Gironella and Lluça are the start and end points of this stage. Since it is over 30k, I took the recommended taxi to Odan, about 4k from Gironella and made it about 1/3 of the way to Lluça. Here is what happened. A couple of hours after a lovely start, on a cool morning, on a path just challenging enough to make you really focus, there was a T intersection. GPS, ViewRanger, instructions, and common sense all said "turn left," after which you would make a three corner turn and be on your way to Sagas. But the sign planted in the ground with the GR1 stripes, said "turn right," which made no sense at all. This would be like driving north up Whitney to Quinnipiac when you wanted to go south to Yale. So first I explored the "sensible option." After the short, initial segment, there was no path, just thick bushes. Then I started to go the other way thinking I could cut back and meet the path further on. By means of a long detour, I did just that, but at the "further on" place, again, no possible passable path. I spent an hour and a half searching for a way to cut across where I knew one needed to go, but other than two big Xs (not this way) there was nothing. Had I not tried to meet up with the path by means of that long detour, I would have had to walk miles on two highways. Truly something was wrong, and this is one time I am quite sure it was not my ineptitude. There was no option except to backtrack to Odan, a little more difficult to do than it sounds. Once there, at about 1:00, I implored a nice lady in a bar to call a taxi to take me to Lluça. Disappointing experience, and so much for the relatively easy final section. The fortunate part is that there was a town to go back to that actually had people in it so that you knew you would not be stranded.
Looking back at Gironella minus the haze:
Dew coated moss balls:
Like a treasure hunt looking for the waymarks to get through this section. Fun!!
Taxista Dani Bonet who wants you to know that he is inteligente y guapo:
Bedroom window (one of the few, so far, with a screen) in Lluça:
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