A mad day out ...

Climb a 1000m up a mountain via a vertical dry stony torrent
Arrive at the top 1 hour earlier than expected :)
Its snowing!!!! WTF!!! :-/
Walk along the crest trying to find a dog friendly route where there are sections that need climbing ... difficult but the dog starts to learn a little bit about climbing!
Start descending the other side .. ok the 30 year old guide book said the 'foliage was abundant and don't be detered'' - understatement!!!!

 ... the eternal & near impenetrable forest of doom!

2 hours later still trying to find a route down near vertical scree slopes and through dense forest on a +45degree incline ... even 4-paws don't function well on loose scree slopes!
3 hours later .. are we climbing into a hole into the centre of the earth?
And then we hit the gorge!!!!

Upppppsssss - its not supposed to be flooded!

... once you are in there's only 1 way out!!

 So, after 7 hours of climbing up and climbing down we can't go anywhere except along the canyon. A narrow winding canyon filled with huge rocks and even huger pools of icy water.
Its all ok we tell ourselves just a few kilometers to the road we'll find a way through ... until we meet a totally flooded section with no way out. No way up; difficult for us, impossible for the 4-paws. No way back, we slid & climbed down too much vertical river rock the size of houses. The only way is forward  ...

a small puddle
... its not quite so pretty when you are stuck at water level!

Its snowing, the water is deep and dark turquoise blue ... so whats next?! Ohhhhhh, great plan!!! Lets go skinny dipping .. in March ..in the Pyrenees!! WTF!!!!!!

I'm a big BIG wuss when it comes to water - & this isn't the warm sea around Lombok, this is icy mountain water that seems like the kind of place where monsters-of-the-deep hide out. But, thoughts of an overnight stay in the freezing cold in a canyon was enough, more than enough to propel me into confronting those fears head-on. Throwing Merlin into the water kinda committed me to getting wet, very wet & very very cold. He was crying more than me, but only just!

The clothes didn't stay very dry in the not very waterproof rucksac but even damp clothes after NO clothes & icy water was an improvement. For a short while ...

It was an epic ... more removing of various items of clothing to get poor Merlin through tight channels where 40kg dogs are not designed to go.
And then the final challenge .. a plunge pool - a 5m jump into more icy water and a 20m swim to get to the other side. NO WAY !!!
There was an abseil ring but no rope ... and a nearly sheer smooth rock wall. The ONLY way was up, no way were Merlin & I going down!!
With one pushing and 1 pulling we managed to get the traumatised beast up onto the rocks and hopefully to freedom...
I've never been so happy to see a small sign of civilisation as when we spotted a narrow track leading up and away from the canyon ... even the prospect of a 1 hour vertical hike seemed like a luxury to escape the freezing cold! But we were in luck, really lucky given the time of day and how much we were shivering, it was just a 15 minute walk to the car and heat .. so much heat to try to thaw out the bits that were turning blue!

We truely are the 'village idiots' ;) ; a 30year old guidebook, no ropes, no scuba gear ;), no change of clothes and 2 broken knees between us! But we survived, it was an adventure ... fr sure. this is Life, its now or never!!