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 22: Lac de Gaube to La Cabane de Lourdes

Waking up to blue skies and epic views of Vignemale, climbing up the valley past two majestic isards - one chewing the leaves off a tree, the other bounding over rocks -, arriving at the Refuge des Oulettes de Gaube just in time to admire the north face of Vignemale and its glaciers before it was shrouded in the cloud that had followed us up the valley, chocolate brownies and coffee, marmots appearing everywhere all day long as if to show us the path - their little faces peeking out over rocks, their fluffy tails bounding behind them as they leapt about, their calls yip yip yipping out over the valley -, climbing rocky paths up into the cloud to the highest (and so far the coldest) part of the GR10, the Hourquette d'Ossoue (2734m) where we met anotheR British couple who took our photo and had pick axes and crampons for climbing up Vignemale tomorrow, scoffing cheese sarnies in the highest refuge in the Pyrenees and descending down steep, rocky paths, past a colony of mountain mice weaving in and out of their burrows, into a long gloomy valley which had a thick ceiling of cloud and many more marmots, over a dam and up again to a cloudy cold mountain side where we're huddling in our tent by a river hoping for sunshine...

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The vital statistics:
Total hiking time: 9h05
Peak: 2736m
Total ascent: 1171m
Total descent: 1012m

Day 13: Saint Engrâce to a valley after the Pas d'Azuns.

Gaining 1km of altitude before lunch through steep green forests and bleak farm trails, flocks of friendly wheatears and black redstarts fluttering about, 2 pigs atop the mountain, the grey grey stones of La Pierre Saint Martin in the clouds, tasty omelettes and wine at the refuge Jeandel, remembering there's nowhere bleaker than ski resorts in summer, climbing up into the wilderness where the marmots roam and spying them aplenty (I've been grinning from ear to ear ever since!), blue thistles and yellow and purple flowers sprouting in all the rock cracks, reaching a high of 1922m and scrambling over the pas de l'Osque (scariest bit so far), spying a majestic isard who rewarded us for our bravery, coming down over the pas d'Azuns and setting up camp in the glorious valley below right before the rain came in.

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I had only ever seen one marmot before this, scampering along a mountain path in a valley near the Lac bleu. It was a pretty special moment, as we had seen so many of them on postcards and tacky souvenirs and were starting to wonder if they were avoiding us! After that, I became a teeny tiny bit obsessed with these intriguing creatures and was very much hoping to see them again as we hiked our way across the Pyrénées. I needn’t have worried – we saw hundreds and hundreds of them by the time we were finished (and heard plenty more yipping their alarm signals around deserted valleys).

The Vital Statistics:
Time hiking: 10h
Peak: 1909m
Total ascent: 1730m
Total descent: 810m