Can Nou --> Portel de les Creus / 66.3 k / alt. 2250 m / 16 hours

Underestimated the trail at night. Came down from the mountains - and dropped right into a jungle of humidity. The trail was full of leaves, loose rocks, gravel and some nasty pits from wild boar. Got to the shelter at Can Nou late. Slept heavenly all by myself.

Tried to get up around 3:30 a.m. but snoozed for about an hour. Made my way to the east in a good paste but ran low on water. Had an early lunch at Restaurante "Moli d'en Robert" and left with an extra Bocadillo in the heat of highnoon. It felt like the gates of hell just opened for the first time and i was happy to sit down at a pizzaplace along the highway at la Jonquera.

Set out to another last climb and got lost at night right before Portel de les Creus. This is when i decided to follow my gps in a good old "as the crow flies" fashion. Well done. I'd got trapped in between mean cedar trees within seconds and came out on the other side pretty scratched up.

Shouted at the wild boar that roamed the scene. Set up camp on trail for one hour. Got all my gear damp and proceded to the final stretch around 11:30 p.m.

Cabana de Tirapits --> Can Nou / 60.48 k / alt. 3297 m / 16 hours 21

Apparantly my inflatable sleeping pad somehow got pierced. But i'd magically found the main hole and fixed it. That gave me a window of two hours to sleep - until the air was gone. but little did I know about the other inhabitants of the shelter. Yeah. Rats. They enjoyed my company and partied until dawn. Around me. On top of me. But what annoyed me the most had been the noises they made.

I crawled out of the shelter right into the most beautiful sunrise and made my way down to a hut for a poor breakfast. Then kept on running the line all day long. It went up and down all day long and thus kind of a blur – but I enjoyed the fresh scent of other hikers very much. The fine detergent their clothes got washed with made me smell my own bad odor even more. Wearing the same shirt and pants for 15 days left it's marks i guess.

Never lost the trail. It's almost like you magically know where to go and switch to autopilot.

Encamp --> Puigcerdà / 43.92 k / alt. 2653 m  / 12 hours 45

The day started with yet another climb. Followed by a downhill and another one up. Right when things started to feel like a copy of a copy - the landscape opened up a little, than a little more - and all of a sudden there was this hypercool and perfectly flat valley in front of me. The sun was shining down there and soft and little cumulus clouds made cute shadow patches. All while behind me where steelgray monsterclouds ready to unroll their arsenal of rain and thunder. I haven't been that happy to look at a scenery like this in a long time, but i guess 13 days staring at rock faces changed that perception for the length of that magical moment.

Àreu -->  Encamp / 44.78 k / alt. 3773 m  / 12 hours 48

Is the name of my favorite 1992 snowboardmovie where someone pulls an endless big fs 720 in the backcountry - I recon. What I'd found out today is: the title doesn't apply to my world view. Little did I know yesterday but there had been another 2800 m mountain to climb. With an almost w perpendicular part in the final section. What followed where another 2 very very steep mountains. Stirred together with cold rain and a thunderstorm. That cut my planned big day with lots of kilometers into a long day with little kilometers. At least I'd made it to Andorra. My body hurts. Also: I'm hungry. It's a cruel world.

Day 11: Groundhog day

Hotel Cases --> Àreu / 40.16 k / alt. 3857 m  / 12 hours 45

Do you know that feeling? You commute to work or do other everyday things and it's like always, but then - all of a sudden - you sense there's something different. Is it the birds? The people? You don't know but there's definitely something in the air. That's what happened to me when I walked up yet another mountain today. The vegetation seemed to had change a little, all of a sudden crickets where chirping and the breeze was more gentle than before. Maybe it was because I crossed from Aragon into Catalonia, maybe it was because the mediteranean climate startet to push through - but it gave an uplifting feeling and made me run the extra kilometer.

Cabaña de Santa Ana --> Refugi de la Restanca / 41.72 k / alt. 3327 m  / 12 hours 26

As soon as i'd opened the door to my refuge, sunday hikers showed up and took a big interest in what turned out to be a little tourist attraction. But first things first. Did my newly learned knee exercise right after waking up amd felt: great - compared to the night before. Still wanted to tone it down a notch and made the plan to just walk through the sunday. Which had been easy because of hopping through rock fields almost all day.

Made it to refugi de congales at around 20:00 and decided after a refreshment to go one shelter further to refugi de la restanca. Arrived around midnight while my headlamp was running on fumes.

Parzan  --> Cabaña de Santa Ana / 38.24 k / alt. 2781 m  / 11 hours 17

It's 10:15 and I'm standing at the Repsol gas station in Parzan eating a crips sandwich when a guy approaches my instabuddy Alastair and me. Small world! I recognize him even wearing a facemask from a youtube video about the gr11 which seems to surprise him. A lot. His name is Chase Mountains and Alastair and me just talked about his knee-pain-routine-clip. 5 minutes later we are introduced to his friend Karim and learn a lot about how to eliminate knee pain.

More mentionable facts: The weather is great. Climbed 2 mountains today (again). It's Saturday which means I staked up on food. My home for the night is an empty shelter that is pretty ... and warm ... and has a lot of worms eating the wooden structure while I'm typing these words.

Rifugio de Góriz --> Parzan / 34.3 k / alt. 1943 m  / 12 hours

Got up early to crawl up and down the most brutal part of the trail. Not much water around but friendly trailcompagnions like Alastaire from Great Brittain - moans uphill and needs a tan. Has been superhot in the afternoon and the final 10 k roadwalk seemed to take forever. Popped my trailcherry having a beer and smashed a three course dinner. Well done.

Camping at Argibiela --> Candachù / 60.2 k / Elev. 2834 m / 13 hours 20

Kept walking a little after Izaba and camped out. Took a shower and had second dinner. 2 hamburgers with fries. Not like we are used to from McDonald's but classic spanish camping diner style. Walked a what seems forever today and now hunkering down in a local albuerga because it started to rain. G-nite

Hiriberri --> Izaba / 42 km / ca. 1570 m alt. / 8:45h

The working title for today had been "Stormy Ridge". Mainly because i wanted to tell the world what a badass i had been this morning walking along a foggy ridge on 1400 meters for hours.

But half an hour outside the town of Otsagabia i met a thruhiker called Julio whom was kind enough to explain to me that there wouldn't bee any water for the next 17 k. Since it was a hot noon in Spain and I had less than 1 liter left I started to get thirsty pretty soon after. Now the title changed to "A Kingdom for an ice cold Coke". Around the next corner was Guillermo cutting a tree with his chainsaw. Call me lucky but this kind guy offered me 1.5 liters of ice cold water. Thanks Guillermo!

Soon after my energy went sour. I knew it would happen. On day 3 for sure. I experienced it during other occasions. But what I didn't expect was my stomache going All In on the situation. An upset stomach always sucks. It got better after eating some real food instead of another Snickers and off I went. Now you know the story about the title of the story.

I've just had vegetable soup and a solomillo de tenerra at restaurante Tapia in Izaba and it was in-cre-dible! You should try it out when you pass through. Heading out now to tackle one last 2000 meter mountain to keep the story going.

Elizondo --> Hiriberri / 55 k / ca. 2900 m alt. / 11:45

The day started pretty easy with sunshine stroking my ego but turned into a fogsoup soon after. Because of that it wasn't too easy following the signs and swamps I had to cross didn't cheer me up much. The cattle and horses along the way ran off as soon as they noticed me and it would just fitted perfectly in the picture if a mislead ork from "Lord of the Rings" would had shown up aaking for directions to mordor.

Later on that day I'd met 3 cool gr11 hikers going east. They filled me in about the days to come and pinpointed me to a nice and flat spot to camp out above Hiriberri. This is where i'm at right now enjoying a quiet sunset.

Irun --> Elizondo / 62 km / elev. 3109 m / travel 11 hours 45

The title underexaggerates todays stretch a bit. It has been a tough comeback. All that stair- and trailrunning for training was out of the window after 7 hours - but i still had been another 20 k to go.

The weather has been pretty foggy all day and me and the pack are damp to the bone. But theres always sunshine after the rain: i'm sitting in a local Elizondo bar drinking a big lemonade and the old gentlemen next to me scream at each other in spanish while playing cards.

It's about time to get food and set up camp outside of town.

It’s august 19 2021 at exactly 22:22. I’m sitting in my livingroom on this quiet Thursday night – and I’m exhausted. The last couple of days have almost been a 24/7 race against time. Yesterday I’ve finally managed to escape the inner-city madness and made it up to Üetliberg – the top of Zurich – to test the new equipment. What can I say: It works.

All there is to do is finishing type these words, taking a shower, and have a good night’s sleep. The past months have been extraordinary. I’d been researching possible routes for the summer holidays for weeks. The alta via 2 in the Dolomites, gr20 in Corsica and the Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt – but when I started talking to my hiking buddies Dogbite, Beeps and Sonic, it became clear that I needed to try something different.

Dogbite reminded me about a talk we had a while ago. We fantasized – after completing the Pacific Crest Trail in 2020 – that we should try and set a record on the gr11. Who would have thought but, almost exactly one year later, it seems like it’s happening and I’ll try to set a new FKT (Fastest Known Time) on the gr11.

Anyways, I’ll be out there in less than 36 hours – a gentle breeze from the Atlantic Ocean in my hair, the Faro de Higuer and Irun slowly diminishing – and me trailblazing in the general direction east until the Mediterranean.

I’m ready.

Here’s the stuff I travel with carry: https://lighterpack.com/r/uh8oih