Challenge number 1: run up a hill
OK, we’re actually trekking, not running, up through Val d’Incles, possibly one of the most gorgeous places I’ve ever clapped eyes on.
As we pass streams and waterfalls our mountain guide Marc Crichton points out an array of pretty flora including wild celery, Alpine rose, and the Pyrenees Lily, which supposedly smells of human sperm (though, oddly, no one is keen to verify this).
Despite the brilliant sunshine there’s still unmelted snow up here, lending credence to the Andorrans’ claim they have 300 sunny days a year, and snowfall every month.
While making steady if plodding progress we’re overtaken by two impossibly fit joggers who actually are running up the mountain.
They are locals, probably training for one of Andorra’s Ultra Sport events, Crichton tells us – not that we feel inadequate or anything.
An hour or so later we make it to the wonderfully blue, inviting Juclar lake at the top, complete with mountain refuge for those requiring food or a bed for the night, or both.
Degree of difficulty: 4/10
Fun factor: 8/10
Do it: experienciamuntanya.com
Challenge number 2: cycle down a mountain
Oh it sounds so bloody easy, doesn’t it – but the thing about mountain biking is that there’s a hairline fracture between keeping the bike still and letting it hurtle vertically downhill at
a breakneck, bowel-liquefying speed.
We are cycling in Vallnord, a ski/snowboard resort in winter and a mountain biking mecca in summer. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle armour we’re kitted out in makes sense once we start skidding helplessly down the slopes.
Our guide, Oscar Lacueva, a one-time World Championship level competitor who can tear down a mountainside in two seconds flat, patiently teaches us how to brake with one finger on each hand, so we can keep the handlebars nice and strong.
There’s virtually no pedalling – almost all your effort goes into controlling the bike – but it’s still quite taxing.
We quickly gain confidence, though, and it’s all exhilaratingly downhill from here.
Degree of difficulty: 7/10
Fun factor: 9/10 (when you get the hang of it)
Do it: vallnord.com
Challenge number 3: start your engines
There are loads of go-karting tracks dotted around Andorra, but the one at El Tarter is extra special because it was designed by Marc Gene – a Spanish F1 driver with the Minardi team – and his kid brother Jordi.
It’s basically a series of hairpin bends linked up with the odd chicane, and it looks terrifying.
Stomach churning, I’m up against four cocky, highly competitive blokes.
But once we’re off roaring around the Gene brothers’ labyrinthine track I soon get the hang of when to put pedal to metal, and when to ride the brakes.
OK, so I’m lapped several times and never quite get the hang of the flags (a red one means what, exactly?!) – but it’s a thrilling experience and I can’t stop smiling for the rest of the day.
Degree of difficulty: 7/10 if you’re me, 2/10 if you’re anyone else
Fun factor: This one goes up to 11!
Do it: grandvalira.com
» Inghams offers summer holiday packages to Andorra
Time to relax
Once you’re nice and sweaty from all that exercise it’s time to hit the Caldea Spa, home to Europe’s largest natural thermal springs.
Looking like something straight out of a Las Vegas casino, Caldea is a giant complex of pools complete with sauna, Turkish baths and hydromassages.
At the end of the day music swells and the water in the main pool becomes the star multimedia show ‘Mondaigua’, which can be a little disconcerting for a first timer.
See caldea.com
