Delfos Escaldes-Engordany

Today was my last full day in Andorra. There wasn't a huge amount to do. It wasn't snowing, but the wind was so fierce that it seemed like a sand storm made out of snow. I had a great time watching a group of cows grazing in snow up to their stomachs. Other than that I had a walk around town and spent about an hour at a ...

<br> After a long night on a surprisingly jam packed night train, I arrived at a train station about 1km from the Andorra border. I was slightly worried about my transportation from the train station at l'Hospitalet to my destination 26km into Andorra. The cryptic information information I was able to find on the web about buses told me that there were 2 per day, one leaving at 7:30am and the other 7:30pm. This was a bit disconcerting as my train arrived ...

... village et quand on est arrivé, il avait le marché du matin. On a acheter du vin à environ 1 euro le litre (vin de pays) et du bon fromage bleu pour le déjeuner.<br><br>On avait pas le droit de prendre des photos dans la grotte pour pas faire de la pollution lumineuse (il y avait déja des ptites pousses de plante pres des lanternes...ils veulent pas en rajouté non plus). Aussi il faut pas déranger les chauve souris...pauve cocottes...<br>

... What it does mean, we're not quite sure of yet. Still dealing with the shock and going over a few different options. All while kicking myself for not realizing this sooner. Only one thing is for certain - I'm not going to let this spoil our trip, and we're going to have to get cycling! (o.k., two things). <br>

... could at least be outside and get some air. There she was sitting up top, with him below looking up at her longingly. A doggy version of Romeo and Juliet except she didn&#8217;t want anything to do with him. <br><br>Jelly in the Bowl<br><br>While at Las Laous I&#8217;ve been spending a lot of time in the kitchen working to make meals and preserve some of the fall bounty for winter. One day Justin comes back from the cows with 5 buckets ...

... refrigeration for the meat. With wind-chill, that was absolutely frigid for 45 minutes! And with the winding mountain roads, the weight of the meat kept shifting into me with the occasional trotter popping out from under the covering. <br><br> Watching Austin process the carcase into usable joints of meat was truly a work of art. His knife flew, knowing exactly where to cut and slicing with one quick motion. Any small ...

... person above is literally in your hands. <br><br> All in all it was a fabulous day! Did 4 climbs in total ranging through the 5a, 5b, and 5c levels of difficulty. I wanted to try a 5, but the day went by too quickly. There was one climb that Brain was sweating out for quite awhile, but in the end his determination conquered it. Rock climbing is the perfect blend of challenge and rest in beautiful mountain settings. I may be hooked&#8230;<br><br>

... between France, Spain and Andorra with 3000m peaks rising up all around. Up past charming little villages where all the little homes are made of stone stacked upon one another with only the slate rooves peeking through. <br><br>We drove the truck as far up the road as possible, and then even a little farther than we should have. Feels like complete mountain wilderness, but there are ...

... returned to year after year to seek shelter from the harsh weather outside. When inside the cave, they would dwell fairly close to the entrance to take advantage of the natural light, but these paintings are deep in the cavern - some almost 3 km in!<br><br>So why did these people venture all that way with only little lamps and torches to paint pictures? Who knows! Walls lined with images of bison, ibex and horses (which are found in caves all ...

... every footstep looking around for any little leaf that may look a bit disturbed - like something has pushed it up from below. Observing ever so carefully for these highly camouflaged beauties. <br><br>Of course mushrooms are one of those items of food that you must be extremely careful of. Many are poisonous, or dangerous for humans to eat, and they can be quite tricky to tell the difference. Even the variety we were looking for has many ...