The Pyrenees pt4: 26/08 - 1/09

Day 32 – Friday 1st September
Pla de Boet - Llorts (Andorra)
Time walking – 6 1/2 hours + breaks
Distance – 20 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 1000/1320 approx

We had a good, dry nights sleep, but Bridgette though the cows were our to get us, they never actually came near the tent. The silence of night does funny things to your head sometimes. We headed up to the Port de Boet (French border) through a continuous sunrise which was spectacular. crossing the ridge we were very surprised to find a huge marquee, 7 queecha 3 second tents, 2 caravans and a almost finished cabane. The French really know how to do it, a huge contrast to the Spanish side. All of this was on the windy side of the pas as well, amazing.
We discussed the finer points of art appreciation during the 600m climb to the second border crossing of the day, Port de Rat on the France/Andorra border. The climb never seemed easier, we were obviously quite fit by now and we almost ran up the mountain! We had our second lunch on the pass looking over the biggest ski area I have seen. The decent into the ski village was very steep, but we were rewarded with ice cream, pringles and coke.
We had a very big discussion about the rest of our hike and decided that today would be the last day. Bridgette had hardly taken a photo in the last two days, time was running out for us to have a suitable exit point to Barcelona and more importantly we had been walking for 13 days straight, we both needed a break.
We continued down a gentle road past numerous ski centres, until reaching the final junction. We exited and headed for Llorts where a nice little camp site awaited us. We had a great dinner, fresh bread and a beer in the local village bar. The perfect end to an amazing walk.

Day 31 – Thursday 30th August
Estany Romede de Dalt - Pla de Boet
Time walking – 8 hours + breaks
Distance – 24 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 900/1050 approx

A great nights sleep and we awoke to mist and drizzle, which didn’t make the descent down the valley very easy. It took for every, with the guide book not really emphasising how far it actually was, maybe it was just that we couldn’t see a thing that made it seem a lot longer? We finally crossed the river and made our way down to a major track junction where we had lunch.
The climb up to the next pass was pretty good, following a very old road most of the way. We passed a sheep that was separate from the flock as it had a broken back leg. It had obviously been sitting there for a couple of days and was in bad shape. The worst part was that neither of us had the stomach to kill the poor animal, the rest of the climb we spent debating what this said about us as humans. It was very sad to see an animal suffering like that, and even worse that we could end its suffering.
We bumped into the Irish guy that we met yesterday again and had a good 30 minute chat. We continued along the track and came to the Pla de Boet, a large grassy plateau used by school groups. We kept walking for about 45 minutes towards the next pass, and found a good campsite amongst the trees near a dodgy water source. The last section nearly killed Bridgette, maybe me too! I think we really need a break.

Day 30 – Wednesday 29th August
Refugi Enric Pujol - Estany Romedo de Dalt
Time walking – 8 1/4 hours + breaks
Distance – 25 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 1000/1000 approx

A terrible nights sleep. Just as we were about to fall asleep, 2 crazy French couples arrived, at 9:30pm. They proceeded to talk, cook and generally make as much noise as possible. We didn’t mind this so much, but once finished eating two of them proceeded to extract the largest medical kit I have ever seen from their pack and spend 45 minutes wrapping his feet from toe to calf. Apparently his shoes were poor and his pack heavy, not surprising when you consider the first aid kit and the 10 litres of bottled water he was carrying!
Then at 2am, 2 guys who had been bivying in their sleeping bags out side join the cabin as it started to rain. When we got out of bed it was a very crowded little Refugi indeed.
We headed off very early and headed straight down the valley. We were treated to a series of rolling thunderstorms during the morning, 4 in total, it was quite amazing but slowed us down as we didn’t really want to be out in the open during them. We passed through the tiny village of Noarre, which doesn’t even have a road leading to it! A good climb up to the next Refugi took most of the day, and we continued on for about an hour to our camp for the night beside the magnificent Estany Romedo de Dalt.

Day 29 – Tuesday 28th August
Noguera Pallaresa River - Refugi Enric Pujol
Time walking – 7 hours + breaks
Distance – 21 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 1050/1100 approx

Bridgette had a bad nights sleep after her Thermarest sprung a tiny leak. We got an early start and headed up a long valley. The track soon turned to the left and climbed a loose scree slope to the Coll de la Cornella followed by an easier climb to the second pass. The scenery made it much more enjoyable though, with many small lakes breaking up the constant mountains and climbing.
The climb to the third coll was much easier again, and from here we could see the rest of the path to our Refugi for the night. After a very long descent through an amazing landscape of polished rock faces, the path flattened. The track soon turned to grass, covered by thousands of tiny frogs, amazing. We arrived at Refugi Enric Pujol to find that we had it to ourselves. With the sun still in the sky we decided to take a swim in the lake and even managed to find the hole in the thermarest. It is a great little cabin, that is obviously well used and loved all year round and particularly in the winter.

Day 28 – Monday 27th August
Estany Rosari de Baciver - Noguera Pallaresa River Wild Camp
Time walking – 7 1/2 hours + breaks
Distance – 23 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 1400/400 approx

We both slept poorly as the horses decided to have a midnight snack next to our tent. After breakfast and a great sunrise we headed off over a boulder field and started a ridiculously steep climb up a scree slope towards Tuc de Marimanya. A vague track lead us along the ridge towards Coll d’Airoto, which presented us with amazing views of what lie ahead - the biggest boulder field that we had ever seen.
The directions in the book were hopeless, and we ended up way too low to easily get to the next pass. We obviously took the hard way, but there were no track to be seen anywhere. After scrambling our way up to the next pass we finally found a water source and began to head down the valley.
The track to Alos de Isil was very vague, and we ended up pushing our way down through a very steep grass slope into the back of the village. This took about 3 hours, and was very tiring. With no accommodation options in the town we headed up the road into tomorrow walk and found a nice wild camp in a small paddock between the road and river. A nice dinner on the shore of the river, followed by a quick wash and then into bed.

Day 27 – Sunday 26th August
Arties - Estany Rosari de Baciver
Time walking – 5 1/4 hours + breaks
Distance – 16 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 1500/1490 approx

I woke up completely over it. My body ached, my pack was still heavy, we had been walking for 7 days straight, mentally I was tired, there was a huge 10 hour day of walking, and I generally wanted to just stop. Somehow, as if by magic, Bridgette managed to make everything seem great, and by 11am and a slight change of plans we were back on the track, happy as Larry. I don’t know how she did it, I wish I knew though, maybe some sort of female jedi mind trick? not only did we continue walking, but we didn’t have a day off, so it would end up being about 14 days straight, madness!
It also happened to be 33C at 11am as we headed off on our supposed rest day. Correct me if I’m wring but most people wouldn’t consider climbing 1500m a rest day, but you get that. We headed up to Salardu again to restock the food and started walking at about 3:30 once the weather cooled down. The walking was pretty boring and uphill until we reached a ski village and began to walk off the road into a valley.
We found a great campsite between two lakes, surrounded by mountains. The moon slowly rose over the ridge and it reminded me that every step is worth it when you get to see natural beauty like this.

The Pyrenees pt3: 18/08 - 25/08

Day 26 – Saturday 25th August
Estany deth Cap deth Port - Arties
Time walking – 7 1/4 hours + breaks
Distance – 22 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 770/390 approx

We had heaps of rain overnight, but the wind managed to dry everything. I love a dry, light tent in the pack! A short morning climb led us to the boundary of the Parc Nacional de Aiguestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici, which is quite a mouthful. Bridgette had visited a different section of this park during her previous visit to Spain in 2004, and was very keen to show it to me. It is a relatively small park, and can be crossed in a bit over 1 day. the section we covered would be crossed in about 1.5 hours. We left the park and headed to Refugi de Colomers, next to a large Estany and had lunch.
It was al down, down, down after that, following a long road that headed towards the town of Salardu. Many tourists were passed, including a taxi run between the town and the track head to the Refugi. It took almost 3 hours to arrive at Salardu. We had to continue onto Arties to find a campground.
Arties is a wonderfull little town in the Vall d’Aran, a valley that was disconnected from the rest of Spain until the 1950’s when the tunnel was first constructed. It has the prestige of having the only Brown bear in the Pyrenees, bit it is very bored spending it days wandering around a big cage while people take photos of it, poor thing. The campsite was quite nice and we were able to wash our closed and eat dinner at a local tapas bar in town. A great end to a long section of walking.

Day 25 – Friday 24th August
N230 Wild Camp - Estany deth Cap deth Port
Time walking – 6 1/2 hours + breaks
Distance – 20 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 900/500 approx

A good night sleep and the rain had finally stopped. We followed the river upstream until coming to the Hospital de Vielha, a huge construction are at the mouth of a major tunnel. It was quite weird to walk past heavy machinery! We had lunch at the Estany de Ruis after a long steep climb over the pass. The climb was worth it, as the landscape was quite stunning.
We descended through the valley, passing a variety of old damn infrastructure, until we met a pair of day walkers who couldn’t find the carpark. We told them that there was definitely no carpark the way we had come from, and suggested that the should try to join onto the track that continued down the valley. Hope they made it.
A short climb up to the Refugi de la Restanca, followed by another up to Estany deth Cap deth Port, our campsite for the night. We had plenty of time to relax, about 3 hours actually, because we didn’t want to set the tent until 8pm as we were only 45 minutes from the Refugi. A fantastic sunset over the lake with mountains beyond.

Day 24 – Thursday 23rd August
Lagos de Vallibierna - N230 Wild Camp
Time walking – 4 3/4 hours + breaks
Distance – 14 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 800/1400 approx

Awoke to fresh snow which was very pretty. We had a short chilly in the shade to Collado de Vallibierna, at which point the sun hot our faces and we immediately felt warmer. The walking from here was quite spectacular, passing the lakes, peaks and boulder fields of the Anglios region. We finally found a piece of track that we would consider to be “tassie-style”, steep, muddy, wet with no human intervention, as we descended into the valley.
We crossed a major road as the sky began to open. Continuing to walk through the rain for about 30 minutes we found a secluded campsite beside a river. A short day.

Day 23 – Wednesday 22nd August
Camping Aneto - Lagos de Vallibierna
Time walking – 6 1/4 hours + breaks
Distance – 19 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 970/640 approx

Camping Aneto defiantly had the best showers, that good that we both couldn’t help ourselves and had another this morning! We followed the GR11 up a long dirt road for about 3 hours, until we reached the Refugio de Coronas which also happens to double as a bus stop. I guess that since Aneto is pretty close this is used as an inroad for serious mountaineers. The track got a lot prettier from here, as we wound our way up our campsite for the night next to Lagos de Vallibierna (2484m).
The weather started to come in and we dashed to put the tent up. Bridgette cooked diner and I put the last peg in just as the ice started falling from the sky. Could be a cold night!

Day 22 – Tuesday 21st August
Vindos campsite - Camping Aneto
Time walking – 8 1/2 hours + breaks
Distance – 26 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 800/670 approx

The big decision was weather we were going to continue to follow the HRP over the 3 extreme graded days which included 4 very hard passes and 3 glaciers, or make a diversion and follow the GR11 though easier terrain but slightly less impressive areas. Thankfully we didn’t need to make the decision, the weather did it for us. We awoke to some very miserable conditions, and I was ready to stop after 1 hours of hiking though heavy drizzle, passing numerous fully gore-tex clad hikers coming in the opposite direction.
So we took the GR11 route, which we would follow for the next 3 days, which lead us to 2572m pass, Puerto de Gistain. At this point we were very happy to have taken this route as there was some pretty serious ice and sleet happening, along with settled snow in the sheltered areas. Pete almost lost it at this point of the walk. A very quick descent took us to the Refugio de Estos for lunch and a warm coffee. We continued down the valley to Camping Aneto, the Hilton of camp sites.
This was easily the best site of the entire trip, complete with vast quantities of showers, a swimming pool, restaurant, bar and a huge supermarket allowing us to purchase some real food (eggs, milk, bread and fruit). It was great to have such great facilities after a hard day of walking through pretty ordinary conditions.

Day 21 – Monday 20th August
Rio de Barrosa - Vindos campsite
Time walking – 8 hours + breaks
Distance – 24 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 1500/860 approx

Neither of us slept well, too many dreams about non-existent bears! The first hour was spent walking down through the valley which was quite nice. It gave Bridgette heaps of time to cool down after she realised that we hadn’t set the camera back to the correct ISO setting since being in the UK. 10 rolls of film, possibly stuffed, all because of 1 rolls of cheap film in the Yorkshire Dales. Lets hope they turn out ok when we get them processed.
The day was spent completely on the GR11, which equates to a very comparatively boring day of hiking. I think we are becoming very spoilt in regards to the areas that we have seen, even the remotely amazing landscapes are barely good enough now. We are landscape snobs!
The afternoon hiking was long, and all downhill until we reached our campsite for the night. At the end of a valley past a few other abandoned camp/holiday sites we found the very basic Camping Vidos, complete with generator power and marginally warm showers. At least we got one! A good nights sleep was in order as tomorrow we have to make a fairly big decision.

Day 20 – Sunday 19th August
Cabane de l’Aguila - Rio de Barrosa
Time walking – 6 3/4 hours + breaks
Distance – 19 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 1500/1600 approx

A clear night ensured that the morning mist was very think, and over breakfast we punched in the main GPS points for the first part of today’s walk. We were quite amazed to pass many French walker wearing very minimal clothes despite it being the coldest morning that we had encountered so far. A long climb over loose scree lead us to the Hourquette de Chermentas where we had lunch with a group of French walkers and a couple of vultures.
The mist continued to come and go as we got closer to the Spanish border. Amazingly, within 15 minutes of crossing the border (Port de Barroude) and starting our descent on a quite well marked track the mist cleared completely.
We were treated to a fantastic, well hidden wild camp next to a great little river in the base of the valley. The landscape here reminded us of pictures we have seen from Canada and the Rocky mountains. Let’s hope that there are no bears here!

Day 19 – Saturday 18th August
Gavarnie – Cabane de l’Aguila
Time walking – 8 hours + breaks
Distance – 24 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 1150/1000 approx

An early rise was in order as I had to race down to the shop to purchase fresh bread and call his parents before breakfast, which was scrambled eggs and croissants. Having 10 days food in your pack makes it stupidly heavy, but we needed to make sure that we had enough food for the emergency days as well. By the time we got to the first refuge (2 hours, 700m) the day had heated up and I had to offload some of his weight to Bridgette. I think my eyes were too big for my body, and I didn’t want to give BJ any extra weight incase her knee started playing up again.
From the Refuge were were offered a stunning view of the upper section of the Cirque de Gavarnie, with a full view of the Breche de Roland. Typically the sky was now crystal clear, unlike the previous night. We had purchased some proper French mountain cheese, and it was exceptional with lunch that we ate on the pass at Hourquette D’Alans (2430m).
The descent to Heas was very easy, passing though a reserve area that had a extremely blue damn. There were plenty of tourists and day walkers as we started getting closer to a main road. The final 6 Kms down and along to Heas were all un-avoidably on tarmac road, and it seemed to take forever to reach our ice cream stop! We pressed on to complete the an extra 1:15 of walking with 400m of climbing before setting up camp in a concrete bunker cabin, which was warm and served its purpose well. We were also treated to multiple visits by the local marmot population, which must have been well in excess of 20.

The Pyrenees pt2: 08/08 - 17/08

Day 18 – Thursday 17th August
Gavarnie – Rest day
Time walking – 0
Distance – 0
Ascent/Descent – 0

Gavarnie is know best for it world heritage listed Cirque de Gavarnie, a massive natural amphitheatre with walls exceeding 1500m high. A constant stream of tourists, most on donkeys, flowed past the campsite towards the natural wonder.
We spent most of the day planning, sorting and resting for the next 10 days of hiking. As there are 3 days graded extreme in the next section we had to be sure that we had back-out options if the weather was bad or the glaciers too dangerous without equipment. We sent a heap of postcard to family and friends, a pile of maps back to Emily in London and found out that Bridgette’s bike had been delivery the day before it was officially deemed lost.
The weather started to close in and we made a quick dash up to the Cirque, but by the time we got there the mist had rolled in and all we saw was the first 200m of cliff and a heap of mist. With the sun beaming down all day, we kicked ourselves for being so blasé about going to see it. Next time we will go and see the sights as soon as we can.

Day 17 – Wednesday 16th August
Refuge Bayssellance - Gavarnie
Time walking – 2 hours + breaks + car assistance
Distance – 16 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 200/1490 approx

With 1 day of hiking left before our rest day we set off early, in full gore-tex. As we descended we passed the Grottes de Bellevue, which are a series of 3 hand carved shelters in the side of a cliff. They were created by Henry Russell, a pioneer of mountain living in the early 19th century. They were very impressive, being more like large rooms then basic shelters.
We passed 2 tour groups who were obviously setting out to climb the summit of Vignemale, over the massive eastern glacier, in the rain. We are guessing that when you pay someone to take you up there, you go regardless of the view that you won’t get! Better them than us.
We reached the Barrage d’Ossoue and had a small break. With Bridgette’s knee in a slightly bad way we decided to follow the road down to Gavarnie rather than rejoin the GR10 for 3.5 hours. This turned out to be a great idea, as we only walked for about 10 minutes when a couple of Spanish guys offered us a lift down to the town. We swallowed our track pride a little and decided that it would be very rude for us not to accept the life, regardless of not walking all the way down.
Gavarnie is a tourist mecca, and we were a little shell shocked by the number of people and camper vans that populated the streets. Maybe this rest day wasn’t such a good idea. We arrived at the camp site which was very good, did our washing, finally had a shower and headed out for dinner at 6pm which wasn’t a very French time to be eating at all. The pizza was amazing though, two of the best that we have had, and the beer was pretty good too.

Day 16 – Tuesday 15th August
Refuge Wallon – Refuge Bayssellance
Time walking – 7 ½ hours + breaks
Distance – 22.5 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 1400/620 approx

We made good time on a big day of climbing. 3 hours to the Col d’Arratille on the border with a very beautiful lake, a 700m climb to start the day! It was quite windy at this height though. It was then into Spain for a short while as we dropped down and followed a level path through the biggest scree field yet. A short steep climb back up to the border saw us reach the Col des Mulets.
A long descent towards Refuge des Oulettes de Gaube had us pass the magnificent north face of Vignemale (3298m), complete with it fantastic glacier. Pete was quite excited, as this was the first he had seen. The refuge was within an easy day walk from civilization so there were heaps of walkers about, but it didn’t detract from the blue-white glacier ever-so slowly sliding down the valley under the north face in the perfect blue sky. You couldn’t ask for more.
We did however get more, without even asking for it. A 600m climb to the Hourquette d’Ossoue to finish the day. It was quite slow as Bridgette’s knee was getting a little worse, but the track did take us much closer to the face and glacier which was nice. At the pass the weather started to come in, but there were still plenty of hikiers setting out to the top of Petit Vignemale. We looked at it and decided that the weather and the knee were against us.
We spent a very windy night in the designated camping area of Refuge Bayssellance, the highest staffed refuge in the Pyrenees. The tent areas were more like turrets, situated at the edge of a cliff, with large dry-stone walls built around them for protection from the wind. We fastened the guy-ropes tightly, and hoped for a still night. It didn’t happen!

Day 15 – Monday 14th August
Refuge de Larribet – Refuge Wallon
Time walking – 8 ¼ hours + breaks
Distance – 25 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 1200/1350 approx

Another big day of walking with another huge descent followed immediately by a huge ascent. It was a pretty easy descent into the valley, but the limb back up to the Port de la Peyre-Sant-Martin was a bit of a grin, taking over 3 hours. We had lunch here while sitting on the border. Without crossing into Spain we hooked back around to climb a further 400m Col de Cambales following a poorly marked track on steep scree.
We met a lovely French couple at the pass, and we chatted to them for about 20 minutes. They were headed for the summit of Pic de Cambles and they offered for us to join them. At a touch under 3000m it looked tempting, but we decided against it as it would add another 2 hours to the day at least.
The descent was initially on scree but the path soon became very faint, so we took the easy option of scooting over a snowfield that was still present. Lots of fun and not too dangerous as there were plenty of footprints to follow. It soon started to flatten out and the descent from the pass to Refure Wallon took well over 3 hours, which seemed like an eternity as Bridgette’s knee was starting to play up. At least we passed some beautiful lakes.
Refuge Wallon is like the Hilton, absolutely huge with heaps of hikers. We were defiantly not the only campers, there were more than we had seen anywhere previously.

Day 14 – Sunday 13th August
Refuge de Pombie – Refuge de Larribet
Time walking – 10 hours + breaks
Distance – 25 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 1500/1370 approx

The mountain mist that finally settled overnight was still quite thick in the morning and unfortunately was not very good photography weather at all. Today we would start with a 700m descent immediately followed by a 1300m climb, it’s a good thing our hiking legs were in full swing at this stage! The descent to the main road and the climb to the Col d’Arrious proved to be very comfortable walking, both being well graded and tracked.
The guide book warned us about a cable traverse that we need to complete today, but as it turned out to be not too bad. It was basically a ledge carved into the face of a cliff, about 90cm wide and 300m up the face, it did have a very solid cable bolted to the cliff side to hold onto for stability. It was very exposed and if we had had bad weather we would have chosen the alternative, an additional descend and climb of 600m each way.
We arrived at Refuge d’Arremoulit and had a short break before we started the second part of the days climbing over two passes, Col du Palas and Port du Lavedan. The path to the first was a little hard to find at first and then it turned into a straight walk in a boulder valley to the pass. We spent 45 minutes in Spain while negotiating a very steep scree slope. The next pass that would take us back to France was a very narrow slot in the frontier ridge that had a tricky little climb on either side. Actually it wasn’t that tricky, it was our heavy packs that made it harder.
It was a 600m descent our next camp site at Refure de Larribet, but it took almost 2 hours. It was quite steep and loose to begin with, then it became very windy. Being in a National Park we wanted to follow the guidelines and only pitch our tent in the designated areas, so we continued onwards passing a couple of amazing glacial lakes and some very good looking camp sites. Apparently the camping rules don’t apply to climbers, as after we had pitched our tent near the Refuge three groups of climbers passed us and headed up the valley from where we had come. We are guessing that they needed the extra few hours actually doing the climbs tomorrow, rather than spend it lugging their gear.

Day 13 – Saturday 12th August
Ibon del Escalar – Refuge de Pombie, France
Time walking – 5½ hours + breaks
Distance – 16.5 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 1300/820 approx

Another early rise to get first bit of climbing to the Col des Moines on the border, then it was back into France. We were quite excited as today we would see the jewel of the Atlantic-Pyrenees, Pic du Midi d’Ossau, and spend the night below it’s south-western face. The National Park changed dramatically in this area, both in landscape and amount of walkers. It was a weekend though, so what were we to expect! It was fairly level walking which quickly turned into a steep descent to the Cabane de Cap de Pount, situated in a vast valley.
Once we got to the bottom I realised that I had left my hat and sunglasses at our morning-tea stop. Extremely mad at myself considering the weather we were having, I turned around and walked back up to see if it was still there. As you imagine it was gone, could have been worse though, could have been the GPS! It was an extra 1 hour of hiking that I definitely didn’t need.
A long slog up a big hill was completed before lunch, which was consumed with pace at a cabin. The path continued to climb upwards towards a lake and the Col de Peyreget (2300m). The number of walkers continued to amaze us, especially as they all seemed quite light in the equipment area, and the weather was starting to come in early. The decent to Refuge Pombie was through mist, which soon turned into rain, thankfully after we pitched our tent. We retreated to the warmth of the refuge and watched the outlines of people struggle to erect their tents in the rain.
We though we had lost the view of the face forever until the rain stopped, and the mist suddenly cleared. We were able to cook and eat outside and watch the sun set behind the mountain. Many groups were still arriving at dusk, we counted 17 other tents in addition to the 48 people that the refuge sleeps.

Day 12 – Saturday 11th August
Refuge d’Arlet – Ibon del Escalar, Spain
Time walking – 8 hours + breaks
Distance – 24 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 550/1000 approx

Woke this morning to find a light cover of frost on the ground, when added with the perfect sunrise it was a absolutely stunning 30 minutes. The track descended for much of the morning, taking us into a huge valley passing multiple fromages along the way. A very steep gravel road descent lead us to out lunch stop for the day. We followed the track fairly well on contour until we left the HRP and headed for the main road. Knowing that we would probably have to walk an extra two hours today, we though we could make up some time by taking the road.
We arrived at the Col du Somport, on the border, and had ice-cream and beer. Needing to re-supply we headed down to Candanchu, a large ski village on the Spanish side. There is a refuge in this town, which is expensive and has no space for tents. After re-stocking we headed back up to the border and another Spanish ski village called Astun.
The Lake that we were headed for was, as usual, at the top of a big hill, so we gritted our teeth and made for the lake. Thankfully the sun was beginning to set behind the mountains so the temperature was dropping. Just on sunset we were treated to quite a spectacle of nature. A kettle (new word of the day) of vultures circled us for about 5 minutes and then swooped down to nest on the steep rocky slop beside the track. It was quite frightening to begin with, as they were only about 15 meters from us. It is not until they are this close that you realise just how big they are.
We pitched the tent beside the lake and continued to watch the sun set over the mountains. Perfect!

Day 11 – Friday 10th August
Lescun – Refuge d’Arlet
Time walking – 6 ¾ hours + breaks
Distance – 20 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 1300/200 approx

We were a little daunted by the 1300m of climbing that was on the cards for today, but it wasn’t too bad as most was completed before 10am while the sun was still hiding behind the mountains. The first part of the climb was on road, which was boring, but we soon found ourselves in the only French national park in the Pyrenees, the Parc National des Pyrenees Occidentales. This section was on bare rocky slopes but it was all beautiful.
We followed the border on the French side and swung eastward from the Col de Pau at which we encountered our first group of walkers that were accompanied by donkeys. Mountain donkeys would be the correct term, as they were carrying quite large loads and continued to climb of rocks and shale with little problem. We really need to get ourselves at least one of those next time!

Day 10 – Thursday 9th August
la Pierre-St-Martin - Lescun
Time walking – 8¼ hours + breaks
Distance – 25 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 700/1200 approx

A little sad that we had missed a supposedly beautiful part of the walk, we were very surprised to see that the ski centre and slope were built around the same type of limestone formations that we missed. It was a little like the Tessellated pavement, only this was an entire valley of it. Quite impressive, although the walking was a little boring as it was all through the ski slopes.
We had lunch just before the pass and bumped into two guys from Holland that we had met at the refuge. A small scramble over the pass d’Azius and we were blown away by the view, the entire valley opened up and was surrounded by majestic mountains. It’s quite amazing how just on pass cane completely change the landscape. 2 hours were spent meandering though the valley before we started to descend towards our destination for the day, Lescun.
We had a beer with David and Joseph while we waited for the shop to re-open at 5pm. The campsite was packed with French tourists, but here was heaps of space for tents thankfully. And the view from the campground was magnificent!

Day 9 – Wednesday 8th August
Pista Ganekoa – la Pierre-St-Martin
Time walking – 6¼ hours + breaks
Distance – 19 Km approx
Ascent/Descent – 1200/1100 approx

The mist finally started to clear in the morning and after saying goodbye to our new friends we were off. We never actually found out what their names were! With the programmed GPS in hand we pushed up a very steep and slippery grass embankment towards a small farmers house. Thankfully the mist cleared as we continued higher, which was a great relief as it’s always nicer to be able to see where you are going!
The GPS came in very useful for the morning section, and once arriving at the ridge the path was much easier to follow. The guide book that were using said that a near-by refuge is worth stopping at, but once we got there we soon realised that it had been closed for a number of years. We were glad that we didn’t rely on it for accommodation. It came complete with a crazy horse whose foal had a broken leg!
The weather decided to get a little nastier in the afternoon, with more drizzly mist. Looking forward to a proper bed, shower and a food restock we left the HRP and headed towards la Pierre-St-Martin a ski centre on the French side of the border. We were greeted by a very enthusiastic Frenchman who made room for us in the refuge which turned out to be privately owned, which didn’t matter because the food was fantastic.