Day 55: Mantet to Py

Waking up cosy to views of autumnal hills appearing and disappearing in a cloud of rain, begrudgingly trudging out into the wet cold morning, getting instantly soaked and heading up and over a col on a path that varied betwen crappy slippery goblin tunnels and a windy D road all the way to... the next village where a lovely man opened up his shop (usually shut on Wednesdays) and interrupted his lunch to make us up a room at his B&B where it is dry and warm and cosy again. Sometimes two hour's progress is enough for one day :)

***

We were so very happy to arrive in Py and find another warm and dry place to stay. We might have only spent two hours walking but it was enough to get soaked through again and all we wanted to do was get dry, get provisions and eat! The very kind owners of L’auberge de Py  were hosting a family meal on the day we arrived, but they very kindly popped out, opened up the shop for us and set up a room whilst we waited. We were so happy to spend the wet afternoon warming ourselves and drying all our possessions in a cosy room. We ate a hearty breakfast the next day up in the restaurant which involved lots of local jam and delicious bread. If you’re in need of somewhere cosy along the GR10, then I would highly recommend this place!

The vital statistics:
Time spent hiking: 1h50!
Peak: 1765m
Total ascent: 194m
Total descent: 755m

Day 54: Cabane de l'Orri to Mantet

Waking up in a frosty tent again (hooray for thermals) and embarking upon in a pretty thankless day of hiking up steep, stony paths into the clouds, and down diabolically steep slippery paths back through the clouds. Highlights/lowlights included negotiating our way past a huge beast of a bull, a frog, a huge dead snake, spotting a goldcrest, glorious autumnal foliage on the rare occasions the clouds parted, soaking wet grass that saturated our boots, dark viewless paths in murky forests, perfect red toadstools and glistening soggy spiderwebs, freezing winds on cols, golden grassy plateaus, cows blocking the slippery narrow path into the village which promised four places to stay (all open all year according to the guide. lies), getting turned away from three but finding a log fire, cold beer and cheap cosy lodgings in the fourth.

***

Autumn mornings

 Not for the first time, the French guidebook proved to be rather outdated and just plain wrong about the facilities available in the tiny village of Mantet. It was very much fermé for the season - perhaps if you turn up there in July or August, you might have a more welcoming experience and a choice of four places to stay and eat, but on a cold, wet evening in late September we had no such luck. It really is a very small (and steep) village, and given the awful weather and the fact that it was steadily getting dark by the time we turned up, there was nobody out in the streets to ask for help. There had been no phone signal anywhere for the whole day so I hadn’t been able call ahead to make inquiries or book anything and even in the village there was no mobile service whatsoever.We were turned away by all three of the places in the village itself – with no help or suggestion about where we might go and stay, despite the awful conditions.We would really have welcomed anything and considered trying to pitch our tent on one of the few flat spaces of earth above the town before it got too dark to see. We were feeling pretty hopeless, but luckily we persevered and decided to check out the fourth option. Thank goodness we did – we found a little piece of GR10 magic in the form of a charming gite d’étape, La Cavale. It was 13 euros each for a 4 person room, but seeing as there was nobody else there, we got the room to ourselves and slept on a huge double bunk bed which was very comfy and cosy indeed. There was a kitchen downstairs where we cooked ourselves a huge plate of pasta and – the very best bit – a huge log fire burning where we could warm our toes and dry our boots just like I had dreamed.  Like many of the other gites, refreshments and supplies were available on an honesty box system and we honestly drank all the beer in the fridge! 

The Vital Statistics:
Total hiking time: 8h53
Peak: 2384m
Total ascent: 1462m
Total decent: 1717m  

Day 53: Lac des Bouillouses to the Cabane de l'Orri

Setting out over the barrage on the lake and into a Christmas tree pine forest, our boots making satisfying little crunch crunch crunch noises as we trod on frosty blades of grass, stepping occasionally on frozen puddles that cracked and shattered into crooked shards, good flat wide paths for stamping along at a good pace, a frog, a coal tit, a great tit, ski lifts and wooden chalets then down into flowery Bolquère where we finally found a good restaurant for omelettes, heading out on a warm sunny track past pretty meadows, rowan berries and rosehips galore again, through two more pretty villages, almost staying at the 2nd one but pressing on up into a lightfilled forest past another aggressive patou dog, 2 hunters with guns :( and down into a darker murky woodland with dodgy paths where the sound of some weird wailing creatures could be heard all around (we eventually worked out they were cows although they sound more like distressed hell beasts), past autumnal patchwork mountainsides down to a lovely spot by a river to camp and rest our tired selves after a long day and many kilometres. 

***

We were happy to start the day in the warmth of our hotel, making the most of the serve-yourself buffet breakfast before we set off into the frosty winter wonderland that awaited us outside. Much of the morning was spent in forest, before we reached another ugly ski station: this time, Pyrenees2000. Then it was down into the pretty little town of Bolquère, which, like so many of the small mountain towns that we passed through, promised more than it delivered in the way of civilization. The local shop was very much shut and despite the fact that a local auberge was open and serving food to many customers, it was not actually open unless you had already reserved a table. Luckily, we found a second option for lunch in the way of a hotel that also had a restaurant: the Hotel Lassus. The staff were incredibly friendly and welcoming and we had an excellent lunch of omelettes and fried potatoes. Luckily I noticed a note on the menu, proudly announcing that their potatoes are so fried in duck fat (!) and therefore not veggie friendly. Yuck. Anyway, I explained that we were vegetarian and asked if we could have boiled potatoes instead and after a look of deep confusion the waitress happily suggested that we could have potatoes fried in olive oil instead. A useful reminder that it is always worth checking these things and studying the menu carefully if you want to avoid inadvertent animal products slipping into your food.

On a side note, the two men with guns that we passed in the woods later in the afternoon were further proof that the hunting season had started in earnest. It's really rather unsettling to happen upon people with guns in the middle of nowhere.

The vital statistics:
Total hiking time (including our rather long lunch): 8h47
Peak: 1994m
Total ascent: 759m
Total descent: 944m

Day 52: Coma d'Anyell to Lac des Bouillouses

Last night the moon emerged from over the mountainside whilst we had our fire and it was so bright it lit the whole valley up like a magic silvery grey negative version of day; another parallel moon world. Today we woke up cosy in our new thermals despite the frost that had formed outside the tent, we set off up the valley all golden in the sunlight, with rocky peaks all around, and a wee murky lake, where vultures circled and rows of mountains stood in line on the horizon back west, reaching the Coll de Coma d'Anyell (2470m) and descending into a totally different landscape — orange grassy marshes, a huge dark grey lake and darker mountains beyond — reaching the bottom where we had lunch and the temperature dropped and up we went climbing a steep slope to the Portella de la Cerava (2426m) past pink granite mounds and the distant yip of marmots, down into yet another valley where the rocks were deep purply black and a plain stretched off into the distance, all golden grass and the deep green of pine trees, thunder clapping in the valley we had left behind and us marching onwards and downwards on pleasant paths past more hidden marmots, my ankle buckling and twisting, the path eventually turning and meeting the huge lac des Bouillouses which we walked along as rain started and turned to hail and the ground quickly saturated and the air filled with the scent of damp pine needles, reaching a huge refuge/hotel and getting a lovely snug room where I bashed my shin on the sharp bedpost (my right leg is now just one big painful bundle of silliness. I complain but its not serious) and we feasted and sheltered whilst the sky cleared and did pretty sunset things.

***

It was too cold and wet to pitch Colin the tent at the end of the day (plus we had entered a national park, so there were limitations about where exactly you can pitch a tent and we wouldn't have been able to have fire), so we checked ourselves into the hotel Bones Hores, a dramatic and historic building with amazing views over the lake. We sipped americanos in the cosy bar and feasted at the restaurant, happy to be inside, our bags and clothes drying off in the cosy warmth.

By the lake, right before the hailstorm

The vital statistics:
Total hiking time: 5h45
Peak: 2468m
Total ascent: 661m
Total descent: 732m

Day 51: Ax-les-thermes to Coma d'Anyell

Heading back to Merens-les-Vals on the train after a double pastry breakfast, getting back on the GR10 on steep forest paths weighed down by our heaviest bags yet as we have SO much food (the longer we keep walking, the hungrier we get. 30 chocolate bars didn't seem like an unreasonable amount), cobbly paths up through a forest, discovering a natural thermal source where people have built little rock pools so you can have a totally natural thermal bath in the middle of the woods - my swimsuit was hanging to dry on the outside of my bag from yesterday so i changed quickly and jumped in to soak for a few minutes in the hot sulpher water- pure magic, devouring our first hardboiled eggs of the hike after we finally found an energy efficient method of cooking them, finding 3 four leaved clovers at once, emerging into a beautiful valley where a river was flowing and the faded remains of wildfire flowers were glowing apricot and red in the bright sunshine amidst rosehip bushes and rowan trees fit to burst with berries, autumn foliage all aglow and a coal tit fluttering about, climbing a steep bit of path to find a turquoise lake perched on the mountainside where marmots could be heard yipping and vultures circled overhead, another steep climb over boulders to the Porteille des Bésines where a spectacular panoramic view of where we'd been and where we were going opened up - high rocky mountains, pine forests, wiggly streams below, all the colours vibrant in the warm afternoon sun, heading down past a refuge and another glistening lake, negotiating confusing balissage, taking an old bit of path where the lines had been rubbed out and ending up on boulders again but quickly navigating out and down to another epic valley with a perfect pitch for the tent, a readymade fire pit and a stream to wash in, cooking dinner while the sky glowed flurescent flamingo shades and Gavin lighting his most epic fire yet as the moon peaked out from behind the mountain... today was a very good day in the mountains ♡

***

The natural thermal source outside Merens-les-Vals was my favourite thermal spa experience of the whole hike. It is magical - tiny pools of hot thermal water that have collected in pools that local mountain pixies have built out of rocks. I almost walked on by without getting in but I knew I would regret it if I didn't have a dip. It was so enchanting to be sat in such a warm pool in the middle of a forest glade in September. I noticed some wax drips on the side of the pool - people must head up in the dark and light candles and have the most amazing evenings chilling out in the warm water. I want to return someday and do just that...

my firestarter

The vital statistics:
Total hiking time: 6h14
Peak: 2333m
Total ascent: 1483m
Total descent: 436m

Day 50: Resting in Ax-les-thermes

 

A day of eating, buying thermals for cold mountain nights and thermal spa-ing. And more pizza of course.

 ***

The Thermal spa at Ax-les-Thermes, Les Bains du Couloubret is second to none! It was 15 euros for two hours and worth every centime. There were so many different pools and areas - a huge indoor pool with various jets, a series of outdoor pools (fabulous in the warm September sun), a whirlpool, a bubbling jacuzzi pool, a huge hammam, and so much more besides. I felt thoroughly pampered after my two hours there!

We finally decided to add some thermals to our kit as we had spent a few too many nights in a frozen tent and even with all our clothes on, it was getting much too cold. We also knew that it was not likely to get any cooler as we'd have to spend a few more nights above 2000m before we were done so buying thermals was the only sensible thing to do. Luckily there was a really good sale on at a hiking shop that was right by our campsite, Telemark Pyrenees, and, after trying on half the shop, I decided on a set of thermals by Woolpower - green leggings and a grey jumper. They are seriously toasty, particularly when layered up with other clothes. Although this brand is rather pricey, I would definitely recommend them as they are soft, comfy and really easy to wash (despite being 60% merino wool, you can wash them up to 60 degrees celsius if you need to). Nothing beats being cosy in a tent!

Day 49: La vallée du Montiguillou to Ax-les-thermes (via Merens-les-vals)

Waking up cold to another frosty morning, feeling extra tired and sore from yesterday's bouldering episode, walking down what was effectively a waterfall before the valley finally turned nice (not that we'll forget its darker side any time soon), people gathering bilberries in the sunshine, the lake looking all pretty and reflective, stopping to cook spicy instant noodles and a herd of horses taking a keen interest - this was our 3rd ambush since we started hiking and the most invasive yet: bags were licked, clothes were nibbled and spatulas were whole-heartedly chewed before being discarded. At least 60% of our possessions have now been violated by horses! Marching towards Merens-les-vals, a town the guide had us believe was a thriving metropolis, discussing all the food we would buy there (supplies were down to just 3 cuppa soups and some plain couscous. No chocolate left whatsoever. Dire) only to discover that the only shop in this one street village closed for "winter" 11 days ago, despair, tears, and then putting our brilliant minds together to form a new plan: simply hop on a bus to the nearest actual town and camp there for two nights, resupplying and resting before coming back to the GR10 the day after tomorrow. So that's we are doing. The campsite here is perfect (a little peaceful hill for hikers so Colin feels right at home), we bought all the food in the supermarket, found an excellent pizzeria and a owl is hooting whilst the moon glows. Oh and it just so happens to be another thermal spa town so no complaints from me ;)

***

After the disappointment of Merens-les-Vals, Ax-les-Thermes did not disappoint. There are supermarkets, cafés and restaurants galore. We ventured to a campsite slightly out of the main town which was rather lovely indeed - Camping Le Malezou.

We found an absolutely amazing restaurant for dinner - la Trattoria, where we feasted like happy happy hikers

P.S. Unfortunately I don't seem to have recorded the vital statistics for this day
:(

Day 48: Inclès to la Vallée du Montiguillou

Waking up tired after a cold, wet and windy night, heading uphill to amazing views of Andorra, all yellow golds, reds and pine forests and epic mountain scenery, two hoppy frogs and then at long last seeing some marmots again, hopping over sunny rocks, yipping and showing us the way to the Refuge de Juclar, discovering the revelation that is omelette sandwiches (sooo tasty!), walking past the glistening Étanys de Juclar where the rocks had lines of quartz glistening through them and heading up to two cols which we passed over admiring a last glimpse of beautiful Andorra before descending back into France on the GR Transfrontalier where the path turned into piles of boulders that we spent the next 4+ hours clambering over, swearing and getting scraped, there were more beautiful étangs with a grey and red bird fluttering about like a treecreeper only on rocks, before we turned into the horrendous valley of Montiguillou where the boulders became bigger and even less enjoyable (!), finally reaching a flat space overlooking a lake and pitching the tent, watching the moonlight make the rockface glow as we ate dinner.

***

Adorable Andorran marmot

Andorra is so beautiful

Vital statistics:
Total hiking time: 8h51
Peak: 2521m
Total ascent: 784m
Total descent: 895m

Day 47: Angaka to Andorra (a river valley near Inclès)

Waking up in our cosy yurt, emerging to misty cloud, breakfasting and leaving origami birds for the yurt lady, making good progress on the plateau de Beille where the paths are cross country ski slopes in the winter, mountains of all shapes and sizes peaking out from the sea of clouds below, a raven perched on a post, etorki sarnies for first lunch, clambering over bouldery paths, up golden sandy coloured grass banks that were dotted with the red autumn foliage of myrtille bushes, heading up and along a crête that gave amazing views either side of jagged teethlike ridges and lakes and their wiggly inlets impossibly far below, choughs squawking as they flew by, vertigo related panicking from me when the path did stupid things and much reassurance from Gavin, heading down to the refuge de Ruhle where the cloudsea tide came in fully overhead shutting off all views, second lunch cooked by the sleepy gardien who had been napping -omelettes, mmm! - then out into the mist for a wee diversion off the GR10 to Andorra, passing two lakes but seeing nothing but cloud until we peaked over the Port to Andorra where a marmot yipped but stayed hidden and the sun shone down on a beautiful valley where the tent is pitched, a fire is lit and the sky glowed pink as it disappeared…
 

***

Our golden Andorran valley

Before heading into Andorra we popped into the Refuge de Ruhle for a late lunch. We managed to procure some very tasty omelettes and wine once the gardien had woken up from his nap! At this point we were still uncertain about whether to bivouac near the refuge or press on to Andorra, but our decision was confirmed when the gardien told us that there was a snow warning in place for places over 2100m – which included the refuge itself. We could see from the map that it would be possible to descend much lower to wild camp in Andorra, and that's what we did. It was a very windy night, but no signs of snow whatsoever – and we kept ourselves warm in the evening with a wee campfire. If weather conditions are better and you're not interested in diverting off the GR10, it is possible to bivouac near the refuge.

The Vital Statistics:
Total hiking time: 8h45
Peak: 2400m
Total ascent: 1095m
Total descent: 880m

Day 46: Col de Sasc to Angaka (plateau de Beille)

Feeling tired from yesterday's climbing and a night in the tent surrounded by cows (their bells kept waking us up then lulling us back to sleep!), meeting a friendly cowherd who asked if we had seen his cows (we had yesterday!), finding a cosy shepherd's hut with a serve yourself cheese shop - goat's cheese, mmmm - then today went down, up, down, up through sunny forests and cold lightless forests, mostly at an unreasonable gradient, there were cows eating leaves off the trees, an unmanned cabin in a sunny meadow for cooking our odd combination of food for lunch and an usual butterfly dancing around me and sunbathing on the rocks, a weirdo hiker in a mask, a friendly British hiker guy, a jay squawking in the forest, finally reaching the top of the last hill and stumbling upon a teepee/yurt haven where we are staying tonight - a cosy dream come true! An elvish lady has sold us bread, cheese and wine, let us shower in a tiny bath in the middle of her yurt and made us feel welcome in foresty paradise. Life is brilliant!

***

The serve-yourself cheese shop near Col de Sasc was yet another example of tiny gestures of kindness and trust that made our hike so amazing. It belongs to a shepherd who leaves his amazing wooden lodge home unlocked as he goes out to tend his flock, so that hikers can serve themselves to his handmade goats cheeses. There was a note with directions for where to find the cheeses and how much money to leave. We bought two goats cheeses – they were delicious!

This very unusual butterfly fluttered around us as we ate our lunch outside another empty shepherd's hut down in a sun filled valley.

Angaka, the tipi/yurt place which we stumbled upon was a little dream come true for me. Our map for this section of the GR10 was brand new and there was a campsite sign on Plateau de la Beille but no mention of anything in the guide which is a few years older. So we were not really expecting there to be anything there and we were happy enough to find a suitable place to wild camp near a water source. But then we saw a couple of signs pointing towards “Angaka village nordique” and mentions of “GR10 bivouac” and were intrigued enough to follow. What we discovered was a delightful little settlement of tipis that are fenced off in a clearing amongst pine trees and decorated with peace flags, garlands and hand painted signs. I think I'm right in saying that they will let you just pitch your tent and use the compost toilet facilities but we certainly weren't going to turn down the opportunity to sleep inside a cosy little yurt instead! As we were the only people staying there, we had a yurt all to ourselves for just 15 euros each. There was a huge supply of free firewood for the wood burner and the lovely lady in charge let us use the solar powered shower in the staff quarters. It was without a doubt the cutest shower I have ever used, suspended over a tiny bathtub in the middle of a yurt (it doubles up as a table when not in use). She also sold us some extra supplies (if you book in advance they will cook you a meal ) including bread, cheese, a bottle of wine and plenty of breakfast supplies. The yurt was incredibly cosy once we got the fire burning – there were matresses for sleeping on and warm woolly blankets.

The vital statistics:
Total hiking time: 8h30
Peak: 1890m
Total ascent: 1223m
Total descent: 1201m

Day 45: Auzat to Col de Sasc.

One of our most exhausting but ultimately rewarding days in a while. Setting off slightly late but getting the last baguette and plenty of cheese in the shop, climbing more than 700m up before lunch, then heading straight down the other side back to the altitude we started at, then climbing up again for hours, firstly through horrible unacceptably steep goblin tunnels (no view, just dank awful climbing), collecting all the colours of autumn leaves to cheer myself up and making leaf pictures in the village of Gesties, an old terraced village perched high up on the mountain, still more climbing for us, to a col then emerging out onto golden grassy plains dotted with pinky purple crocuses and when we turned around the mountains were basking in the late sunshine, glowing brighter and stretching further back as the golden hour came and we climbed higher, powering up to 1904m and bursting into happy tears at the top from the sheer overwhelmingness of it all, heading down to another col where Fabien, a friendly shepherd insisted we had an apero with him and his 3 friendly dogs and showed us the way to an unmanned cabin where we have planted our tent and made fire for cooking potatoes. And then sunset came and the whole horizon glowed and glistened and turned pink and orange and golden. Ascending more than 2300m in a day is worth it for all this.

***

The vital statistics:
Total time hiking: 7h54
Peak: 1904m
Total ascent: 2361m
Total descent: 1323m

Day 44: L'Etang de Bassiès to Auzat

Letting the sun warm us and dry the tent before we emerged into the day, thousands of tiny crystal rainbows shimmering as the breeze blew through sunny dew drops on the long grass, the lakes below bathing in misty clouds, huge banks of soft pink heather spilling out between the giant silver boulders and soft yellow grass, dark green pine trees lined up like a Christmas tree parade, clouds dancing around distant peaks as I wandered and pondered it all trying to imprint the colours and light onto my mind's eye to keep forever and always, stumbling down dusty stone paths, leaving the GR10 and its weird North-South ways to go East, chasing speckled woods and red admirals and other pretties, a stupid bee flying into Gavin's boot and stinging his leg, a pretty floral village where Gavin had a close encounter with a kingfisher that flew off before I could spy it, wagtails wagging, dippers dipping, so many pumpkin patches, a peaceful campsite with a friendly dog, an absolutely amazing bottle of wine and dinner in the village which included a cheese course where the waitress just brought out half a huge cheese and let me slice as much I wanted... 

***

The GR10 does weird things in the Arriège region: it has several confusing branches; it spends entire days taking you North and South rather than head East; it leads you through several ghost towns. After waking up to our tent freezing (again) we wanted to make some sort of progress before winter arrived, so we opted out of a huge North-South loop and followed a local path instead. This led us to a town called Auzat, where we set up camp in a very quiet campsite, Camping La Vernière and went out for a lovely meal in a restaurant in the village: La Tabled'Arconac. It had an entirely meaty menu and The restaurant were a little hesitant when it came to veggie options, but we managed to negotiate a rather tasty salad (I think it involved requesting that it came without ham, and the waitress offered to replace it with cheese or eggs). The noteworthy thing was the cheese course tho. Seriously, this is what I was presented with….

So good.

The vital statistics:
Total hiking time: 5h17
Peak: 1638m
Total ascent: 75m
Total descent: 984m

Day 43: Aulus-les-bains to l'Etang de Bassiès

A slow start drying off our kit after a rainy rest day and night, eating our usual entire cake for breakfast, heavy bags full of supplies, heading out of town on a road where a huge furry caterpillar wiggled, walking up forest paths at a surprisingly reasonable gradient, arriving a col where a berger herded his sheep whilst we picnic-ed, a man carrying a tiny lamb in his arms, a huge green cricket, views of tree-covered mountains showing just a tinge of autumnal colours, a rowan tree covered in bright red berries, walking up long pleasant zig zags to another col where we could briefly see amazing views east and west before the cloud closed in, carrying on up to a port where the path got rocky and steep, going down to a misty lake and bright orangy red marshy grasslands and boulders that made for clumsy walking, and over to another epic valley that sat just below the cloud full of lakes, wiggly streams and mules who greeted us as we walked to the refuge, setting up Colin the tent in the long grass and Gavin cooking a delicious meal out in the mizzly cloud while I got cosy. 

***

We popped into the Refuge Bassiès which is near the lake and bought some wine - we sipped some inside and took the rest away in a spare plastic bottle. Most refuges are perfectly happy to sell hikers wine in this way - it can be nice to sip a little tipple with a camping-stove-cooked meal, especially when the weather is awful like it was on this evening. There was a bivouac area right next to the refuge but you had to pay so we opted to wander along a bit and find our own spot. This whole valley was incredibly beautiful - especially with its early autumn coat on and the atmospheric mist as we descended from up high.

The vital statistics:
Total hiking time: 6h54
Peak: 1920m
Total ascent: 1301m
Total descent: 393m

Day 42: Resting in Aulus-les-bains

Sleeping, eating and thermal spa-ing. Ahhh spa towns how I love you so 

***

The thermal spa in Aulus-les-bains is a great way to relax and recover from long days spent hiking. You can pay to have access to the jacuzzi and hammam - just check the website carefully as there are different opening hours on different days of the week.

Day 41: St-Lizier to Aulus-les-bains

Waking up to the horrendous sounds of a jay screeching bloody murder right outside our tent (these birds do NOT know how to sing), going back to sleep when it flew off and thus oversleeping, eating huge amounts of cake for brekkie then setting off into the wind - the weirdest wind we've ever known - it whipped around, changing direction, singling out single trees at a time then died right down, luckily we were sheltered in a typical goblin path straight up the valley for much of the morning, then there was a col covered in cows, then more wind so strong that we diverted off the GR10 to the more sheltered ski slopes on the other side of the mountain, descending down a long rocky path along one side of a valley, over a ridiculous broken bridge, then right back all the way along the other side of the valley, getting blown over by a ridiculous gust of wind, then reaching shelter again in the woods where three mad frogs hopped into Gavin's legs. We ignored the GR10's suggestion to spend three more hours pointlessly walking along another valley and back and headed straight for the lovely thermal spa town of Aulus-les-bains. Guess what my plans are for tomorrow?!

***

The campsite, Le Coulédous in Aulus les bains was excellent and still rather busy in mid-September – perhaps because of the thermal spa in the town. We had a nice quiet pitch – albeit covered in conkers! The sanitaires are very clean and the campsite is conveniently located 5 minutes walk from the town where there are a couple of shops (excellent for buying food supplies), restaurants and the spa.

Despite the fact that there are a few restaurants in Aulus-les-bains, only one of them was open mid-September: La Grange de l’Agouadis. Luckily, one was enough – we ate there both nights that we stayedin Aulus-les-bain, sampling their pizza and their goats cheese salad. Both nights the food was excellent – the pizza was such a generous size that we couldn’t manage to finish even with our hiking appetites, but the owner happily packaged it up for us. Very friendly service and great veggie options!

The vital statistics:
Total hiking time: 6h
Peak: 1725m
Total ascent: 1382m
Total descent: 1376m

Day 40: Rouze to St-Lizier

 

Lingering in paradise with a jug of coffee and fresh eggs from the farm, sore heads from slightly over-indulging in boozy Rouze but luckily it was just a short hike today to the next valley, past the farm's goats who were climbing trees to get at the leaves, up unexpectedly steep foresty paths, stopping for a moment and getting surrounded by cute kittens who were very interested in Gavin's bag, a nuthatch chirping, emerging to a col with panoramic views, heading back down the other side, a small snake on the path watching us with beady eyes, and arriving in a pretty campsite where two friendly robins fluttered around us as we pitched the tent.

***

The campsite in Saint-Lizier had an excellent shop in it – perfect for buying more hiking supplies! It was an excellent campsite with great, flat grassy pitches, clean sanitaires and even a big room that hikers can use in inclement weather for preparing food/sheltering.

The vital statistics:
Total time hiking: 3h21
Peak: 1551m
Total ascent: 598m
Total descent: 793m

Day 39: Artigue valley to Rouze (Tom Bombardil's farm)

Waking up to rain and cloud covering the views of last night, spending the day in a cloud getting slowly but thoroughly drenched by mizzle (up up through a forest, over moor, lunch in a berger's hut then down past a lake, down a track with no views but who knows we could have been anywhere), a pond full of tadpoles, emerging out of the cloud and the first person we saw in 24 hours was a lorry driver with an 80s mullet who saw us but carried on taking off his trousers anyway (?), 2 vultures perched on a heathery mound, flowery villages, a mean growling patou dog who led us to his sheep rather than away, a field of mules and donkeys, gobliny passages, and then arriving at THE MOST AMAZING place ever - a gîte d'étape farm run by the friendliest man ever where we found everything we could ever need like a pick your own veg farm, freshly laid eggs, goat cheese galore, a kitchen for cooking, a cosy room with a fireplace, freshly picked flowers, booze and so much homely comfort joy we didn't know what to do:)

***

On our way to Rouze we found the floweriest section of the GR10 :)

The gîte d'étape in Rouze was honestly one of the most amazing places that we stayed in for the whole hike.

We had had a long and tiring few days and the actual day that we hiked here was incredibly wet and tough-going. Our boots were saturated, there were absolutely no views, just cloud and mist. The path was fairly steep all day long and at some point I think we just sort of gave up on the idea that we would ever find somewhere to pitch the tent. So when we found the gîte and stepped inside and realised that we could stay in the warmth instead, it was such a relief. We weren't keen at all on sleeping in dorms but nobody else was there so it was just like staying in a house of our own! The gîte is part of a farm – there is a fromagerie selling homemade cheeses and a huge vegetable patch that you can pick your own veg from. The whole thing is run by one of the friendliest men we have ever met - his whole face was a smile and he exuded a calm, zen energy as he welcomed us. Inside there is a big shelf that is a serve-yourself shop selling food supplies and a fridge full of beer and wine that you can buy. It is run on an honesty system – so you note down what you have taken and leave the money in a box by the door. There were so many useful supplies (all very reasonably priced) so we bought rather a lot of stuff! You can cook in the cosy little kitchen and there was a big table with freshly picked flowers where you could eat. We bought cheese, freshly baked bread and eggs from the farm, picked our own courgettes and cooked up a feast. We had the whole beautiful place to ourselves so after glorious hot showers, we put on some music, lit a giant fire and basically had ourselves a happy little party of joy. The whole place reminded us of the part in The Lord of the Rings where the hobbits end up at Tom Bombadil’s farm – a happy little haven of goodness, where we totally over-indulged in booze and never wanted to leave! 

The beautiful fresh flowers on the table in the Gite d'étape

The vital statistics:
Total hiking time: 7h28
Peak: 1998m
Total ascent: 1211m
Total descent: 1293m

Day 38: Cabane de Luzurs to Ruisseau d'Artigue

Waking up early in our cosy cabin to the sound of ravens cawing as the sky glowed orange in the east, walking to another unmanned cabin for lunch, meeting a friendly berger and his two exuberant dogs, heading down a very steep and overgrown path through the woods where the moss grew thick and coated all the tree branches like too much tinsel on a Christmas tree, a steep new track being dug out by diggers, rejoining the GR10 proper, another long foresty path along a river, playing with pebbles, spindly mushrooms popping up everywhere, a red squirrel, waterfalls galore on sheer rock walls, tired achy bodies, emerging to grassy plains, amazing mountain views and a river to bathe in, planting our tent on a bed of happy yellow tormentil flowers and scoffing an early dinner. It's half 7 and I'm waiting for it to get dark so I can sleeeeep

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The vital statistics:
Total time hiking: 7h37
Peak: 1605m
Total ascent: 641m
Total descent: 968m

Day 37: Sentein to the cabane de Luzurs

 A peaceful morning in our deserted campsite, another stomp along a d-road, this time blasting out some Led Zeppelin to motivate our tired legs, flowery villages, turning back onto the GR10 (E branch), vertical forest paths that eventually got flatter, nostalgic pink flowery aromas filling the air, a sizeable wedge of brebis for lunch and bounties for snacking, an aquaduct/leat flowing alongside us for a while like a mini canal, a stupid electric fence blocking the path, arriving at the étang de Bethmale where we wanted to camp to find it chockablock with fishing people (a shock after not seeing a soul all day) so carrying on up through a steep forest, over a col onto the GR10 (D branch) past unreal skies and into another forest that was so thick with cloud it was prematurely dark, finding an unmanned shepherd’s cabin and settling in by the fireplace while rain drums down on the tin roof...

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La Cabane de Luzurs

The vital statistics:
Total time hiking: 7h36
Peak: 1414m
Total ascent: 1128m
Total descent: 437m

Day 36: L'etang d'Araing to Sentein

Waking up early for a refuge brekkie, lazing in the tent whilst the sun evaporated the raindrops, heading down the valley past a dam built in 1935, turning off the GR10 to take a local footpath through the vallée des Biros down to a village for supplies, jaggedy mountains glowing in the mountain sun, mounds of tiny mushrooms, foresty paths zig zagging down gently to a river as the sunlight glowed green all around, emerging onto a road where all the butterflies were dancing like crazy round buddleia bushes and pink flowers, arriving in Sentein (another deserted village) to find a shop selling all we need and an empty campsite all to ourselves to while away the afternoon hours watching the sun disappear behind the mountains as the dandelions glowed and the spiderwebs shone...

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We decided to turn off the GR10 at this point so that we could buy some much-needed supplies. The path down through the vallée des Biros was a beautiful diversion – cool, sunlit forest with well signposted paths, emerging into a valley that was full of butterflies fluttering in the hot sunshine.

 
There is a small epicerie in Sentein https://balacet.wordpress.com/2015/06/11/lepicerie-a-sentein/ which has everything you could need for hiking supplies. We bought a huge amount of food there!
 
The campsite in Sentein http://www.ariege-pyrenees-tourism.co.uk/camping-municipal-la-grange/sentein/tabid/22679/offreid/e05654d9-4292-4611-8593-fdf10428f046/more-information.aspx had already closed for the season when we got there, or rather, as the lady in the shop said, it was “closed, but not closed” – meaning that the sanitaires were open (hot water not guaranteed!) and we could pitch our tent if we wanted. We would have happily paid – it was peaceful, clean and worth the very nominal fee they were asking (about 3 euros according to the sign) – but there was nobody there whatsoever.
 
The vital statistics:
Total time hiking: 3h54
Peak: 1924m
Total Ascent: 13m
Total descent: 1144m

Day 35: Melles to l'Etang d'Araing

 

Waking up to rain, the sun coming out as we walked along a long and winding road, a screeching woodpecker, a creepy doll perched on the garden wall of the only house we'd seen for miles, tough steep forest paths, buttery noooodles for lunch by a waterfall, the biggest frog we've seen in a while, emerging from the forest to rewarding views due west back where we've been, the landscape changing to high mountain plateaus of golden grass and boggy marshes, vultures overhead, 4 isards/deer leaping about down below, a kestrel hovering about, finally cresting a col and heading down to a lakeside refuge for a 3 course feast with friendly fellow ramblers before pitching our tent.

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Beautiful views on the path up to the Etang d'Araing

After realising that we couldn’t restock or find anywhere to stay in Fos the previous day we were a bit worried about supplies running out and where we would camp. I called up the refuge http://www.refuge-araing.fr/ at the Etang d’Araing because I had heard that some refuges in the Arriege area will sell hikers supplies. The gardien said that as it was nearing the end of the season, he couldn’t sell us supplies but that we were welcome to eat there. So we booked ourselves in for dinner and breakfast and also ordered a sandwich for the next day. Up to this point we had only eaten in refuges for lunch when you can usually just turn up and buy omelettes and sandwiches. Evening meals are a bit different – you have to reserve and you don’t get a choice of what you eat as one meal is prepared for everybody that is staying. It is even more imperative to call ahead if you are veggie as this will involve them preparing a separate dish. The meal at the refuge Araing was really tasty – 3 courses including veggie soup, an omelette and ratatouille and homemade mint chocolate cake. It was an interesting experience to eat dinner at the refuge as it meant we met other hikers that were staying there and to got to hear about their adventures. It was very convivial with everybody sitting around one table and serving each other the food. We got top tips from hikers coming in the other direction about potential resupply sources and must-see places. And then afterwards we got to wander back out under the stars to our tent for a peaceful nights sleep by a beautiful blue lake.

Altogether dinner, breakfast and lunch and showers for two people came to just over 60 euros (pitching the tent outside the refuge was free) so it wasn’t cheap but it was a bit of a change from our usual cooking routine and the gardien gave us some useful advice about where we were going next… 

The vital statistics:
Total time hiking: 6h32
Peak: 2185m
Total ascent: 1477m
Total descent: 257m