| Distance | 30 km |
| Time | 8hrs 20 mins |
| Difficulty | 1460m of climbing – a long day |
| Good for | Expansive views |
Sore from the exertions of day 1’s walk, we had what was, according to the book, the longest stage of the entire GR11 to walk today. Whilst the book suggests day 1 is the longest, we had split day 1 into 2 parts thus making day 2 longer.
There are a couple of days across the route that boast higher climbing on the day, but at 30km, this would see us on our feet for longer. Here’s Andrew and Luca early on with the low cloud swirling around.
The low cloud was quite a feature in the morning making landscapes quite hard to come by. The cloud closed in sufficiently to make it quite gloomy once we started walking in the trees.
8km in to the walk was a pleasant coffee stop at Benta Lizarrieta. Its location was notable as we had hit the French border. Only a small sign and a scattering of French number plates in the car park alerted us to this.
After a brief stop, we carried along the French border for a while, and according to the map, actually crossing it in a few places. The cloud lifted a little and the occasional sign showed we were on the right track. Here you can see the red and white stripes that signify the GR11 path markers.
Much of the day seemed to be climbing in the trees, or when out of them, in the low cloud which made views hard to come by. The cloud did lift sufficiently to provide a look over the rugged countryside later on.
We were joined briefly by some large kites who circled us for some time before dropping away into the trees below us.
Despite there being no rain to speak of, the paths were getting wetter the higher we climbed. By now tiredness was taking over and my photography took a bit of a back seat. Luca, in particular, was suffering with multiple blisters and so the going was slow.
Finally we made it to Elizonda where a well earned meal and sit down beckoned.
Life Two 