The GR11 Trail. Brian Johnson
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Название: The GR11 Trail
Автор: Brian Johnson
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Книги о Путешествиях
isbn: 9781783626205
isbn:
Andorra
Although Andorra is not in the European Union (EU), it uses the Euro. Be aware that if you buy ‘duty free’ products, you have not paid tax in an EU country and customs controls are in operation on road crossings to France or Spain. Catalán is the official language of Andorra, but English, French and Spanish are widely spoken. Camping laws are the same as in Spain: no daytime camping, except with the landowner’s permission, but you can bivouac (with or without a tent) on uncultivated land away from habitation. Fires are not permitted!
Accommodation
Refugio de Biadós (Stages 19 and 20)
There is a wide range of accommodation on the GR11.
Paradors are luxurious and expensive hotels
Hotels vary greatly in quality and cost but they would have all the facilities you expect of an hotel in Britain
Hostals are basic hotels. Some will just offer accommodation, but most will also have a bar-restaurant (a hostal is not a hostel).
Pensions are rather like the British guest house
Casa Rural or Turisme Rural are private houses offering accommodation similar to the British bed & breakfast
Albergue are ‘youth hostels’, but as in Britain they do take adults
Manned Refugios or Refugi are mountain huts which offer accommodation (possibly in communal dormitories). They have a drink and meals service, open to both residents and non-residents and most provide packed lunches.
Many campgrounds will have cabins, normally called ‘bungalows’, and some will have bunkhouse accommodation
Unmanned Refugios or Refugi are open for the use of mountaineers and walkers. They are equivalent to the Scottish ‘bothy’. They range in quality from purpose-built buildings that are well maintained by mountaineering clubs, to buildings that are no better than unmaintained cow sheds.
The facilities described during the course of each stage description are summarised in a box at the end of each stage, in route order, with full contact details.
If desperate, ask at the bar-restaurant; they will often know locals who are willing to offer accommodation outside the official system.
Manned mountain refuges
Pico Llena Cantal over Refugio de Respomuso (Stage 13)
Refuges vary greatly, but as a guideline you can expect the following:
Basic accommodation for walkers and climbers
Refuge hours and rules are designed for walkers, not for late-night drinkers
You may be able to get a discount if you are a member of an Alpine Association
People staying in refuges usually book half board (supper, bed and breakfast) or full board (half board with the addition of a picnic bag for lunch)
Some, but not all, refuges will have self-catering facilities
There are mattresses and blankets in the dormitories but you need to bring a sleeping bag or a sheet bag
GR11 hiker above Estany de Monges (Stage 24)
Some refuges are open all year and others only during the summer. Many will only be open at weekends in the spring or autumn and some will open out of season if you make a reservation.
It is recommended that you make reservations in high summer and at weekends
Refuges offer a bar and snack service to walkers outside normal mealtimes
Refuges will normally have a room which can be used as a bothy when the refuge is closed
Camping is not permitted in the vicinity of most manned refuges
Many of the refuges don’t have their own website, but use a regional website which operates central booking (see Appendix D)
Camping
West summit, Tuca d’Angliós, from Estany Cap de Llauset (Stage 22)
In this guide the American term campground has been used for commercial or organised campsites, to distinguish them for wilderness campsites.
Car-camping used to be widespread alongside roads and dirt roads with visitors setting up camps, often for weeks at a time, in many of the most beautiful places in the mountains or around the coast. To prevent this, a law was passed to ban wild camping and this law is enforced by the police. As is often the case laws have unintended consequences and this law, intended to prevent car-camping and the setting up of long-term camps, also applied to backpackers.
The compromise, in practice, is that backpackers are allowed to bivouac for one night, with or without a small tent, well away from roads and habitation. This exception to the law has been defined in some areas such as in the ‘Parc Natural’ in Catalonia, where wild camping is permitted between 8pm and 8am.
You should ask permission if you want to camp near villages, in farmers’ fields, or close to a refuge. There is rarely any problem camping high in the mountains but discretion should be used when camping at lower levels. The daily stages given in this guide are intended for those using overnight accommodation. Those who are wild camping will want to ignore these stages and camp well away from the towns, villages and refuges.
If you are accustomed to always camping beside water, you will often have difficulty in finding a suitable campsite, especially in the Basque Country and eastern Catalonia. In the High Pyrenees camping beside streams often means you are sharing the grass with cows and mosquitoes. If you are prepared to camp away from water, you have much more flexibility and you can often find campsites with spectacular views.
Suggestions have been made in this guide as to the best campsites. These will normally be places where camping overnight is legal and with good grass which will take a tent peg. The experienced backpacker will find plenty of other places to camp.
The author tends to camp as high as possible. Not only is there magnificent scenery, it’s legal and there is less chance of being disturbed. What is more, there are likely to be fewer cows, better grass, and fewer mosquitos and biting insects.
The three types of camping gas commonly available are:
The ones you pierce, referred to in this guide as ‘original’ cylinders
‘Easy-clic’ resealable cylinders, the main resealable system СКАЧАТЬ