Day 5: The Ordessa Canyon
You can walk to the roadhead at Ordessa, or you can catch a shuttle bus from Torla. We decided to take the shuttle bus so as to have longer to explore the canyon. The first bus is at 6.00 am to get walkers up and into the canyon well before the sun really begins to shine. The last bus leaves the canyon at 22.00 to allow hikers to tackle their walks in the evening, for the same reasons. We compromised — a little — and caught the 7.00 am bus. Even at that time in the morning the bus was quite busy.
We were at the trailhead at La Pradera just fifteen minutes later. Walking folklore has it that most of the people on the bus simply set out to climb to one of the high vantage points near to the car park and it certainly seemed that few were walking through the length of the canyon.
From the car park we walked past the small café and began to climb through pine forest, a constant climb along switch-backs but one that was never really too difficult. Every now and then the trail would cut alongside a magnificent waterfall or cascade where the rock walks of the canyon would offer up glimpses of their wonder and glory. As the forest begins to thin out, and pasture and a wonderful display of wild flowers begin to dominate. It was lovely walking with stripped-down packs. The well maintained track then begins to emerge into a high pasture. Officially wild camping is discouraged here but there were plenty of wild campers beginning to sort themselves out and break camp — there's no problem finding a discreet spot I guess.
Emerging into the Canyon
While the views from this stretch of the canyon were exciting, in truth this stretch of walk is quite short and you find yourself at Cirque de Soaso in no time at all. From here the GR11 climbs up to the Refugio at Goriz, taking one of two alternative routes, an exposed route that climbs using chains and one that is less exciting. However, we were not taking either route; we were following the climb on the South side of the canyon.
Head of the Canyon
There are times when you realise that the through-hiker does not have the best of it, for this return leg of the canyon was magnificent, the high route of the Faja de Pelay revealing the full drama of the canyon, something that is only hinted at on from the North trail.
As the trail begins to climb up from the head of the cirque we passed a sign asking walkers not to attempt to start this walk after three in the afternoon. There was no explanation for this. I wondered whether the problem was the threat of avalanches when snow lay on high ground; by three in the afternoon the heat of the Spanish sun would certainly have added to such a risk. There was also — I reckoned — a danger in the summer of being caught on high exposed ground when the storms of mid afternoon developed. Later we would discover another reason for not starting too late.
The Faja climbed far above the northern path that we had made our way along; we could see the hikers below moving like ants. Stupendous views of the canyon were everywhere. After a while the path began to move into an area of more heavy foliage very different from the dense pine forest that we had climbed through from La Pradera. The forest here was more like the Caledonian forest of Scotland, the trees less dense allowing a rich flora to develop on the floor of the trail. The wild flowers were awesome, irises of the most vivid mountain blue and alpine roses of striking pink. For half an hour or so I was reminded of somewhere else but just couldn't place it. Eventually it clicked. The walk reminded me of strolling around the Snowdonia village of Bedgellert on a sunny spring day, all lush green cut through with the dramatic colours of the Rhododendron.
The lushness of the high Faja des Peles path
Every now and then the walk emerged from the foliage to offer yet more stunning views along the length of the canyon. The track became more rugged now, cutting regularly across falls of boulders and scree — no doubt the result of winter avalanches. Unlike the North path there was little or no water here. The sun was higher and hotter, the walk really beginning to feel like a Pyrenean classic.
Flowers of the Faja
The walk, so far, had been easy and surprisingly quick. And lovely. Everyone you met coming the other way had a big, beaming, smile on their face.
The climax of the walk is at the Miradour del Ray, a stone structure that offers simply the most dramatic view of the canyon and the surrounding peaks. But the walk wasn't over yet. In Walks and Climbs in the Pyrenees Kev Reynolds warns that there is a 'knee crunching' descent back to La Pradera and he certainly wasn't exaggerating.
Looking back down the canyon
The descent — which is steep — seemed to go on forever, the path zig zagging sharply through thick, dense, pine forest. Neither of us are particularly quick at descents even with light packs but progress was hampered even more by the sheer volume of people climbing up the zig zags to see the views from the Miradour. Each one of the groups that we passed looked as if they were about to keel over from the exertions of climbing in the heat. At least one member of each group asked the same question. How far to the top? As we descended the faces of those who asked got longer and longer. Remember that sign about not starting after three? Well, I guess it's possible that another reason is that the bulk of the time of the walk seems to be spent on this clamber down through the trees. It would be very easy to drastically under-estimate the time needed to complete this walk.
After seven hours or so of walking we arrived back at the car park. The bus was in and we jumped on, During the peak of the day this impressive shuttle runs every 15 minutes!
It had been a fine, fine day. If you are considering walking through this part of the world be sure to give yourself enough time to do this walk. If you're trekking through the Ordessa, plan to break your walk for a few days. This is one excursion that needs to be done and is far better appreciated with a light load on your back.
We spend the evening back at the campsite, the Bushbuddy pulling in it's now reliable audience. We started to prepare for the next day's gentle stroll back up to Bujareulo and the trade route back into France. But we had thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Torla. It is fine place and the campsite comfortable, pleasant and run by very lovely people. Neither of us had any doubt that — some time or another — we would be back.