The Pic de Vallibierna is a 3.067m high summit close to the highest mountain of the Pyrenees, the Pic de Aneto, 3.404m of altitude. In the picture above Pic de Vallibierna is the little white top in the middle. The locals say that at this time of year there is still a lot of snow up there and you need crampons and ice picks to climb it. Yesterday, we went up there Monday-style: using summer boots and taking our dog with us.

Well, actually we didn’t succeed, because we left out the last 200m walk on a very exposed ridge, which you can see in the background of the picture above. Our dog suffers from vertigo ;-).

But the journey is the reward, and we enjoyed the hike and the wonderful views. We left our truck at a parking spot close to a reservoir…

… and left early next morning using the path via the chalet Refugio Cap de Llauset.

From the top we had an excellent view over the highest mountains of the Pyrenees as well as the reservoir, where we could spot our truck with binoculars.

Right now, we are setting up a record for the slowest travel to Portugal. We are on the way for three weeks and we have managed only half the distance. I think we are distracted by the wonderful attractions of France, Andorra and Spain too much…