GR11 - End of story...

July 24th - I definitely have a cold. We decided to go wait it out on the coast and finish the GR11 later. I finally got to take the cog-wheel train down the valley. Wow, is it ever impressive! We transferred to the Barcelona train, then on to Llanca and finally a taxi ride to Port de la Selva, which is the last stop before Cap de Creus. My nose is running non-stop. I went to the drug store and bought the usual cold medicines. Here they come in a powder form. You have to mix it with water and swallow. Yuck. It might get into your system faster, but I'll take our pill form any day even if it means you have to wait a little longer for it to take effect. We waited in Port de la Selva four days, where all I did was stay in bed and sleep.

We were there when Manolo rolled through. It was nice to see thim again. I wish I could have been in better spirits. I didn't even feel like going to eat. Eat? Ate next to nothing in four days. It only made me feel like puking.

We are coming to the realization and acceptation that I am too sick and sapped of energy to dream of finishing our walk, only 9 days from completion. I am coughing non-stop. After 4 days in Port de la Selva, we came down to Girona, where we still are for another 2 days. I went to see a doctor, because I was fearing that this cold was degenerating into pneumonia. It was bronchitis. I've been taking antibiotics for the second day now and I feel a million times better, but still feel really weak. It's no wonder. There was a scale in the doctor's office and I asked to be weighed - 52 kg, i.e. 114.4 lbs. I haven't weighed that since high school. The skin is hanging on me. I look freshly released from Mauthausen...

I found a bit of energy to actually visit Girona this morning before the heat sets in. The old city is medieval, narrow streets, everything really well maintained and everything really clean. They wash the streets every day. There is no garbage littering the streets. Parts of the old city walls are still intact around the university area. They built the university buildings into the old walls and buildings in such a tasteful way. You easily go from the old to the new and vice versa. We'll do more tomorrow. I still don't have the stamina to do very much. I was comenting to Peter about how I felt after going up a long staircase. My goodness, in comparison to the mountains we have been scaling. It's amazing how quickly one can go downhill. I guess that makes me want to stick to my motto even more: Use it or lose it.

In two days, we head to Barcelona where we will visit for a few days, then back to London, then to Chinon, then to Duisburg, back to London, to Kosice, back to London, and finally back to Calgary in mid-September.

Some of you guys could send me an email once in a while. It would be nice to hear from home...

GR11 - Day 37 - to Nuria

I'm now starting to cough, so I do think I have a cold. I felt really sluggish in the morning and was thankful that we opted for a variant route to Nuria. The elevation gained in the morning wasn't lost. We didn't go down to Queralbes to have to climb up again. We stayed at relatively the same altitude all day. The only head-scratching mioment, as always, was crossing a high meadow. It's so easy to lose the marks and the GPS couldn't help because the variant was not the route Peter loaded. We had to comb the meadow back and forth like a dog looking for a stick, until we finally got back on the trail. The Nuria valley is really rugged and beautiful. Nuria was initially a monastary. It is now a ski centre in winter and a summer activities centre in the summer. It's quite commercial for being so remote. Most people come on the little cog-wheel train, so much so that the person manning the lift to the hostal didn't know what to do with a person without a train ticket, because the train ticket is also valid for the lift. They have a huge 200-bed youth hostel so that's where we're sleeping. So far, the room we're in, which is good for 4 people, only has Peter and I. I'm starting to dread walking in the heat. We're starting to have a taste of it. It saps you of your energy. I hope I feel better tomorrow.

GR11 - Day 36 - to Planoles

We were down for breakfast at 6:00 sharp and by 6:30, we were underway. We were off at a good pace and at Age, we did as the book said, bypass it. We followed a sign to Vilallobent. When the town wasn't materializing and we saw red/white marks that didn't make sense, Peter whipped out the GPS to find out that we were yet on another wild goose chase!! We can't even trust the signs any more! We made our way back to Vilallobent, 45 min. later. The idea behind leaving early was to enjoy morning coolness before the sun sets in... Thank goodness the rest of the way to the second pass was clear. We were on nice grassy trails in the pine groves. The wind in the pass was unbelievable. A good thing we descended into the pines again, until we reached the spot in the guidebook that says: "to find easy ways through the trees, always bearing east". That is a fancy way of saying bushwacking, and the trees are pines or prickly bushes. We followed the GPS (also bushwacking) and finally encountered the trail. So many other people got lost here. We were worried that we would suffer the same fate, but we were okay, and in spite of our screw-up in the morning, we arrived at the Can Fosse Camping close to Planoles in 8h. I was really happy. I actually felt strong, so yesterday's rest was not in vain. The campsite actually has a washing machine so I gave all our clothes a really well-deserved good wash. Now here's hoping they will dry.