So I managed to hike all the way across the Pyrenees Mountains with this massive backpack and I’m still alive! (Just barely) :D All I can say is the GR11 trek was a lot more challenging than I expected it to be haha. It was probably the most physically challenging thing I’ve done in my life, actually :D And it wasn’t exactly as “enlightening” as I hoped it would be. I expected to have plenty of time to read, think, stand on top of mountains and ponder about the universe, but whenever I got to the top of a mountain (which was almost every day), all I wanted to do was collapse and the only thing I could ponder about was food :D

Food was the main thing on my mind. Food, the trail, my next camping spot, my next bathroom break, the pain in my feet, the heat, the sun, the cold, the rain, the heavy weight, the next ascent, then the descent. The break, the snack, the lake, the dinner. Oh how I love dinner :D. I loved pitching up my tent, jumping into a cold lake or river butt naked, then running back, warming up in my portable little shelter, feeling clean, feeling warm, feeling calm, feeling healthy. Then cook, eat, read and pass out, hoping that no thunderstorm rolls over me, hoping that no wild boars attack this time.

Most of the nights were calm, some were frightening. I never used to be afraid of boars or thunderstorms, but some nights they came just a little bit too close. I'll write about that another day though :)

I ended up hiking for two months straight- 860 kilometers, 40,000 meters of elevation change- it was like a hiking marathon! My budget of €5 per day made it extra difficult. I never paid for accommodation, so I either camped or stayed in free mountain huts the entire time. I showered in cold rivers, lakes and springs. I never paid for a meal in a manned refuge or restaurant. I loaded up my backpack with cheap groceries once every 10 days or so, so at times my backpack weighed almost half my body weight. That made it extra difficult :D

I’d do it all over again, but next time I’d do it with a lighter backpack!

I recorded a bunch of videos of the trek but I won’t upload them yet. I’d like to hide out and focus on my book for now... until I have a final final copy :D.

I’ll go to work now! Still have a lot of work to do it seems…

Oh and Tio added the GR11 trail + some of my stops to TROM Maps- https://maps.trom.tf/QMOiDDPV7SFQ#6/40.397/-2.131/Mpnk
It’s a cool little thing :)