Ups and downs
Sunday, 26 January 2025
Today’s objective: cross the Pyrenees, and whatever else happened. Here’re some views through the windshield…. Driveway gate…
Railroad bridge for Le Petit Train Jaune.
Random flaking sign on building.
Road safety warnings. We did have a short period of precipitation in the dark hours, a spin-off from the Storm Éowyn system.
We didn’t know what this was driving by. Turns out its part of a 17th C fortification…to control access to the valley we’re headed toward.
Today’s roads don’t fit well into the spaces between buildings….
At the pass, we did see bits of snow on the ground, but just (thankfully) moisture on the road. Some cars that passed us, presumably from ski areas, wore 2 or so inches of new snow.
We were very pleased to descend into the Cerdanya valley, with its wide fields and pastures. And horses, many horses, all winter-shaggy. Most were heavy-bodied, the shape I associate with working horses. I thought I got a decent shot of grazing horses, but when I zoomed in, they were mules. Harrumph.
I was going to title this post something about border crossings. This was our first—out of France and into a small bit of Spain that’s entirely in France, called Llívia. It’s dominated by the castle hill, which we climbed up a ways, but only perhaps ⅓ of the way…which was plenty to get this good view of this part of the Cerdanya, and the church bell tower below us.
Then we crossed back into France, then back into Spain, and carried on until…I’m calling this Aduana Uno, that is, Customs One…for leaving Spain…
…and Aduana Dos, for entering Andorra. You want to read about a strange international situation, look up Andorra. The first thing we noticed was all the traffic exiting into Spain and backed up perhaps 2 km. Yikes. These motorists, we guessed, were headed home after weekending in Andorra, skiing perhaps.
We found Andorra gritty and traffic-filled, the main valley overstuffed with multi-story apartment buildings, and rather yucky. We ducked into a Carrefour and bought some lunch makin’s, then headed back to the traffic jam, and ate while nudging along. Summary: we went to Andorra for lunch.
Back in Spain, southbound took us out of the mountain rockiness eventually.
From afar, we both thought this looked like a mushroom spire. Turns out it was a stork nest providing the flare.
This rock face is just at the edge of the mountains.
And, if you face the opposite direction, you see the ruins of a Medieval bridge. The exposed “guts” offer insight into construction methods and engineering strategies.
The view from tonight’s room…sluggish river, and far more space riverside than we saw in Andorra….