Day Two Arans and Ordino

Woke at 5am. Normal for me. Decided to sort out my suitcase and have breakfast of a bar of Milka M-joy and a glass of tapwater. Hopefully it's safe. I've just spent an hour writing up the travell news and will now have a quick shower and get dressed. Off to Ordino to search for breakfast and supplies today.

Barb got up at 8.45. By which time I had done all my bits and pieces and was ready and waiting. I discovered that the sun rises over the mountain top at 8.30 and shines straight into the window of the room, so I sat basking in the warmth for a while as the morning had been pretty chilly.

We started out at about 9.15. I made sure I drank water even though it was from the tap as we had nothing else and I knew I'd soon be parched if I didn't. It was a pleasant walk, and of course it's all downhill from Arans to Ordino, although it was sunny and soon got w,arm. It's about 4km and finally after a string of villages with no shops we arrived in Ordino. After a bit of searching we found a cafe as Barb had drunk nothing since the previous evening. I ordered coffee, which the waitress seemed to have trouble understanding then finally said “cafe”? How hard can it be? Anyway, I ended up with the shortest black I've ever seen, so it didn't do much for my thirst. Barb wisely had a Coke and also bought a stick of bread.

After a bit of tramping round we saw a sign that said Ordino Centre so we followed that and ended up near the church that we kept seeing on the web cam before we left. This is a core of old buildings and more touristy, so after some more wandering we finally found a general store and went in for some water and I also bought some mini Oreos. We decided to have a look around before we bought our supplies but really there wasn't much to see and the Tourist Information was a waste of time. Wandering back to our little store I went in and bought some supplies: sliced bread, brioche, cheese, couscous, rice, iced tea, tea bags, instant coffee, ground coffee, milk, packet soup, a can of bacardi and coke, and some frozen spinach and ricotta canneloni. Barb then went in and bought a packet of chips, some tomatoes and a walking stick. I have a feeling we'll have to go back a couple more times as what we bought, along with the other stuff in my backpack came to about 10 kg and we had to walk the 4kms back to Arans – uphill. I drank 1.25 litres of water on the way.

By now it was 27 degrees which is hot for Barb. A difficult and slow walk back with several rests. But in all the round trip including time in Ordino took about three and a half hours. Even with the backpack I didn't find it too bad and was quite pleased that not only did I not suffer any breathlessness but it actually seems easier for me to breathe – no wheezing.

We made it back and Barb crashed while I made some lunch; the canneloni seeing as that was frozen and it had been in my back pack a couple of hours. Had some bread with it and although it wasn't a huge meal it was tasty enough.

After a bit of a rest and some rehydration, we sat on the balcony and watched the world go by then, being gluttons for punishment decided to go for a bit of a wander again and have a look at the start of the Iron Route. The start of it is just across the road over the Arans bridge.

We didn't go far – as soon as it started to get steep, we turned around and came back. Took a couple of photos and then walked the track the other way, again till it got steep before coming back to the hotel. It's a gorgeous day, but not made for hiking if you're not used to warm weather.

We did discover the source of the smell that seems to pervade the air every half kilometre; livestock! The cows are kept in byres on the street – they look like garages but the smell is rank and the flies hover around the windows. Best to walk by quickly and not inhale deeply.

There seem to be dogs everywhere and no one seems to be truly affectionate towards their animals, in fact many are quite rough and all the dogs seem very unloved and uncared for. You see them tied up, or just wandering and some we saw locked up in pens. I have to not dwell on it or it would become upsetting. It's now 5.30 pm and feels like about 3.30. We noticed people having lunch at 3pm and decided that lunch here is just finishing at the time we would normally be starting to eat tea. I think perhaps that accounts for the restaurant not being open when we would expect. Not that we intend to eat there – it's not vegetarian friendly.

We shall continue to walk and shop. We should be fit by the time the ten days is up! I shall need to soak in a bath tonight as I can feel the aches starting already!

I want to start writing but can't seem to get going. I guess today our priority was to find food and drink which put everything else on the back burner. On Tuesday (as Monday is a public holiday) we shall definitely have to find out how to get the bus into Andorra La Vella. Not only do we need to do some serious shopping but we're communication starved.

We decided on a simple tea of toasted cheese sandwiches, which turned out perfectly made with edam cheese. (We splurged on a tomato to round it out.)

Tomorrow we will probably try and tackle the walking path to Les Bordes de l'Ensegur or if that's too ambitious, maybe a walk up to Llorts and the iron mine.