At the top we had lunch before heading east again following a long, dull foresters track for a few hours along the ridge of the canyon. It did however allow a view over a series of lower Pyrenean hills fading off into the distance. Eventually we reached our destination for the night which was Refugio de Cuello de Arenas, an un-manned hut. However when we arrived it was locked! Samanartha thinks he deciphered the writing scrawled on the door as saying that it had been recently vandalised. Not having a tent and it getting late we were a bit stuck. However I found an open 1st floor window so climbed up and got us in. The door wouldn't unlock from the inside so had to get in and out for water and the loo through the ground floor window.
5/6/05 (8.5 hours walking)
Set off at 9.15 after a breakfast including muesli and condensed milk. The morning consisted of walking a path along a valley (???) called Faja de la Pardina. The path was spectacular as it cut into the side of the almost vertical north side of the valley. After each corner turned we kept thinking that the next part of the path was going to be impossible to traverse. After about an hour the path turned a corner into a much larger valley called Canon de Anisclo which is very green and with a river running through it which has lots of pools and rapids. It was at this point that we had sightings of a number of vultures. However the path soon became very overgrown and we spent the next 1 and 1/2 hours wading through thick bushes in hot sun. Gladly at the end we arrived at the river and were able to spend lunch in and by it.
After lunch we headed north up Canon de Anisclo and then took a left turn to ascend 650m up a valley to reach Collado Superior de Goriz o Collata Arrablo which is the pass over to hostel called Refugio de Goriz. The ascent was hard going in the heat but beautiful with a series of waterfalls and very interesting rock formations on the north side of the valley.
At the top we then had an easy descent to Goriz with sightings of Marmotts. Goriz itself is a vary large hostel, sleeping up to 99 people in these bunks which have 3 levels, sleeping 6 per level. Apparently this is the biggest hostel in Europe. We were very glad to arrive, shower and rest and also very appreciative of the fact they were able to provide a vegetarian supper and breakfast.
