Together Again!

With a special visitor 😊🤍

If you’ve ever been in a long-distance relationship, you know it’s not easy. It takes work and effort and intention. I met Will a little over a year ago and for whatever reason, he decided to stick around even after I told him I was moving to Spain. We’ve spent more time dating long distance than we have spent in person, but I think that makes our time together even sweeter.

The sweetest trip with the sweetest boy!

Over my spring break, he made the trek across the Atlantic (with his bicycle, I might add) to spend 8 magical days with me! Yippee! Obviously I had to make his journey worth it, so as the seasoned travel planner that I am, I packed our time together full of adventures.

The bike situation, if you were curious (because many people seem to be)

“This might be the sketchiest thing I’ve ever done”

I felt like such a big girl on this trip because I rented a car on my own for the first time! We packed up our bikes, backpacks, and climbing gear for a big mountain adventure. First stop: the Spanish Pyrenees.

We had planned to do a 3-day hiking trip in the Pyrenees, sleeping in little mountain huts called “refugios” and crossing over high-alpine landscapes. What we didn’t plan for was the high volume of snow the Pyrenees experiences this year, even into the springtime when things normally start to melt. This meant that even at lower elevations, conditions were frosty. And above 8000 meters? A sweet southern girl like me was not qualified to trek across the snow drifts and ice sheets that awaited us.

But we sure as hell aren’t quitters. So we rented crampons and watched a crash course on avalanche safety thanks to YouTube and started off. We got a call from the refugio before we even left the car that they were concerned about us.

Were we coming? Would we make it in time for dinner?

Don’t worry! We’re on the way. It’s only like 3 miles. Give us two hours tops.

Oh how wrong we were. The hike was beautiful, but we were slow to adjust to hiking with crampons. The trail was STEEP and the snow was DEEP. And our last climb up to the refugio was a wall of ice that looked a little too favorable for avalanches.

Just after the sun had set and darkness was creeping in, we got to our hut and were greeted with a round of applause from 20 other explorers who had arrived by ski, snowboard, crampon or snowshoe. We missed dinner, but the sweet hut host had saved some for us. We filled our bellies with warm soup, meat and potatoes, and wine. All of it air lifted to the hut weekly for guests to enjoy. And then tucked in to our warm bunk bed in a dormitory of snoring French men. But I slept so well.

The refugio

In the morning, we decided to cut the hiking trip short and head straight back to the car. A decision I absolutely do not regret. Especially after taking a really scary fall on the way down. We decided we would totally do it again, but maybe when the avalanche conditions weren’t listed as “concerning”.

Up we go!

Will’s one request for our trip? To ride his bike in Andorra.

If you’re wondering what the heck Andorra is, it’s one of those weird European microstate that’s like if the duty-free shop at the airport was plopped down in the most stunning place I’ve ever been. No taxes, insane mountains in every direction, and valleys filled with shopping centers. But it’s an excellent place to ride a bike.

If you know me, you know that I enjoy a little spin on my bike. But I don’t think my legs were prepared for the mountains that awaited me in Andorra. On our first full day, Will took me up a climb from the 2009 Tour de France. I died. But we got to sip on a coffee at the top so maybe it was worth it. I headed back down and he continued to ride for another 40 or 50 miles. Insane. And did it again the next day. Thus sums up our time in this wonky little European country. I just wish Strava had a metric for measuring fun because mine would be through the roof!

We consumed mostly just Haribo gummies and coffee. No complaints.

All we know is kwa-son 🥐

My one request for our trip? To rock climb in the French Pyrenees.

Since I graduated college last May and left my job as a climbing instructor for UNC, I’ve been hard pressed to find the time and people to climb with. Especially having moved to the Basque Country. But I introduced Will to climbing over winter break and he’s been liking it so it didn’t take much convincing to add it to our itinerary.

We ended up in the vallée d’Ossau, climbing some epic limestone with a French man named Etienne who spoke minimal English so I really got my translator skills working. Hopefully Madame Greiner in her French classroom at Grimsley is proud.

We stayed in a sweet little town nearby and explored the river, cathedral, and of course the pastry shops.

A French rendezvous

Before heading back across the border in Spain, I wanted to stop in Saint Jean de Luz, a town in the French Basque Country. I’m so glad we did because it had the sweetest red-trimmed houses, a wide bay where the town dolphin made an appearance for us, and a delicious blend of French and Spanish cuisine.

And then…back to the car!

Back in Basque Country

With the last few days of our trip, I wanted to show Will some of my favorite parts of the Basque Country. We explored San Sebastian and their delicious pintxos with a stop at a chemistry lab that Will collaborates with. And then headed back to Lekeitio to enjoy some beach time and bike rides.

I took Will out on my favorite bike route along the Basque coast to cycle through the various towns on the way to San Sebastian. I only got to Zumaia, but he did the full 90 miles there and back!

Aside from biking ourselves, we also got to watch a professional cycling race that passed through the Basque Country called the Itzulia!

We had such a magical time together and the goodbye wasn’t so hard this time because he’s coming back for work in just a few weeks and I get to tag along to a Chemistry conference in Bordeaux. I’ll be working on my French until then :)

Cheers,

Maggie 💛