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
Breakfast feasting and pointless post office faffing at Gourette, buying the only shorts that fit in the shop - mens swimming trunk shorts (surprisingly comfy and snazzy), up and over a col out of ski station trauma, stupid paths thru farmland and unscenic lanes, walking along roads (boo!) but going through awesome cavelike tunnels (yay!), realising the cheese we bought was well past its sell by date and rather stinky, the pretty town of Arrens-Marsous, late afternoon sunshine making the mountains glow, camping by a gîte on a farm where bunnies hop about, the cows moo like banshees, a friendly cat snuggles up to me and an owl hoots as the stars come out to light up the valley...
The gîte d’étape, Les Viellettes http://www.gitelesviellettes.com/location-gite-etape-viellettes.php was very friendly and a great place to bivouac.
The Vital Statistics:
Total time hiking: 8h35
Peak: 1830m
Total ascent: 1203m
Total descent: 1538m
