This post actually covers two days. I came to Andorra yesterday.

The bus trip up to Andorra was spectacular. You drive up through the plains and flatlands of France and then you quickly hit the Pyrenees. The travel through the mountains is over lots of switchbacks and up ridge lines. You see snow capped mountains, rushing rivers and rugged mountains.

I know the Pyrenees is part of the Tour de France and is a training group for cyclists but it is still amazing to see them charging up the steep highways with high grades.

Once I got to Encamp – the small village in Andorra where the race is held and where I am staying. I wandered a little and found a place to have a late lunch.

The menu was all in Catalan so I had to guess what I was going to get for lunch. I figured out the first course could be gazpacho so I went with that as I love it and when in Catalan areas one has to eat it. My second course was a mystery to me at first – I knew it came with rice was I knew I could eat something. It ended up being cuttlefish (similar to squid in black ink sauce. It sounds not so good but it was tasty. The dessert was Flan which I always enjoy. I had a nice glass of Albariño with it. I am adventurous so I will eat almost anything and have learned to be adventurous on all my travels.

After the lovely lunch, I started walking up to the Santuari de Meritxell. From looking at the course of the Travessa d’Encamp (the reason I came to Andorra was to watch my friends Marc and Hugo run this race). I knew from looking at the course map I could see them there but was not sure how long it would take for me to get up there so wanted to scout it out.

Since the race is a trail race through the mountains of the Pyrenees, I could not find many (maybe two places) that I might be able to reach by walking. The Santuari was one of them. Using Google maps, I started walking up the mountain to get there. It ended up being almost a 3 mile walk with an increase in elevation gain of 760 feet. It took me about 45 minutes of walking basically a steep incline to get there.

Besides finding a place to see the runners, I got to see the Santuari which is a pilgrimage shrine to the Patron Saint of Andorra. It is a beautiful modern structure that uses visual elements of traditional Andorran architecture. It is stunning.

After a brief respite, I headed back down to Encamp. I stopped at a gas station for water as it sunny and somewhat hot. This time the walk was all downhill which is someways was better than the walk up. When I got finished, I took a short break and then had a shower.

After the recovery, I went out looking for a place for dinner. There are not many restaurants in Encamp and I think it is off season (winter is the main tourist season for skiing here) so some places were closed. I found a very nice restaurant – Borda del Trenat.

They have a variety of dishes – mostly grilled meat, chicken and seafood. The cook grills them on an open wood over in the main part of the restaurant.

I ordered grilled lamb chops and they were delicious. As a starter (no cost), the restaurant provides grilled bread, a half a tomato, some salami and olives. My favorite part was there was a garlic clove on top of the tomato. I am guessing you could rub it with olive oil on the bread. I had a nice glass of Spanish Ribera del Duero wine with dinner.

It was a good first day in Andorra.

This morning I got up and showered and headed to the start line to see Marc start the race. I must admit I was lazy as I did not get up to go watch Hugo start as he was doing the 84k and it started at 5:00 am. Marc’s 42k was much more reasonable and started at 9:00 am.

I found Marc and he was with his father and sister, Mireia. Mireia offered to let me join here as she followed Marc on the course. It was very thoughtful of her and made it much better for me.

We drove to the first place where we could see him. It was a beautiful lake up in the mountains. Since we were early to see him we walked down to the lake and back while waiting for him to arrive.

We waited for Marc to arrive and he came through and looked incredibly relaxed and at ease for the run he was doing.

Mireia and I then drove to the Santuari which was much better than walking. We realized Marc was still a long way so we came back to Encamp and hit a patisserie. You can tell we were really working hard while Marc was running.

We headed back up to the Santuari and were able to see March at that point. Again, he looked fantastic for the run.

Mireia had very nicely asked if I would eat a late lunch with them when Marc finished. I have always believed you should take advantages of the opportunities given you and graciously accepted. So while we were waiting for Marc to finish Mireia took me to their house and introduced me to her mother. She was finishing lunch. Miguel, the third sibling was there as well. I had met him once in Toulouse so felt comfortable talking to him. After tracking Marc, we headed back to the finish line to see him finish.

After Marc had recovered somewhat, we headed back to the house for lunch. Irene had made gazpacho, a leek and onion tart and mashed potatoes with beef mixed in. All of the dishes were delicious and traditional. I cannot say how nice it was to be included as part of the family on this day and get to experience real Andorra.

I have not mentioned Hugo much as he was doing the 82k and the course was different and much harder to get to for viewing. They were much higher up in the mountains.

Unfortunately, Hugo was not able to finish as he injured his leg. Marc thinks it is because he picked the longer and harder race and was not prepared for all the technical aspects of the run. Once Hugo contacted us about not finishing, we went and met him at the finish line. He had done 60 out of the 82k so he was still very impressive. He definitely was hurting. He still was in good spirits!

The weekend so far has turned out much better than I expected. My first view as that I was going to come up, see Marc at the start, once on the course and at the end. I would spend the rest of the time just enjoying Andorra. It ended up me getting to know Marc’s family and being included in all the activities. It has been a great time!