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 GR11 is a high-mountain trial stretching 837Km from Cabo Higuer on the Atlantic coast to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean. It is more rugged, but with less ascent and descent, than its French counterpart, the GR10, which runs almost parallel to it on the other side of the Pyrenees.

Paul Lucia’s love of the range is obvious on every page. After countless visits, this fourth edition was completed shortly before he died last year. It is a lasting testimony to his dedication.

Lucia divides the GR11 into 46 day walks, averaging around 18Km per day. Through the Spanish Pyrenees is a leisurely exploration of the Pyrenean wilderness in all its glory, complete with excellent background information, maps, route profiles and photography. Highly recommended for the adventurous walker.

(Walking World Ireland, July/August 2008)
 

For those who know little of the Pyrenees but have wondered about them, this book is an ideal starting point, written with love and care and revised regularly based on major walking trips.
To many, the Pyrenees may seem remote and inaccessible, daunting and, perhaps, a little too challenging. This book will help you to see them as less remote, accessible, not at all daunting and though certainly challenging, never too much so. Paul Lucia’s love for the Pyrenees shines through on every page.
However, this book is not simply a hymn of praise to the Pyrenees. It is an intensely practical guide to the Gran Recorrida 11 (GR11) with everything from how to get there, geography, accommodation, equipment, maps, weather etc. to the detailed guide itself.
But not everyone has 46 days + available to them and the book provides details of access points along the way for doing it in bits or as an excursionary taster whilst on a conventional holiday. Still daunted? Well buy this book to browse of an evening and I can guarantee you’ll get itchy feet, the best tribute possible to this remarkable man and fine guide book writer.

(Strider, August 2008)

Paul Lucia’s book is quite a contrast, detailing the day-by-day trekking along the Spanish side of the range, from Irun on the Atlantic to Cadaques on the Mediterranean. There is a description and map (occasionally two) for each of the 46 days of the trek. The maps, though small, are good; every facility from bar/restaurant to manned refuge is marked, but you are still recommended to carry the relevant 1:40,000 or similar-scale maps. The author warns that, especially in Navarre, the waymarking may be poor. In addition to the hut at the end of each stage, details are given of all huts or camping possibilities on or near the route. All this is packed into 250 pages with a plastic cover, total weight 300g, not an excessive load for a backpacker.
Sadly, the author died in July 2007 after completing this edition. He had walked the whole La Senda, as the route is called, the previous year.
 

(Irish Mountain Log, Summer 2008)