Papa and Boí achieved a long-standing ambition of climbing the highest mountain in all the land.

The Pica d’Estats at 3,143 metres is the tallest mountain in Catalonia. Papa has been meaning to climb it for many years. Mama, Papa, and Micheál came close a few years back but the weather was against them.

It’s a two-day hike and the first day has this chain descent. Boí loved it but Aoife was not impressed.

The two-hour hike in takes you up a little stream to the lake. There are several waterfalls.

This is the lake - Estany Sottllo - where we will camp overnight. You can see lots of other hikers pitching tents are the other end of the lake - it’s Catalonia’s national day, so it’s the busiest weekend of the year at the Pica.

Boí spotted this deer when we were walking in along the last section.

Sunset across the Pica d’Estats as we pitched our tent and prepared dinner.

Early the next morning we are hiking up from the lake towards the coll. Boí is wrapped in the Catalan flag as it was cold in the morning.

At the first coll we cross the ridge and descent into the French side, before traversing across the north flank of the pica before turning and beginning the ascent. On the way we saw some goats. Bonjour Monsieur Le Chevre.

This is the scree slope leadign to the coll between Pica d’Estats on the left and Pic Verdaguer on the right.

Boí at the ridge between the top peaks. This is the border again,

The view back down into the Catalan side to the lake were we had spent the night.

At the peak there was a literal queue of people to take a photo.

This is the view northwards, the French side.

Boí, Aoife, and Papa at the peak, finally.

After we dropped bacjk down to the coll, did the five minutes extra climb up the other side to the peak of Verdaguer, the second-highest peak in all the land.

Yay, Verdaguer!

It’s a long hike back out, we took plenty of breaks along the way.

We stopped at the refugi for a well-anticipated drink and crisps.

A fantastic hike! Thank you Boí!

Boí got a haircut.

Before…

After…

In the early morning before level rises we like to go down to the ‘island’ before it gets covered in water.

Aoife likes to tears out the roots of the tree.

Celia’s garden.

We hope Celia gets better and comes home soon.

This was one of the biggest hikes of the entire summer. We hiked into our favourite orange box refugi - Refugi Mataró Gerber - and stayed the night. Papa, Boí, Saoirse, and Aoife.

In total, the first day is about a two-hour hike. We headed up in the afternoon, to have time to cook dinner before dark.

Late afternoon sun on the lake.

This trail is really well signposted.

We finally see our destination, the orange box tied to the top of the giant rock. Boí led the way on the final stretch, waiting for us just before the final push to the top. He’s a real mountain guide.

Cooking our newly invented favourite camping dish - sopita de caldo with chopped-up frankfurts.

Sunset is upon us just after dinner and this is the view across towards Espot skistation.

The island in the lake just below our refugi.

Sleepy time at the orange box is about 9 in the evening.

The following morning, super early, there’s the moon.

Sunrise is just beginning to touch the top of the mountains around as we prepare for our long day of hiking onwards to Refugi Amitges and Espot. Our route would take us up and over the coll on the left.

Bye bye little orange box.

Early in the morning we pass the first lake and start climbing.

As we climb up you can see the orange box in the bowl below us.

At this moment the refugi is lit up with a pool of early morning sunshine.

Final view backwards towards the refugi from the coll before we start the hiking along the ridge towards the Coll de Amitges.

Aoife at the coll.

We stopped for some sweeties.

BoÍ and Saoirse looking down the other side of the coll towards the distant Refugi de Saboredo.

We saw this cool rock with a zig zag crack running down through it.

First view of the Refugi Amitges.

Monkeys up a tree.

On the long final hike out to Espot we saw these deer calmly lying there in the field, unbothered by the passersby.

This was the longest hike we did this summer. The second day alone was 17 km, and both Boí and Saoirse did the whole thing without any problems!

These people going on their holidays, passing over Roc Roi.