12/09/08 - Ascent by cog railway

Our morning view was non-existent, as the fog had rolled in overnight
making it almost impossible to see the other end of the car park!!
This gave a perfect excuse for another slow morning.

Once we finally made it on the road and picked up some groceries
(Marea found the freshest bread ever - yum yum), we headed into the
Pyrenees and the little hillside village of Queralbs where the sun was
starting to shine through. Suggested by our neighbouring campers in
Cadaques, nestled high above Queralbs lies the little ski area of Vall
de Núria.

Not accessible by road, we took the easy option up to Núria - by a cog
or rack railway (where the train grips to the line by a cog). The
railway was quite amazing - going from 1,180 to almost 2,000 metres,
the track seemed to cling off the edge of cliffs as it climbed up the
very steep valley. At the top the valley opened out into a couple of
nice big basins with what would be some brilliant beginner slopes -
I'm not so sure about more challenging terrain?

Anyway, it wasn't the season for playing in the snow. We had a nice
walk in the hills following a pathway depicting 14 very artistic
Stations of the Cross. We took a look around the large building
complex that housed among other things a skiing museum, then it was
time to start the decent by foot back down to Queralbs.

Following the same valley as the railway, our walk took in some
fantastic views of the line, over little arched bridges and down some
very steep zig zag sections. At one point our track decided to be a
bit mean to us, as after a big down section, the track turned one
corner and lead us upward for what seemed as much as we had been going
down!!

Nonetheless, we made it back to Queralbs before dark - with our
carpark emptied out sufficiently to find a nice flat sleeping spot.