Today mostly involved getting inadvertently adopted by two animals: firstly by a campsite cat that followed us to our tent last night, charmed us, became a purring machine and then refused to leave no matter how many times we put her out. So it was a cosy night in Colin, in which the cat took up much of the foot room and totally ignored the meaning of a two man tent; secondly by a very friendly dog of ambiguous ownership who followed/led us out of town and onto the GR10 and refused all attempts to be parted from us for over 3 hours. We didn't encourage him at all and were really worried but he definitely knew where he was going and had no ID. Then we met a lady who owned the local gîte d'étape who recognised him and said lots of stray dogs in the area do the same thing with hikers. She tried to lead him back to town on a lead but he escaped and carried on with us so she told us to look out for a lady at the next col who could help – and sure enough we found her and she immediately started calling up friends to see if it was their dog (it wasn't) so she took him in to either return him to his owner if she could find them or to take him back to town and investigate further. He liked her a lot and we were happy that he had someone to look after him – definitely no space in Colin for a huge white dog no matter how friendly! Then there was a tiny frog, many many sweet chestnuts ripe for foraging, a convoy of hunters driving down the track with their bloodhounds and two dead deer in their truck which made me so sad and angry :( steep paths in the sad woods, wind rustling through the trees sending down golden confetti flake leaves as the forest glowed in the late afternoon light, good views of Canigou and rows of mountains fading into the hazy horizon, a perfect red spotty toadstool, conflicting feelings about being almost finished (I can't wait to reach the sea. I don't want the adventures to end), lots of careering down helterskelter hills, many cols and a march along a D road at the end as the light faded and we reached a free camping spot where an owl hooted and all the village dogs howled as we dined.
***
The vital statistics:
Total hiking time: 10h 44
Peak: 1414m
Total ascent: 2025m
Total descent: 1772m
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
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
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
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
***
The vital statistics:
Total time hiking: 7h37
Peak: 1605m
Total ascent: 641m
Total descent: 968m
Sleepy forest mornings, paths that went up instead of down but then zigzagged peacefully under pine trees for an hour, arriving in Fos, the village that promised much (a shop, a restaurant, a campsite, a bakers, a hotel) and delivered nothing but an eery deserted gîte d'étape where we spent a weird hour waiting; nobody came except a Belgium hiker who was equally confused so we left money for the coffee we had made and continued on to the flowery village of Melle in the sunshine and found an amazing auberge with friendly owners who fed us very well and gave us local bivouacing secrets courtesy of their collie
The vital statistics:
Time spent hiking: 5h30
Peak: 1293m
Total ascent: 314m
Total descent: 862m
Eating brekkie in the sunshine, strolling along a river watching gliders get launched by tiny planes at an airfield, the steep uphill starting and lasting for hours (ascending 1998m overall and descending 1288m = a tough day for breaking in new boots), pretty villages, butterflies, an entire loaf of bread's worth of cheese sarnies for lunch, tired legs as the hills carried on going up, kamikaze crickets and grasshoppers constantly diving under our feet, views over Spain and epic mountains all around, our 4th snake slithering away, some peaks on the Spanish border and confusing balissage, a herd of tinkling goats, silent gliders overhead, finally heading downhill (ouch!), an isard leaping about on a sheer rockface, two friendly Collies - one got Gavin to throw him a stick, foresty paths and finally some flat ground to pitch our tent. We ate 3 twix, 2 lion bars and 2 snickers as snacks today and still managed to devour a huge serving of noodles for dinner - hiking is hungry work!
***
 |
| Views of Spain |
The vital statistics:
Total hiking time: 10h06
Peak: 2174m
Total ascent: 1998m
Total descent: 1288m
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...
***
The vital statistics:
Total hiking time: 9h05
Peak: 2736m
Total ascent: 1171m
Total descent: 1012m
