Sunday, 8.06.03
Picked up Domi from the train station at 3:00 pm. After repacking my bag (Domi had A LOT less than me) we jumped into my Ferrari and drove off towards Frankfurt / Hahn.
Arrived safely at Montpellier. The meths in Domi’s bag didn’t get us into trouble…
Because we had to wait for 45 minutes for the bus to the city centre, we used the time for some relaxing.
GREAT! They’ve cancelled our train for tomorrow morning. Had to take the one 2 hours later. We bumped into another German freak whose train had been cancelled as well.
Well, nothing better to do we went to a street café and had a beer. Still didn’t know where to spend the night. So we went on walking through the city until a parking house showed up in front of us. One look at Domi’s grin told me that he had already found us a sleeping place. Well… not too bad, but still a new experience for me…
We slept with our clothes on and everything ready to go, because this part of Montpellier is not one of those places you definitely want to sleep at the top of a parking house.

Monday, 9.06.03
The night was not as bad as I expected it to be.
At Toulouse we got to know that the train which was supposed to take us to Toulouse was not going at all. Bloody SNCF. At least there was a bus service going…
Arrived with only 3 hours delay at L’Hospitalet près L’Andorre.
Got a lift from three Spanish guys in a car which should probably not be driving anymore… Never mind.
At Encamp we got something to eat (first food that day!) and set off at 5 pm on the GR11.

BAD AWAKENING.
I’m totally frustrated. 3 hours (700 height meters) up the hill. Domi managed well… I didn’t at all. Almost lost consciousness at one point. We also ran out of water half way up, which didn’t help to improve my situation, not to talk about my mood. Seems like my body cannot cope with the heat (over 40 degrees in the sun).
With a break every 10 minutes I finally managed to get up the hill.
Found a nice spot for camping.

Tuesday, 10.06.03
Tough day. Started at 8 am. Domi was swearing all the time because we had to go a lot of ups and downs and all of that in a half-circle. Not very effective. I did quite well until we got over the last hill before Arinsal. Another 900 height meters finished me off. And all of that at 2 pm with 45 degrees in the sun. Drank about 10 litres of water that day and only had to pee once… what a record!
Torture… that’s the word that comes into my mind if I think of that day.
We changed our plans entirely. Not only that our planned tour was far too long, but also my condition made out planned day sections impossible.
After a bloody long walk downhill again we arrived in Arinsal and went shopping first of all. Fruits, cold drinks, chocolate, bread and cheese. Also rebooked our flights a day earlier. I would have flown home this very day, hat there been a possibility for it.
Camped outside of Arinsal somewhere in the woods. Domi’s comment on this day: “Was für ein fickinistik Tag!”
And by the way… I’ve never been camping with someone who farted so much (and so smelly) like Domi does!

Wednesday, 11.06.03
Started at 10 am for Refuge de Comapedrosa. First part of the way was pretty bad for me again. I stopped talking because swearing didn’t help and there weren’t any other words in my mind at that moment. I decided to walk no more mountains after that day. What a clever thought in the Pyrenees…
Strange but true… as soon as we got into greater heights, my body seemed to be able to adjust and walking up the mountains went much better.
Now the really nice parts of the Pyrenees seemed to begin.
Crossed some snow fields and at 2 pm finally arrived at R.d.C. Beatiful sight. Went up a bit further and found a beautiful lake with a perfect spot for camping. Did some washing and bathing in the lake (bathing not for long! *brrrrr*).
Got surprised by a hail storm with heavy lightning and thunder. Just extreme these weather changes here… Pic de Comapedrosa (2941m) is our aim for tomorrow.

Thursday, 12.06.03
Slept long and started this beautiful day with some sunbathing. Weather is great!
The way up the mountain is pretty steep. Had to cross several snow fields. It was our luck that 10 minutes in front of us was another hiker who “prepared” some steps for us. Left a big snow field to climb to the peak. Had to pack away my poles so that I had my hands free for climbing.
The weather changed suddenly. 10 minutes from the peak I decided to give up and turn back. You could already hear the thunder rolling, and the clouds were getting more and darker. Domi decided to take his chances with the weather and continued to the top. We agreed on a meeting point 200 metres below the peak.
20 minutes after we had parted it started to rain and shortly after that the a heavy storm struck us. Luckily we managed to put up the tent in time. Domi said that the iron pole on top of the mountain was buzzing like mad because of the electricity in the air. This and the beginning of the storm made him choose not to stay for long up there ;-)
After the storm (it was over after 2 hours) I climbed the peak of the mountain and eventually had the chance to enjoy the view without fearing to be struck by lightning.
The night was unexpectedly cool. Well at 2800 metres we should have expected the nights to be a bit more fresh.

Friday, 13.06.03
Domi and I stood up early to climb the east ridge of Pic de Comapedrosa to watch the sunrise over the misty Pyrenees. What a beautiful and peaceful moment this was.
As soon as the sun hit our tent we jumped out and did some high altitude sunbathing ;-)
But not for long because the clouds already started to look like yesterday before the storm. So we packed our belongings and returned back to R.d.C the same way we took to go up the mountain. Almost at the end of the snow field, Domi decided to kiss it goodbye (with his ass *gg*). Down at the refugio we ate a huge plate of salad and decided to go down to Arinsal over the Pic de Negro.
The summit to the ridge was the last “torture”, or so I thought. We decided (how clever!) to leave the marked path and climb another path which looked easier, but wasn’t at all.
After an hour of tricky climbing and lots of adrenaline, we reached the top of the ridge. But the ski lifts on the other side were not where they were supposed to be. So either the map was wrong, or (and this proved to be the reason) Domi had made a “slight” mistake reading the map, and I didn’t bother to check it before we set off. So we ended up on the wrong mountain (after 1 hour of torture) with no way down the other side. So the only possibility (no tuning back!!!) was to walk the ridge until we might possibly find a spot where a descend would be possible. This (the walking on the sometimes very small ridge) and 2 hours of climbing down gave me very intense boosts of adrenaline and (to be honest) fear.
I don’t know how Domi managed that, but while I was crouching on all fours and shaking with fear (one misplaced step could have been it!), Domi was walking easily over the difficult places phoning one of his friends with his mobile. Very depressing! I should do something about my fear of heights.
I remember the sentence that, on a mountain, respect will safe your life, but fear could kill you.
So it came as it must have come. I missed a stone for my step and I started a pretty fast descent. Luckily I caught myself after about 4 metres with “only” some cuts on my hands, several bruises and a good shock.
I decided (again!) that mountains are definitely not my favourite place to be walking on.
Now we are down in Arinsal camping on some sort of cow meadow with lots of red ants everywhere.
Domi got bitten (or pissed on?! *gg*). Looks quite bad.
He’s lying in the tent, holding his stomach and feeling like a pregnant woman because he ate too much.
And he’s farting again… but this time he seems to feel sorry for me at least. What an improvement!

Saturday, 14.06.03
After packing our belongings we chose the shortest way back to the street for hitch-hiking which was directly through the property of a 4-star luxury hotel. Besides some bewildered fat hotel guest lying in the sun, only the guy at the reception seemed to care. “Yes, Sir… we do know that we are not hotel guests! Enjoy your day!”
Hitch-hiking in Andorra is not necessarily the easiest and most reliable way of travelling. After 1,5 h a crazy guy finally showed mercy and gave us a lift.
Happy of still being alive we reached Andorra La Veilla where we had to wait (sunbathing ;-) for 2,5 h until the TI finally finished their siesta.
We checked in into a 1-star hotel (Hotel Costa) where the window (one window to the stairway) was fenced and the lock on out door was nothing more that utterly pathetic. But what can you expect for a room for only 24 Euros for 2 Persons?!
The shopping centre called Andorra Pyrenees was of breathtaking size. Everything you can ever think of is there.
Bought a 1l bottle of GlenMorangie for only 26 Euros!!
After a couple of beers and a hilariously small pizza we went back to our “sweet” and to make it (sweat it!) through the night.

Sunday, 15.06.03
It took us ages to get a lift and to finally end up somewhere on the French side of the Pyrenees. A day spent hitch-hiking. But it was fun nevertheless.
We went off the road into the hills and found a great spot for our tent. A heavy storm struck us again during the night. Crazy countryside! Although we got kind of used to these changes in the weather we got kind of an uneasy feeling as the little stream next to our tent became somehow a small river and that we had like 2 cm of water underneath our tent. Good if you can trust the fabric of your tent…

Monday, 16.06.03
Got a lift to Foix by a cool French guy. Drove even worse (well, not worse, but faster) than the other one in Andorra.
From there we took the train to Toulouse (where we had a small and unintended walk through the prostitutes quarter looking for a supermarket) and arrived safely in Montpellier in the late afternoon. Domi tried to get us a flight a day earlier, but even the trick with the “My friend has an injury and needs to see a German doctor!” didn’t work. So we had to wait for 24 h. Time enough to drink a couple of beers and kill the red wine we bought in Toulouse. So as they finally asked us to leave the airport we didn’t care too much anymore and made our way the parking deck next to the airport where we spent the night… reminded us of our first night ;-)

Tuesday, 17.06.03
Had to leave our sleeping place because someone wanted to park there. What I also didn’t notice anymore in the night was the fact that I was lying in some sort of oily tar… Well… shit happens.
Tough day… waiting for our flight.
Arrived in Frankfurt Hahn around midnight, glad to be home again.