Day 56: Py to the Refuge des Cortalets

Setting off under blue skies and an autumnal wonderland, speeding up excellent hillpaths through a forest where a tiny leat ran parallel to the path, reaching a closed refuge and heading on through forest with views of mount Canigou who is already wearing his snowy winter coat at the peak, arriving at a river and meeting a lovely Polish lady who pointed out that the path crossed the river only there was no bridge or stepping stones and it was ten metres wide and quite deep so taking off our boots and wading across, the rain starting as soon as we parted ways with our new friend, turning to hail, the path getting wetter and leading us over bouldery avanlanche paths that the guide described as chaos (an apt choice of words), three isards leaping about majestically, a late lunch then absolutely storming up to one last col – our last jaunt over 2000m and thank goodness for that because it actually started snowing –, heading down past a lake to the refuge where we were "welcomed" by being put in the outhouse rather than the main bit with all the other hikers (really unsure why-official reason is because we are cooking our own food. Questionable reasoning) but actually it's better in here (albeit a bit reminiscent of Father Ted) because we have our own fire place and it is blazing. Only a few crappy photos for this update because my phone has decided to corrupt almost all the ones i took today (so many epic pics of snowy peaks, one of us taken together by the nice Polish woman and so many glorious autumn leaves. and such a cute tiny baby cow. booo hiss. Please imagine gloriousness and hope the phone gods fix things...)

***

Glorious snowy Canigou

We stayed in the Refuge de Cortalets which was the worst experience of hospitality that we had along the GR10 - the gardien was downright rude, unprofessional and irresponsible. If you can avoid staying there, then I’d really advise it. 

The gardien claimed that we had to stay in the outhouse/prison because we wanted to cook with a gas cooker. This did not make sense. We could have cooked in the outhouse and stayed in the main building with everybody else. I don’t know about you, but for me the word “refuge” suggests a welcoming, friendly shelter from the elements, not a freezing cold outhouse, a rude “welcome” and basically being treated like a second-class citizen just because you’re not one of the gardien’s mates.

Anyway, all’s well that ends well… we lit a huge fire, feasted, eventually got some sleep huddled up in the weird dank building and the next day we were on our way. I hope never to return to refuge "prison"!
 

Refuge prison

The vital statistics:
Total hiking time: 9h21
Peak: 2269m
Total ascent: 1852m
Total descent: 730m

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.

***

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