Bujaruelo and Valle de Otal

By popular demand we returned to the Bujaruelo valley and the campground at the head of it. This is tucked under the western side of the Monte Perdido massif, the highest in the Pyrenees.

It is a special place, accessed by road only from the south. This gravel and stone track which takes about 20mins to drive is very bumpy in the Land Rover but at least it is made for it. Last time we visited in 2018,  we were surprised at how many cars and campervans make it here. It must be a bit of a risk as there are some hard, stony lumps and gravelly looseness, which must be hard to handle carefully with a low slung vehicle and road tyres. The river is glacial!

There’s a walkers’ hostel here with good food but we didn’t eat here this time.

At night it was very dark and cold. There’s nowhere for the cold on the mountains to go, other than fill the valley. It’s a little like Buxton in that respect.

The book of walks showed one directly from the campsite and the next day we had the delight of an easy tramp over the beautiful stone bridge, along the river past the cows and up a gravel road to the north west. This somehow got us up the valley side and onto the alp, which is the sloping pasture above the steep valley walls.

From there we walked over the lip into a geologically perfect glaciated valley, hanging above the main one. This is Valle de Ota and it is in total contrast to the valley below.

It is a classic U-shape, with a wide, flat bottom through which a river runs, meltwater direct from snow still on the north-facing crags to the side.

We walked along here to the refuge, Cabin de Ota, a two ‘room’ building with and open window through which a robin flew to a nest on the window cill.

A little further along was a nice waterfall, almost the headwaters of the river and there we had lunch, looking back from where we had come.

It was yet another 16Km / 10 mile walk but this one was easy.

On the way back along the high valley we kept stopping, trying to see Marmots. These look like beavers crossed with badgers and live in burrows usually under a rock. They whistle very loudly but each one sounds identical to the others. This means that they appear to be one animal or bird that’s flying around. They are hard to locate and in actual fact keep very still, blending into the background, looking like a rock!

No photos but we did see some.