Gistain⇒ Arinsal/Andorra
The last twelve stages are the toughest and the most beautiful. We cross the Col d'Aygues Tortes — once a smuggling route for donkeys — and discover an abandoned mine railway hanging like a balcony from the cliff face. At the Tuc de Mulleres we reach 3,009 metres, the highest point of the entire trek. Fourteen hours we're on the move, navigating over hidden glaciers and descending in darkness along a cliff we spot at the last moment.
In the Parc Nacional d'Aigüestortes we walk from lake to lake — eighty glacial lakes in a landscape of granite and water. Other hikers already know us: "You're the ones who started in Portugal, right?" Our reputation travels faster than we do. At the Refuge Restanca we exchange stories with hikers from all corners of the world, and at night we count shooting stars during the Perseids.
The landscape changes. Green granite gives way to dry slate, the birches already turning colour in August. We walk through ghost villages and abandoned herders' shelters, hear stories about the Spanish Civil War from an Australian expat, and discover bunkers on the ridge that were meant to block refugees from returning.
And then: the finale. A monster stage of 27.5 kilometres with 3,600 metres of elevation change. Malou is unwell, the thunderstorm approaches, and the final climb to the Portella de Baiau is pure loose scree — every 30 centimetres up, you slide 20 back. A Spaniard in smooth shoes sprints past us: "I can smell the pizza on the other side!" At the col, 2,826 metres high, we step from Spain into Andorra. Exactly six months after we walked into Spain from Portugal.
We look back. Spain, we'll miss you. Hasta luego.