Europa Les Escaldes

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 ...

... only thing in sight, a bus in a gravel lot. It then struck me why there were only 2 buses that left from the “station” per day, there are only 2 trains per day. So, half relieved and half amused, I loaded my things onto the bus, paid the short stout Spaniard my fare and saddled up for the ride to Canillo.

At first I could only laugh to myself as I got on the bus watching the tiny but wide driver bounce back and forth to blaring salsa ...

Le plan original était d'aller à Cahors visiter un vignoble, mais puisque l'on n'a pas de voiture (considérant que les vignes sont dans des champs et non au centre ville) on n'a pas pu y aller. J'ai trouvé sur internet qu'il y avait plusieurs grotte dans le sud donc on en a choisi une pas trop trop loin et on a acheté nos billet de train.

Tarascon sur Ariege est à environ 1h15 de toulouse donc ca se fait quand meme bien. C'est un ...

... 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).

... checking on the new babes the next day, I say a little one-day-old-piglet outside of the pen. He had fallen out of a crack along the inside. The entrance back into the pen was impossibly high for such a little one. He was running around the outside looking for a way in and I just had to help him get back to the heat lamp and Mommy’s milk! I went for him once and missed. As he started to run away out of the electric fenced boundary, I ...

... 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.

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.

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…

... br>
Despite the dogs and the cold and wind, we did manage a little hike up past a waterfall up to a beautiful plateau area with mountains all around. Huddled behind a rock to provide some resistance from the wind, we scarfed down a bit of picnic lunch before running back to the truck for warmth. Then it was down into the town of Ax to soak our cold feet into some hot springs.

... are revealed.

This area of the Salon Noir is an amazing room with a ceiling that corkscrews upwards creating some interesting acoustics. A single clap lasts for over 5 seconds. Voices are lifted upwards and bounce around changing as they go. I can only imagine what it would be like to hear a celebration of instruments and song in a place like this. Perhaps this is part of the significance and why people returned year after year.

Niaux, Midi-Pyrénées, France 2totango

... quiet again. Sparsely scattered homes on the edges of ridges reminded me of the quiet tranquility of a home that I’m dreaming of. As we rose and rose the scenery become more and more stunning as the growing mountain range beyond made itself more and more known beyond the horizon.

Climbed and climbed all morning only to plummet into a large river valley, thus loosing all the altitude that we’d gained (at least that’ ...