| Distance | 22 km |
| Time | 7 hrs 50 mins |
| Difficulty | 820m climbing |
| Good for | Far reaching views |
Day 6 of the trail proved to be much harder than expected. At 22km long and average amount of climbing it should have been fairly straightforward. Indeed, with the sun coming out properly for the first time across all 6 days we were met with blue skies and lovely views which lead us into a false sense of security. Here is an early view looking back towards Hiriberri shortly after the start.
The book did warn of the first 2 hours of the day being up limestone karst but since it had been so wet recently the limestone path was very slippery and progress was very slow. After a short period of times on the lower slopes, we hit the woods and the slippery stuff.
Occasional glimpses of the valley were available in a few clearings – this another of Hiriberri.
After well over 2 hours of climbing on wet stones we hit the ridge line of Sierra de Abodi and had a break to take in the magnificent views.
Reaching a small summit on the path we met the very first people we had seen all day which was a group of three mountain bikers. Having passed the resting group, looking back we were presented with a view of the ridgeline of Sierra di Abodi. No wonder it has taken so long to climb it.
We continued along the hilltops along with gravel path towards the snow capped mountains.
Over my left shoulder views of the French side of the Pyrenees showed that the guidebook was correct in its assertion that the French side was wetter than the Spanish side as cloud was bubbling up. Fortunately, the clouds never blew over towards us and we were blessed with blue skies all day.
By now our speed under foot had improved as the grass on the top of the ridges was quite dry but Andreas had by this time decided to walk to the finish along a road we had crossed at Paso de Tapla, as he had been struggling more than the rest of us. We continued climbing until we hit the peak of Abodi Occidental Idorrakia at 1492m, the peak being commemorated by a stone plinth.
A little further along the ridge a view of Ochagavia, our days finish point, came into view, nestling at the foot of the hills surrounded by woodland. It was quite clear that we would have to descend quite a significant amount of height.
After a long day of walking, we finally made it to Ochagavia, a lovely little town which had much more to it than last night’s Aribe which only had a population of 47 people!
Life Two 