The GR11 – also referred to as the Senda Pirenaica – is certainly one of three principal routes that traverse the Pyrenees from the Atlantic Coast to the Mediterranean Sea. The GR11 stays nearly solely on the Spanish facet of the Pyrenees, parallel to the GR10, one other thru-hiking path on the French facet. This route presents a rewarding and difficult journey by way of one of the spectacular mountain ranges on Earth.
Fast Details
- Distance: ~500 miles (820-850 km)
- Time Wanted: 5-8 weeks
- Highest Elevation: 9,200 ft
- Lowest Elevation: 0 ft
- Elevation Achieve/Loss (Approximate): 150,000 ft
- Finest Time to Hike: July-September
- Permits: None
- Issue: Troublesome
Highlights
- Unimaginable mountain views
- Tons of tradition
- Hikers from everywhere in the globe
- Refugios (mountain huts)
- A lot of wine and occasional
- Medieval villages
Lowlights
- Difficult navigation in some sections
- Murky tenting legal guidelines
- Language barrier
- Extraordinarily strenuous
- Cows in every single place
When is the perfect time to hike?
The very best time to hike the GR11 is between July and September. By late June, most refugios (mountain huts) are opening their doorways, and excessive mountain passes are largely snow free. For extra open refugios and drier trails, take into account moving into late July to August – though the path can be at its busiest throughout that window.
How lengthy does it take to hike the GR11?
Traversing all the vary of the Pyrenees on the GR11 sometimes takes between 5 and eight weeks. Even in the event you’ve beforehand hiked a 500-mile path within the U.S. (such because the Colorado Path), we advocate including a minimum of one other week onto your journey length. The explanation? The mileage is likely to be the identical, however the GR11 has considerably extra elevation acquire than nearly some other US path of the identical size.
How troublesome is the GR11?
The GR11 has various formidable challenges, similar to troublesome terrain, difficult navigation, and unpredictable climate, which make it an particularly difficult path. Nevertheless, every is manageable with the correct expectations and planning.
What’s the Terrain like?
The GR11 is not any stroll within the park. We selected it over the extra fashionable Camino De Santiago for its extra mountainous terrain and wilderness expertise. In actual fact, the 2 trails couldn’t be extra unalike.
Relying on which variants you are taking, the GR11 is about 520 miles lengthy with a little bit over 150,000 ft of elevation acquire and loss. This implies in the event you try and knock out the path in 30 days, you’ll be tackling a whopping 5000 ft of elevation acquire and loss each single day. So as to add to the problem, the Pyrenees function extraordinarily rocky, uneven terrain. Switchbacks are a uncommon luxurious.
What are the perfect Navigation instruments?
The GR11 is extra of a tough idea than a well-defined path. That stated, there are numerous variants and alternatives to hop on the Haute Route or different GR trails to ease up on the depth. The route may really feel ambiguous as a result of it’s shared with livestock who carve their very own paths.
The usual guidebook for the GR11 is the Cicerone Information, which gives invaluable info on resupply, mileage, refugios, and extra.
Our high advice, although, is the Czech app, Mapy.cz. It’s a complete map/gps that works amazingly properly when you obtain the area. It provides point-to-point distances, elevation acquire, and even approximate mountaineering instances.
What’s the WEATHER like on the GR11?
In comparison with the GR10 on the French facet of the Pyrenees, the GR11 extra arid in the summertime, however storms aren’t unusual. Rain tends to hit most frequently on the western half of the path in Basque nation. Throughout our roughly 30 days on path, we had about 2-3 full days of moisture.
Like many excessive mountain ranges, the Pyrenees expertise day by day late afternoon thunderstorms in the course of the summer season. To mitigate lightning threat, you’ll wish to stand up and over the excessive level for the day as early as attainable.
How you can plan your GR11 journey
Listed here are our first-person recommendations on selecting which route to hike the GR11, arranging transportation, and budgeting.
Selecting a Course: Eastbound vs. Westbound
Most individuals hike the GR11 from west to east, starting within the humid, rolling hills of Basque nation and climbing over the excessive peaks of Aragon and Andorra, after which ending within the sizzling, arid local weather of Catalonia on the Mediterranean Sea.
In mountaineering phrases, route doesn’t make a lot distinction – the views are simply as lovely and the elevation acquire and loss is comparable. It extra will depend on whether or not you wish to journey to and out of your terminus at first of your journey, or save coordinating transportation for the top of your journey.
What’s the perfect Beginning Level?
For those who’re planning on mountaineering the path within the typical Westbound route, you’ll fly into and out of Bilbao, Spain, then take a brief bus journey to Irun (simply north of San Sebastian) to start out the hike. For those who’ve received an additional day, it’s price spending time within the picturesque (and romantic) metropolis of San Sebastian.
What are the Transportation choices in Spain?
Spain has various handy transportation choices, however it’s nonetheless finest to plan forward.
Flixbus is a useful app that compares bus fares throughout the nation and permits you to observe routes in actual time.
BlaBlaCar is one other indispensable app which helped on quite a few events. It’s basically a paid hitchhiking app the place drivers can listing their deliberate driving route, and vacationers can hop in an additional seat for a payment. It’s mutually helpful – offsetting gasoline prices for drivers and providing reasonably priced transportation for vacationers. It additionally presents a superb alternative to fulfill locals and fellow vacationers!
Hitchhiking is one choice we’d not advocate in Spain. Discovering a journey might be troublesome and sluggish. Thumbing will not be exceptional, however it’s not as widespread as it’s in america and different components of the world.
What’s one of the best ways to get Residence?
The official jap terminus of the GR11 is the distant peninsula of Cap Da Creus. For those who don’t time it excellent to catch the seasonal vacationer bus again to the city of Cadeques, you’ll have to stroll two hours alongside the coastal path again to city or prepare a taxi prematurely. From Cadaques, you possibly can take an area bus on to Barcelona after which fly again to Bilbao.
What Budgeting issues are there?
Not together with journey, mountaineering the GR11 is barely cheaper than most lengthy trails within the US. On common, a keep at a refugio with full board – together with dinner, a mattress, bathe, and breakfast – prices €60+ per evening. On our journey, meals sometimes was 10-20% cheaper than we’re used to within the States.
How ought to I pack FooD and Resupply on the GR11?
Discovering resupply alternatives on the GR11 is a bit of cake. One of many causes the general elevation acquire/loss is so hefty is as a result of the path climbs as much as the excessive peaks after which dips proper again down right into a city or village just about each single day. When the path doesn’t head again into city, it passes a mean of 1 refugio per day, the place you possibly can eat a sizzling meal and take away a snack or sandwich to carry you over till the following refugio or city.
The principle issue is selection and choices for folks with allergy symptoms and dietary restrictions. Many of the path cities alongside the GR11 are small mountain villages that don’t cater to hikers as a lot as path cities within the US. Sure hiker staples similar to peanut butter are laborious to return by. Gluten and meat are important components of the standard Spanish weight loss plan.
The place can I supply Water?
A superb water remedy plan – together with a backup technique – is important on the GR11. Except for the far jap stretches of the path in Catalonia, water sources are widespread. Nevertheless, most easily-accessible water is closely contaminated by farm land and free vary cattle. Even in excessive elevations, you’ll discover herds of cows and horses congregating (and defecating) round lakes, streams, and rivers.
To our shock, many Europeans hiked the path with no water purification – merely counting on their finest judgment. We weren’t keen to take the possibility.
The place can I Sleep on the GR11?
There are quite a few refugios and cities alongside the GR11 that supply lodging. Many individuals merely hike with a day pack and rely solely on these locations for lodging alongside all the path. Nevertheless, that may get expensive, and rooms usually replenish. There are additionally loads of small, deserted emergency buildings alongside the path known as “bothies,” which fluctuate in measurement and luxury.
Wild tenting legal guidelines in Spain are gray to say the least. The huge quantities of public land within the US make tenting close to lengthy trails straightforward. In Spain, nevertheless, the path is often adjoining to personal land.
Typically, wild tenting is unlawful. Nevertheless, you can “emergency” bivouac above a sure elevation between 8pm and 8am or ask permission from an area refugio or land proprietor to arrange camp close by for the evening. We have been capable of make the most of these gray areas to tent camp most nights on the GR11.
What Wildlife is on the GR11?
There’s hardly any wildlife to talk of in Spain. There are bears in Spain, however the inhabitants is extraordinarily low and the chance of operating into one is negligible. You’ll simply see loads of horses and cows alongside the path.
The one animal of concern is wild boars. We by no means truly noticed a wild boar however heard loads of them rooting round at evening. A pair even ran proper previous our tent!
What gear ought to I pack for the GR11?
Packing for the GR11 is much like packing for many lengthy distance trails within the Mountain West: ample solar safety, dependable rain gear, and a superb water purification technique. Listed here are the broad strokes of the equipment my companion and I carried on the GR11:
Pack
Sleep System
Shelter
Mountain climbing Gear
Rain Gear
Water Remedy
Camp Kitchen
Electronics
Remaining Ideas
The Pyrenees is a wide ranging mountain vary with heaps to supply, from excessive alpine surroundings to centuries of historical past and medieval villages. Nevertheless, the GR11 is not any gentle enterprise. A little bit little bit of preparation goes a protracted approach to making your journey not solely a hit however an journey of a lifetime.
Regardless of the place your wanderlust takes you, we hope this information has impressed you to get on the market and luxuriate in this lovely house rock we stay on.
