We leave Espot and face a 12-kilometre climb with a short break halfway. The first 3 kilometres are on a narrow, shady road, and then the route continues along a forest track, surrounded by tall fir trees that create a feeling of isolation and total calm. The last few metres before the Coll de la Creu d’Eixol are the hardest, with steep slopes, but the reward is immediate: at the top, the landscape opens up and an immense panorama of sloping alpine meadows unfolds, revealing the successive layers of mountains stretching to the horizon, where iconic mountains such as the Pic de l’Orri can be distinguished.