New fastpacking trip
It is still only a couple of days since I made the decision to cancel my USA trip. Not an easy one but I do not doubt it was the correct thing for me to do in the circumstances.
As that is now a done deal, do plans for the months ahead change at all?
Indeed they do.
In my plan for the year What’s ahead for 2025 I indicated that in addition to the firm event plans I had made at the start of the year, I would look at opportunities for some additional fastpacking trips both at home and abroad.
I have a window in June and July that I can exploit and I am in the process of putting together a fastpacking trip in Europe. I will go in June to avoid the worst of the summer holiday madness and the heat. That will give me a recovery period after the Full Tilt Ultra at the end of May and still allow me the whole month of July back here in Scotland to make final training preparations for the Race Across Scotland.
I certainly don’t want to do anything as passé as Tour de Mont Blanc although I do want something of substance that would take 3-4 days of quality effort without killing myself.
I’ll cut to the chase as the header image has largely given the game away anyway, if you know your flags that is. I am going to fastpack the GRP (Grand Randonnée Pays) in Andorra in the last week of June.
The GRP is a 110km circuit that circumnavigates the principality of Andorra in the Pyrenees. It involves in excess of 8,000 metres of ascent with equivalent descent, much of the route above 2,000 metres in altitude. The route is well served by a number of refuges of varying sizes, a handful of which are staffed and supply meals and dormitory accommodation.
My intention is to bivy but to utilise the four staffed refuges as a source of food and re-supply. I can retain the option of staying at a refuge in adverse weather. As I did on the GR70 last summer, I will not be taking a stove and I think my gear list will look fairly similar to that trip, other than a slightly warmer sleeping bag.
The online guides suggest seven days for hikers, so I’ll apply the normal rule of thumb and half that for a projected timeframe. That said, I am going for seven nights so plenty of leeway. I will fly direct from Edinburgh to Toulouse and there are four buses per day leaving Toulouse Airport for Andorra. Travel-wise then, relatively quick and tidy.
The GRP is a very scenic route and should not be overly busy in June. Fingers crossed this one goes ahead!
