The Byron Bayern Blog: Back from Spain

Wow, that trip was too quick. 5 Days was definitely not long enough to spend in such a neat place. We could have had better weather, but it was still a amazing trip and a great time hanging out with Angie and Adam.

We flew into Barcellona on Friday morning from Munich, on a pretty darn turbulent but neat flight that hugged the Costa Durada as we decended. It was a very cool view of the Spanish coast as they flew along it for 30 minutes probably before we landed.

Angie and Adam were there waiting right outside the baggage claim, of course, and they got their rental car and we headed to Rodellar. I had seen before we left that the weather was turning sour right when we were supposed to get there but I tried to stay optimistic. When we got to Barcellona it was barely drizzling but on our drive to Rodellar it started to rain pretty good. The whole region was in a pretty bad drought apparently and everyone was happy it was raining but that wasn't the best news for our climbing trip. And since that region of Spain never gets rain, the cops were out pulling people over for not having their headlights on in the rain and we were one of them. Angie thought she had the lights on because the symbol in the dash looked like they were on but apparently not because we got pulled over and the unfriendly, unwavering policia gave us a €105 ticket. Bam! Welcome to Spain.

Rodellar is at the end of a long, windy, rural road leading up to the Pyrenees through beautiful olive groves and wheat fields with snow capped mountains in the background. Before you reach the Pyrenees you come to the end of the road with the small village of Rodellar nestled in the foothills. Just outside of the village, a giant gorge opens up and is filled with amazing caves, arches, spires and walls with the beautiful but chilly Mascun river flowing (or rather raging during our trip) at the bottom. The area is extremely popular for canyonists and we saw many French and Spanish with their wet suits and haul bags in the parking lot.

We stayed in a bungalow at El Puente Angie had reserved a while ago that was pretty nice. 2 bedrooms, kitchen/living room and a full bathroom with shower. Fina, the campground owner is the nicest lady ever and kept a warm fire going in the resturant/bar/gear shop the whole time we were there. Our bungalow was a bit cold, so we lit a fire (our stove) every night to get a little warmth in the place as we huddled around in our down coats with wet socks and shoes! We spent most of our time in Rodellar hiking and exploring, looking for dry climbing (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) but in the end (Monday and Tuesday morning) we did end up actually getting quite a bit of good climbing in and had some good weather. The long routes are as great as I had imagined and a nice change from the short, painful pockets of the Frankenjura.

It was a beautiful place with amazing climbing, I can't wait to go back! I love the laid back Spanish lifestyle and warm climate, now we're back home in the rain and cold!! ;-( At least we have these photos...