permanently closed. He came back to town and found a sandwich shop where they sell bocadillos (like subs), so that will have to be our food for tomorrow.