road trip east coast 6

https://langnertimon-dqync.wordpress.com/2026/05/04/road-trip-east-coast-6/

Spiders Are Friends

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://warandpeas.com/2026/05/03/spiders-are-friends/

A little more Andorran scenery en route to France. As we drove back down from Engolasters we stopped to snap the top end of Escaldes-Engordany, which illustrates its rather dramatic valley confinement (📷1). A switchback sequence took us to Mirador Roc del Quer near Canillo, where we appreciated the views in several directions, such as this (📷2), without paying 6€ pp to stand on a suspended platform. Just beyond Canillo we stopped again at Sant Joan de Caselles, said to be a fine example of old Andorran architecture (📷3) & inside, one of the best preserved Romanesque interiors; the door was however bolted. We exited Andorra by heading for Col de Puymorens at 1,915m in the French Pyrénées (📷4); you can avoid the pass via a tolled tunnel. After reaching 🇫🇷 Occitanie we transited the Spanish/ Catalonian enclave of 🇪🇸 Llívia, a town of some 13km2 that was excluded from transfer to France in the Treaty of the Pyrénées (1659) because the said border agreement only specified the transfer of “villages”!

🇦🇩 #andorra 🇪🇺 #europe 🚀 #travel 🚐 #camperVan #nomad #roadTrip #vanLife

I continue rolling down Route 66 in #Arizona. This stop is Hackberry, AZ
https://edwardiseverywhere.blogspot.com/2026/05/hackberry-arizona-on-route-66.html

#RoadTrip #Route66 #Arizona

Andorra is more than a country of one city: ~94% of the land & 73% of the population are outside Andorra la Vella. Vall del Madriu-Perafita-Claror | Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley is Andorra’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed as a cultural landscape. We accessed it via the official “Volta a Ràmio” trail. From 🅿️ above the village of Engolasters it was a steep 35min climb through pine forest to Coll de Jovell at 1,780m, from where we began descending into the glacier-formed valley. At the 2km mark we reached Ràmio in the valley’s bottom end (📷1). The valley makes up ~9% of Andorra & is regarded as a time capsule for traditional mountain usage with limited modern development. Ràmio gave us a first glimpse into how people shaped the high Pyrenees over centuries through pastoralism, farming & communal land management (📷2). The trail continued up the valley, mostly alongside the Riu Madriu to the constant roar of white water, with ever-present granite underfoot/ in dry-stone walls & the scent of damp moss & pine needles in the air. At just over 4km/ 2h 10min in we came to Refugi de Fontverd, not unlike a NZ-style DOC hut, at 1,875m elevation (📷3). We returned to the Coll via a higher path, which gave us superior views back up the valley (📷4). The 9km loop hike took us 4h 15min.

🇦🇩 #andorra 🇪🇺 #europe 🚀 #travel 🚐 #camperVan #nomad #roadTrip #vanLife 🥾 #hiking #nature 🌍 #unesco

Andorra isn’t an EU country (so there was a border crossing from Spain & no EU roaming—46€ per SMS—robbery!), but it uses the Euro by agreement. It has a similar GDP per capita to NZ, with a population of ~80,000 who speak Catalan as a first language (most of whom also speak Spanish &/or French). Andorra is a co-principality (with largely ceremonial co-princes being the President of France & Spain’s Bishop of Urgel), governed as a parliamentary democracy.

Andorra la Vella, the capital, put on a damp & cold welcome after weeks of sunshine in Spain & Portugal (📷1). It does have geothermal waters (Caldea in contiguous Escaldes-Engordany is one of Europe’s largest thermal spa complexes) but isn’t regarded as a traditional spa town. We found it:

* Like Spain, but less dry & warm—possibly unfair given our limited transit.

* Like France, but without old stones—much of Barri Antic appears comparatively modern (📷2) & there are no Roman ruins (although Casa de la Vall, a former parliament building, dates from 1580).

* Like Monaco, but without yachts—although a fast-flowing river runs through this valley-confined city (📷3).

* Like Dubai, but without sand—although money passes through fingers here similarly in this shopping mecca, due to low taxes (📷4).

P.S. Anyone know why most electronic stores also sell “personal weapons” (knives, guns,…)? Weird & scary.

🇦🇩 #andorra 🇪🇺 #europe 🚀 #travel 🚐 #camperVan #nomad #roadTrip #vanLife

34 🇲🇳 Premières PISTES en MONGOLIE, VRAIMENT INCROYABLES ⁉️ - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2Ohk8rHpr4&list=PL6R9gArflVkh6aYut-lbldy9--V0HzNuw

#voyage #mongolie #roadtrip