Saturday, July 28, 2012

Care for a nice relaxing little walk?

Then this is not for you!

 

2012 Vakantie Pyreneeen 098

    2012 Vakantie Pyreneeen 097

 

Gorges de Caranca can be quite the challenge, for your nerves as well as your stamina. Wobbly knees and fear of heights? Don’t do this. But.. if you do take up the challenge it will reward you with a sense of quiet and spectacular views, hidden waterways, forest, and steep cliffs.

it’s wise to start your hike early morning when it’s still –relatively- cool. We took the left hand path from the car park which leads you all the way up the wooded side of the valley. A very steep climb (sometimes had us on all fours) all the way up. Then we decided to not go back but take it a little further to eh… enjoy? the nerve-racking catwalks, rickety metal ladders and wobbly suspension bridges.

(I loved the suspension bridges, didn’t care much for the catwalks though..brrr!)

Then we retraced our steps a little to be able to go back the other way; the corniche route! (pics above and below)
Spectacular and not for the vertigo-challenged. I believe they say the drop is about 400 meter… The walkway here is carved out of the rock, I was so glad someone hammered that iron railing in the rock to hold on to.

 Caranca collage

Just to show you what we saw. See that red arrow in the picture on the left? The pic on the right shows you the people walking there…. Both pics were taken from the other side (the wooded climb) as we hiked up. Conversation as follows (trying to catch our breaths). Guys…. guys? Do you see that? I think we will be walking right there on our way back.. Looks like a sliced hot dog bun and we are the hot dogs!

 

 

 2012 Vakantie Pyreneeen 054 pijl 2012 Vakantie Pyreneeen 055

 

It was lovely to sit by the stream and cool a bit (don’t you think it is time for some relaxing pics as well?)

2012 Vakantie Pyreneeen 063

6 comments:

  1. OMG ... I am afraid of heights, not sure I could do this one. It's worst when I can see straight down.

    I can appreciate the glory from your photos.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful scenery!! Not sure I could talk myself into that. But then again, I flew over the Grand Canyon in a helicopter. I don't think you're allowed to say you're afraid of heights if you do that, ha ha.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ieieieie...ik weet ( nog ) hoe dat voelt: Ook Pyreneën en 4 manden zwanger.Je zou wensen dat je terplekke vleugeltjes kreeg. Of wakker werd uit die nachtmerrie.
    Gelukkig zijn jullie weer heelhuids thuis. Tijd voor koffie ??
    Monique

    ReplyDelete
  4. ehhh 4 maanden moet het zijn , al voelde het al als 4 manden , haha

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow! Nerves of steel! Gorgeous scenery though I think my knees would be shaking ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Zelfs achter de computer trillen mijn knieën bij het zien van de afgrond. Stoere familie om zo'n tocht te maken, petje af!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for visiting! I really appreciate and enjoy reading all your comments! If you have any questions feel free to email me.