Day 34: Forest by cabane d'Artigue to Melles

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

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The vital statistics: 
Time spent hiking: 5h30 
Peak: 1293m  
Total ascent: 314m 
Total descent: 862m

Day 33: Bagnères-de-Luchon to a forest just past the cabane d'Artigue

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!  

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Views of Spain

The vital statistics: 
Total hiking time: 10h06 
Peak: 2174m 
Total ascent: 1998m 
Total descent: 1288m

Day 32: Resting in Bagnères-de-Luchon

 

Shoe shopping for new boots, pizza eating, and an afternoon in the local thermal baths/underground hammam caves getting pampered until I felt as relaxed as the marmot in the advert! A tough day ;)

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Bagnères-de-Luchon was an important moment in our hike, for it was in this town that I discovered the joy of visiting thermals spas - and there are plenty of them to be found along the GR10.! I hadn't ventured into the one on Cauterets, but from this moment on, I made sure that I saught them out wherever and whenever possible. The spa in Luchon was pretty special - it's a natural hammam cave that has been dug out in the rock underground - you wander along sweaty tunnels that are heated bn natural heat sources in the rock, alternating this with dips in the jacuzzi baths where you can get pounded by all manner of water jets and bubbles. It's amazing how relaxing it is, and how much it helped my tired hiking muscles.

Day 31: Lac de Saussat to Bagnères-de-Luchon

 

Waking up super cosy in our tent, marmots yipping outside, Gavin opening the door to reveal perfect mirrored reflections of the lake and the first frost (we were camping above 2000m), coffee then 2nd coffees at the refuge, back to the Gr10, views of the Lac d'Oô from above before the cloud swirled in, climbing up and over a horquette then down again and up again over a col, the temperature rising and falling repeatedly requiring many costume changes, finally some glimpses of nature after days of rain, flurries of black butterflies, flocks of choughs screeching overhead, a solitary raven, vultures and dung beetles galore, crumbly cheese sarnies with views of Spanish mountains, another depressing ski station (Super Bagnères), a weirdo man trying to stroke a cow and the cow not being at all impressed, descending gently through a beautiful forest, a shy deer bounding off, the rooftops of Luchon coming into view, and a peaceful campsite with a field almost entirely of our own to rest in tomorrow and a late night visit from a hedgehog who snuffled around outside our tent.

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In Bagnères-de-Luchon we stayed in a lovely little campsite that is about ten minutes walk from the centre of town and very conveniently located if you intend to visit the Thermal spa (and you should!): Camping des Thermes They have a special separate field for tents that is set back from the rest of the campsite where the camping cars are parked. It’s peaceful and secluded and a great place to stay for a rest day. The sanitaires were tip-top and the woman who ran the campsite was very helpful when it came to using the laundry facilities.



The vital statistics: 
Time 7h51 
Peak: 2279m 
Total ascent: 679m  
Total descent: 1955m

Day 30: Granges d'Astau to Lac Saussat

 

Saying goodbye to the PJs after breakfast (they're off back to civilization, warmth and sanity!), the sunshine reappearing less than half an hour after they had gone, heading up a nice track, catching my right shoe on a sharp edge and the whole thing ripping open, bursting into tears (we're two days walk from the next town!) then finding the whole thing hilarious, the nice refuge lady wrapping my foot in duct tape after we devoured delicious omelettes, a glorious waterfall cascading into the lac d'oô, a beer at the refuge de lac espingo, setting up our tent at the lac d'astau where another waterfall cascades, the cloud sinking down as we lit an awesome fire that warmed us right through as we ate enough spicy noodles for 4 people!

Close-up of that ripped open useless boot!

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If you're hiking this section and wondering which of the refuges to visit, I can highly recommend the Refuge d'Oô, situated by the Lac d'Oô. They were super friendly, made amazing omelettes and the view of the turquoise blue lake is incredible. The lady who served us was so kind and sympathetic when I showed her my ripped open boot. She found some duct tape and lovingly wrapped my foot up, like a nurse tending to a distressed patient. 

The refuge further up that was closer to where we stayed gave us a much frostier reception - literally and figuratively. It was freezing inside and the gardien was not the friendliest, even when we were happily spending money there....
 
The vital statistics: 
Total hiking time: 5h 
Peak: 1959m 
Total ascent: 860m 
Total descent: 119m

Day 29: Loudenvielle to Granges d'Astau

Waking up cosy and dry (this did not last long!), discovering exciting new jam flavours at breakfast (chestnut jam is my new favourite thing), local retirees expressing incredulous surprise that we were off hiking given the forecast, steep hills to a village called Germ where all the lampposts were bright blue and a refuge served us coffee and takeaway wine for later, finding my 3rd five-leaved clover, cows emerging from the mist one at a time until we were suddenly surrounded, the mist turning to rain which got steadily heavier until recently dryish boots were freshly saturated, heading to an unmanned refuge for shelter which took so long to find that we gave up all hope (especially when the hail started), a roof suddenly appearing in the mist, discovering a sweet young French couple inside who had just started a fire and sharing our wine with them as we warmed up, peering out the doorway to see glimpses of epic waterfalls through the cloud, adding the PHS to the table graffiti, heading back out into the rain and wading through at least 4 rivers cursing and swearing at the path, unfathomably steep, horrendous uphill paths that went on far too long up to a col, soggy marmots yipping on either side and braving the rain, patches of purple flowers, zigzags down through the wettest forest ever encountered (surprisingly pleasant given the conditions), arriving at an Auberge and contemplating camping, realising that was mad, getting a room and unpacking our bags to realise everything was drenched and going for a boozy dinner. Our wettest day of hiking yet but somehow also strangely enjoyable! We will perservere!!

The Vital statistics: 
Total hiking time: 7h45  
Peak: 2161m 
Total ascent: 1282m
Total descent: 1109m

Day 28: Vielle-Aure/St-Lary-Soulan to Loudenvielle

A late start after suggesting a nice gentle short half-day of walking just over the hill to the next village to Nick and Katie and then facing our soggiest worst weather conditions yet... climbing steep paths to a village in the clouds, pre-lunch refreshments at an auberge with happy sunflowers, emerging into gentle rain with collies to guide us on our way, seeking out a suitable spot for lunch, the rain getting heavier, deciding "suitable" meant a soggy spot under the nearest tree as the rain began to pour and the path turned into a stream, Nick uttering the words "well at least that thunderstorm in the forecast hasn't hit us yet" and seconds later boom ! Thunderbolts of lightning! Increasingly soggy feet, negotiating muddy quagmires and Gavin's boot sinking totally under the mud, cresting the col and heading down through ferny moorland, zigzag paths overlooking the village as the rain finally died down, excellent hanging baskets to cheer us up as we entered the town seeking warmth and shelter and finding a cosy B&B for the night and an excellent restaurant for dinner.

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We stayed in a lovely Chambres d’hôtes, Les Noisetiers which was warm, cosy, charming and run by a lovely couple who prepared the most amazing breakfast the next morning. There were so many kinds of jam and honey, including a chestnut one which was absolutely incredible

We ate dinner in a quirky restaurant called Le Chante-Coq They had an excellent wine list and were perfectly happy to prepare us a veggie meal even though there was nothing on the menu.



The Vital statistics:
Total hiking time: 5h51
Peak: 1608m
Total ascent: 781m
Total descent: 621m