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So what is this all about?  Well - for reasons I can't quite put my finger on, I have decided to spend 10 days of walking in the Pyrenees in September.  I’ll be setting off on 15 September to fly to Spain and after several trains and buses I should start the walk proper early on Wednesday 17th, in the Odessa National Park in the centre of the Pyrenees.

I’m planning on walking section 16 - 26 of the GR11 Long Distance Trail, which runs the length of the Pyrenees from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. You can see details of the stages on this website, though it probably has more detail than you need! My planned section is about 100 miles long and has enough elevation gain to climb Everest. It’s hard to predict how hard I am going to find it, and I won’t be worried about focusing on enjoying myself and not managing to cover the whole distance. I might take the opportunity to visit a couple of the nearby peaks if the weather allows, which will also slow me down.

If you want to follow along, you can go to https://share.garmin.com/jelltrack and login with the password “jell”. I’ll be carrying a GPS tracker and emergency beacon, and the website will update my position every 10 minutes. (If you log in on a PC you should be able to see my planned route, as well as my track so far.) I’ll post messages there too, with updates of how I am getting on. You can send me (short) messages via the site as well.

I’ll mainly be wild camping, high in the mountains, but won’t spurn a stay in a refuge or a B&B if it's convenient or sensible. The route drops down to a village every 2 or 3 days to allow for topping up of supplies and recharging batteries (both metaphorically and literally!).

Weather should be warm (or even hot), but with scope for rain and afternoon/evening thunderstorms, and even frosty nights. The plan will be for early starts and finishes.