Through the Spanish Pyrenees: GR11 - A Trekking Guidebook

Walking the GR11 (La Senda) trek, as described in this guidebook, takes you through Spain's Pyrenees from the Atlantic at Iruns to the Mediterranean at Calaques, and is one of the world’s great trekking routes. Through wild country of great beauty and with good facilities and waymarking the 840km, 46 stages and 40,000m of ascent and descent make for a big but attractive undertaking.

The Spanish ‘Editorial Alpina’ maps, complete with accompanying guide in Castilian Spanish or Catalan, used to cover only the central high mountain section, but now they have been improved and their scope extended to cover almost the whole route. These come in both 1:25,000 and 1:40,000 scales. Institut Cartográfic de Catalunya produces fine maps at a scale of 1:50,000. The excellent French ‘Randonnées Pyrénéennes’ maps, at a scale of 1:50,000, have the path marked, sometimes incorrectly, but unfortunately often do not reach far enough south or have the very area required covered by the key, thus making them mostly only suitable for the GR10. Especially useful to GR11 trekkers, who are planning to walk coast to coast, is the new set of maps covering the whole route at a scale of 1:40,000 produced by the publishers of the Spanish language guide to the GR11, Edita Prames (ISBN 84 8321 062 2). These go out of print from time to time but still can be obtained, complete with guide (ISBN 84 8321 187 4, for the 2005 5th edition), from www.themapshop.co.uk. Even so, there are still some glaring errors, and attention to the main ones are given in the text. Also, many traditional waypoint names have been dropped from this series, and other local or ancient ones used. Please also note that many of the trails marked on these maps do not exist on the ground. Any comments in the text to this Prames map set refer to their 5th edition.

In the guide, at the beginning of the description of each day stage of the route, the relevant maps for that stage, additional to the Prames set, are identified. Accompanying the route description is a sketch map for each stage, showing the route in relation to the main geographical features. Notes on these appear under the section ‘Sketch Maps’, below. Walkers will also need to take the relevant map or maps for the sections walked, for map and compass work is still often required on these long-distance mountain trails, especially in the lower eastern and western sections.

Walkers should also ensure that they are familiar with the general geography of the area in relation to escape routes, both north and south, should these become required. Good road maps or the SGE 1:200,000 series maps are adequate for this. A photocopy of any relevant part would be adequate.