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.

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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…
 

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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!

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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 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 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 16: Lac Roumassot to la Plaine du Soussouéou

A chilly night by the lake, waking up to perfect lake reflections, so many cows with bells grazing that it sounded like churchbells ringing out over the mountains, forest paths down to the lac de Bious Artigous, coffee and route plotting, watching helicopters fly in to deliver supplies to the high up refuges, a tasty lunch but no room at the inn in Gabas, more forest paths so steep and mossy it was like climbing a giant green staircase thru the trees, a friendly robin, diverting off the GR10 to the Plaine de Soussouéou to camp, emerging out of the forest to realise its a golden paradise valley seated high up in the clouds, a kestrel hovering over as we pitched our tent amidst a carpet of purple crocuses next to the river, a boisterous fire and a brebis feast.

The Vital Statistics:
Total time hiking: 8h55
Peak: 2164m
Total ascent: 1675m
Total descent: 504m