Captain Chris on the GR11

We met Captain Chris at Espot (Spanish Pyrenees) last Friday, in the middle of his GR11 “sprint”. He is covering phenomenal distances every day. We were supposed to meet him on the trail, but we were sitting having a leisurely breakfast when he popped up in the village (of course he had started walking at 6am!). How embarassing. We gave him a shower, relieved his heavy rucksack of a few items, and then set off on the next 10K with him. Chris is in fine form. He had a a problem with snow at one point (too much), and had to lose a day through a detour, but he is still at least a day ahead of schedule. Made Dave and my foray into the mountains seem pretty tame. Probably the first and last time I will ever be at Chris’s side on a 10K!

ps. Beware men bearing gifts. Chris gave me a sunhat he had found on the trail, it fitted perfectly and I wore it immediately (I could no longer bear Dave’s comments about my pirate buff look). At the end of the walk I took it off and to my horror discovered some form of dead animal inside. yuk yuk yuk