Peaks and passes. Lakes and streams. Forests and pastures. Starlight, without glow from a streetlamp. Whispering wind with no traffic noise. Bear country!
The trek started gently and oh so pleasantly, like a big nature ramble. Only seven days from the coast did we encounter real mountains, presenting bigger ascents, steep and unstable terrain and challenges of navigation. Many parts of these mountains are stamped with the human footprint, and even in wilderness zones you can still find company, though you may prefer not to rub shoulders with a bear.
The BIG issue for independent trekkers is load carrying and resulting compromises. For safety's sake you might wish to carry ice axe and crampons. For comfort, you might prefer many changes of clothing, heavy duty rainwear and a bigger tent. But shoulders won't carry all that the heart desires.
Which explains why some stages found us scrabbling precariously on icy snow-slopes, while on other days we trudged along cold and wet, with threatening hypothermia. But no amount of equipment could have helped battle the demon wind which tried to blow us from Canigou's pinnacle ridge.
Danger was inescapeable but it was not our first interest. The real value of the high Pyrenees was a chance to escape the ratrace, to simply be, to experience a world apart.