World, meet Nigel

Day 16. Stage 15: Refuge d'Asinau -> Refuge de Paliri

The penultimate day.

Happy and sad.

Feels like we've been here for years - Southend a distant memory...

The day included an option for an "Alpine Varient" basically, instead of skirting around the bottom of the valley, we could go up and over the mountain ahead.

This option was shorter and supposedly quicker, so feeling strangely cocky we headed up hill. And further up hill. And then started scrambling. And where the rock became a 10m vertical cliff face, we climbed up a chain.

Actually - I've really started to enjoy the chains! Something about trusting your self to someone or something else...

The other side of the mountain was a village which was used as a base for day hikes in the area. Again, we were faced with this strange feeling of anti-socialness. What right did these people who drove up here have to be walking the same paths as us having done none of the hard work to get here?!

The village was even worse - bars and shops, and cars and hundreds of people. We didn't stop long.

Just long enough for 4 ice-creams.

Each.

Beyond the village and off the beaten track that the day hikers were swarming lay a quiet little river. It was in the shade, so we didn't go in, but it was FULL of wildlife, including Nigel the Newt!