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Andorra
2004
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The orignal idea for this site
was to make it purely about tours that have been ridden on motorbikes. However, for 2 reasons that's now been modified to include anything interesting that
we do by car or any other means of transport.
Firstly, to exclude trips such as this one to Andorra would
be to omit a place that has some of the most fantastic mountain scenery in
Europe and that would be a travesty, everyone needs to see what an astonishing
place place this is. Secondly as I get older and a few more bits fall off me and slide down
the toilet pan, it would appear that the day looms ever closer when most of my travel
& tours will be
done by car anyway. With the best will in the world I can't
ride bikes forever so plans are in place for when that day finally arrives but
more about that later. One thing's for sure, to stop me traveling & touring
they'll have to nail my feet to the floor first, and even then they'd have
to use a bloody big hammer.
A really good Scots friend of
my missus and me went to live in Southern Spain with his lovely Bulgarian wife few
years ago, and in summer 2004
they invited us over
to spend a week with them. Jim and Dessi live in a beautiful
hillside villa near Calella on the Costa Brava. We caught a plane to
Barcelona and picked up a hire car there but before we went to visit them we fancied a week in Andorra, just mooching about. The drive up
there was lovely, but nothing prepared us for the beauty of the Andorran Pyrenees.........
..............Enough of my rabbiting, take a look at some photos.
Flying over the
Pyrenees on the way to Barcelona Airport
Climbing up into the Pyrenees
on the way to Andorra from Ripol
Where we stayed, The Hotel l'Ermita
Walking up to the Sanctuary from
the
hotel
The Hotel l'Ermita is run by a young French Brother & Sister team Jean Philippe and Elisabet, who are very friendly and helpful. It's a bit off the beaten track at a small place called Meritxell not too far from Canillo, the location of the place is incredibly peaceful. It's next to a sanctuary where you can have a wander around the grounds, not sure if it's allowed but nobody chased us and that's always a good sign. This is an excellent place to just chill out and enjoy the peace and tranquility of the mountains.
The Mountains
The road from Canillo to Ordino
Ordino
Ordino in 19.. ....Oooh ! Ages ago.
I
found this old photo on t'interweb, it shows Ordino taken from more or less the
same place as my 2004 shot above it. I'm not sure what year this is, but
looking at the car I'd say somewhere between 1935 & 1950. It's changed
considerably but it's still recognisable as Ordino
The road to Arcalis and the little Yaris Diesel we hired, a surprisingly good
wee car
Wee Jimmy Krankie took this shot, I
liked the juxtaposition of the instrument cowl and the tunnel
This is climbing up to the ski area of Arcalis, the tunnel we've just come
through can be seen bottom centre