Day 3: Bera to Elizondo

Today was a big day. 31km, and 1.3km elevation gain, not to mention the temps hitting 40 deg. I was pretty worried about how I would cope today, but now that I am resting in my airbnb, I can happily say that I actually feel better than yesterday! Tired, and sore, of course, but no major concerns. Much of the hike so far has been figuring out how much water to be carrying. Because of the heat wave, some of the smaller water sources marked on my map are not really operational, and this makes it difficult to predict how long the stretches of track without hydration will be. I probably overshot the mark a little this morning, leaving the guesthouse at about 6am and carrying 4 litres. The first water supply was at the start of a steep ascent about 45 min into the day, and another at the top. Anyway, better over than under-reported. I hit the sweet spot this afternoon though with a fill up back to 4 litres midday and I used all of this over the final ascent and long descent into Elizondo. Being this hot, you just burn through the water like anything.

Sunrise from the top of Santa Barbara was magic, looking out over the cloud-filled valley below. This was a steep ascent to an old military bunker on a hill, followed by a long section of meandering up and down along ridges, meeting a couple who were hiking the HRP (same direction as the GR11 but covers higher terrain in the Pyrenees).

I have also spent some of the day hiking with a couple of other GR11 hikers - pictured above. Tomorrow and Monday will be even hotter so I have stocked up on supplies and anticipate getting walking at around 530am to try to get the first ascent (about 800m) done early in the morning and then I can siesta and tackle as much more as I want later in the day, temps permitting.