July 2006 - Posts
An easy day today - just a few hundred metres of climb, through the pretty villages of Viella (inviting looking Auberge, bijou church); Viey (steep climb) and Sers (very steep climb).At Sers we stopped for a snack by the fountain and a local woman sang us a song as she went to empty her rubbish.
Another climb took us to a crêperie and a 'table d'orientation' - sadly we were in cloud all morning. Reached Barèges at lunchtime and booked a hydromassage for the evening.
iPlodding - Hi-tech is helping with the climbs. I have an iPod loaded with an immense music collection - to keep the rhythm on the steep climbs I listen to Mary J Blige, Bob Marley and Coldplay. For the descents it tends to be more Mendelssohn or Verdi!
The climb to the top of Col de Riou was easier than yesterday's climb, and we were safely in another spa town - Luz-St-Sauveur - for late afternoon. The gîte was good but, sadly, being a Sunday the Spa centre was closed. Maybe tomorrow at Barèges.
On our way down from the top we saw a 'marmotte' and I asked Patrick if he thought people ate them to which he replied "it's like in the advert - marmotte - you either love it or hate it!"
A huge climb again after the most peaceful-looking Lac d'Estaing. The couple from Lyon climbed with us most of the way to the top of the Col d'Ilhéou. The views were stunning with Vignemale in one direction and our local landmark - Pic du Midi de Bigorre, with its observatory on the top.
After a long descent into Cauterets, a busy trekking centre in summer and a lively ski resort in winter, we had time for a hydromassage bath and a 'piscine hydrojets' - the best 19€ I've ever spent. There are two 'hydro' centres in Cauterets and several other of our étapes have spa centres so we decided to use them for relaxation of tired muscles at every opportunity.
Patrick found the tough climb gave him some cramp in his legs but the 'hydro' treatment did the trick and he'll soon acclimatise to the high altitude.
Apart from the steep climb at the start of the day today has been a bit of a rest day - only 4hrs30mins walking. The Gîte in Arrens-Marsous is lovely and we are looking forward to a hearty evening meal after a siesta.
Sadly, Jérome is leaving today - he has been such great company. His sense of humour has amazed us - how many 32 year -old Frenchmen know the words to Monty Python's Lumberjack song? Not many. We'll miss 'The Master" but his place has been taken by Patrick, a neighbour of mine, who joined us last night for the next ten days.
We have now been walking for 15 days, climbed more than 47,000 feet and covered 280 kms.
We have met some great characters; the couple from Lyon who took a bus yesterday because "the walk looked too tough"; the sound engineer from Paris, Alain, a man with strong political views; Michel and Anne, a tough couple who seemed happy to walk into the wilderness with no plans for the next night's sleep; the father, mother and two teenage daughters who were camping in the wild and kept up with our pace despite their huge back-packs; the weird American with a heavy felt hat that made him look like a medieval pilgrim. Something about him scared Kingsley, but that's a story for the book. Tomorrow is another big day - almost ten hours to walk to the ski resort of Cauterets. It seems odd to be walking 'down' to ski resorts, but we're getting used to it.
We thought yesterday was tough, but the climb from Gabas to the Hourquette d'Arre was draining. We climbed non-stop for six hours! The cup of tepid tea we brewed at the top was as welcome as a glass of vintage champagne.
The bad news was a two hour climb down over loose rocks, not good for the knees. But we found a great bar that sold Grimbergen beer on draught and had plates of tapas to go with it. Well deserved after two tough days.
We'd been looking forward to this day since the start of the walk because it included the famous Chemin de la Mâture - a notch cut into a sheer cliff-face in 1772 to enable tree trunks to be brought down from the top of the gorge. The trees were destined as masts for the French Navy, hence the name of the Chemin.
It was everything it had promised to be, cliff-huggingingly scary with a sheer drop just inches from where we were carefully placing our feet. No ropes, no guard rails and, thankfully, no vertigo.
The climb from the end of the Chemin de la Mâture was relentless - a total of 1500m in 4hrs30mins, then downhill all the way to Gabas.
A tough, steep climb to reach the next vally, then a steamy descent through ferns to the adjacent villages of Borce and Etsaut. Another dormitory tonight but, after tomorrow's huge hike, it will be the luxury of an hotel, my own room and a bath!
We are back to a group of three - Kingsley, Jérome and me. Charles and Alex had thoroughly enjoyed their couple of days and coped with the climbs extremely well. But it was tough saying goodbye to son Alex yesterday. I would have loved to have had his support for longer. The Refuge Jeandel was great, as was Jean Hourticq who runs it - a lovely, funny man who, in his youth, was a great climber - he even conquered 'The Captain', a spectacular climb in America. A true mountain man. We ate well and slept well before climbing to the top of some ski slopes, crossing a limestone plateau and clambering up a rocky crag to cross into the next valley. The views were dominated by Pic d'Anie, a jagged, white lump of a mountain, a bit like a broken tooth. We descended into Lescun. Jérome has been nicknamed 'the Master' because he is a second Dan, black belt at Karate, Kingsley has been nicknamed 'the wizard' because, with his giant stature and his staff he looks like Gandalf. And me? I'm 'the philosopher' because, apparently, I keep coming out with deep and meaningful comments. Lescun is a beautiful village with a violent past (the women were raped and the houses all burned down a few hundred years ago). Today it is peacefulness personified. Ate at the only hotel which hasn't changed a lot in the last 50 years - still run by the same owner.
Breakfast in the inn then up through a narrow ravine, completely overgrown and in thick cloud - it was like an Indiana Jones film set or something from the Vietnamese war. The climb was relentless for five hours until we reached the ski station at Arrets. We have now walked 200kms and completed ten days. Alex said his two days walking had been the hardest thing he'd ever done. It will be harder for me from now as he's off back to London.
Son Alex and brother-in-law Charles joined us at Logibar on Friday evening. The four of us were up at 05h30 for a 06h00 start and it was a solid climb for the first hour and a half - a bit of a baptism by fire. We lunched at a deep lake with very deep, but violently blue water. Then an uphill walk to Ste-Engrace to a traditional auberge - the bar area was inviting but the sleeping arrangements were basic - a dormitory of adjacent mattresses. We sat at a table of 16 walkers for a lovely set dinner. In the next room a group of local men who had been preparing for the village fête tomorrow were singing Basque songs. Ste-Engrace's fête was to take the form of a traditional play called a 'pastorale'. Only locals can take part and it follows an ancient tradition telling a story about good and evil.
Had a lie-in until 06h30 and walked a variant of the GR10 via Larrau - a pretty village with a hotel/restaurant whose reputation is known for miles around. Kingsley had a cup of Darjeeling tea - I stuck to coffee - then off to the gîte d'étape at Logibar. The man who runs it has a reputation as a grumpy old thing - something he immediately lived up to. The argument coming from the kitchen between him and his wife was a cabaret for all the smiling people on the terrace. Richard and Gaye, who we had met up with previously, came to meet us again - it's so good to see friendly faces. Tonight, my son Alex is due to join us - he's flying from London for two days of walking and Charles, my brother-in-law, has driven down from Berkshire to spend a couple of days walking with us too. The radio is still warning of heatwave conditions so I hope they will cope with tomorrow's daunting climb.
Two things happened at Estérençuby: a mighty electric storm and I twisted my knee. The storm took out power to the whole area - the knee injury was not likely to be quite so temporary. We climbed steadily from Estérençuby enjoying beautiful views west. After six hours we reached the Chalets d'Iraty at over 1300m. They had no power because of the storm so no hot showers and no cold drinks. We met up again with a fellow walker, Jerome, and had a simple meal in the restaurant then early to bed in a two-man room.
Due to some technical difficulties it appears that my blog entries for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday have disappeared into cyberspace but, I am pleased to report that, despite the intense heat of the last few days, the walk is progressing well.
St-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Esterençuby
What a sensational dinner we had - the chef is a genius. Local deep-ruby Irouleguy wine to accompany the foie gras and lightly-cooked pigeon then a platter of six different desserts. Next morning it was breakfast with proper linen tablecloths and a choice of pâtisseries, toasts, chilled fresh fruits etc - a bit different to the DIY breakfasts so far. Goodbye to luxury and off we go to a few days of basic accommodation.
Climbed from St-Jean to Caro, a pretty Basque village with a stubby little church. All the houses around here have carved door lintels with the original owners' names and the date the house was built - the oldest we have seen so far is 1510. We climbed over a pretty mountain pass and down to the hamlet of Esterençuby where we were met by my wife Ruth, daughter Julia and granddaughter Lola - it was great to see them! Spent the afternoon sitting on the riverbank mentally preparing for tomorrow - a mamoth climb of some 1800 metres and a distance of around 24kms. It will mean a 5.30am start if we are to beat the heat of the day.
Madame must have thought we needed feeding up. Dinner was a tureen of garbure (soup), a masive potato and onion omelette, then a mountain of green beans and roast pork, then a salad, and by the time the dessert came along I threw the towel in. That was a great dinner but the bad news was that the next morning I looked like I had measles - more than two hundred bites, not mosquitoes, but bed bugs! Gross!
Saturday's walk was in high temperatures (38C), but we arrived in Ainhoa at 15h30 having lunched on the Spanish border. Total distance walked - 42kms so far, total climb - 1640m, total descent - 1620m. More follows tomorrow.
What a send-off Hendaye gave us! They had organised their annual "Fête du Chipiron" (squid-eating fiesta). The little seaside town on the Spanish/French border was heaving and they partied until the early hours. After gorging ourselves on this local delicacy accompanied by a robust Irouleguy wine it was off to bed.
Here we are just two days away from France's Fête Nationale — July 14th — when all of France takes a holiday. And that's exactly what I will be doing too. A seven week stroll along the entire length of the Pyrenees starting at 8am on Friday morning with my feet in the Bay of Biscay then taking on the GR10 (Grande Randonnée 10 is a long distance trail) all the way to Banyuls and dipping my feet in the Mediterranean. The walk will take 50 days, the distance is a little over 900 km but the crucial stats are the climb and descent—49,000 metres; that's 49km up and down or to put it another way more than 5 times up and down Mount Everest from sea level. It'll certainly be a test for the knees! There's a send-off tonight, Wednesday, and another in Hendaye tomorrow night then it's just us and the mountains. Us is a walking companion, Kingsley Hodgkins, who like me lives in southern France. He's completing the walk to raise money for a children's charity—you can read all about it on
www.gr10.org. We have both invited friends and family to join us for a day or so and any readers of France Magazine who happen to be in the area are welcome too. The walk will be a test of strength and stamina, but will be a great opportunity to be up close and personal with some of the most dramatic scenery in Europe. I plan to update my blog daily from the mountains so that friends, family and readers can keep track of our progress and share some of the adventure. My next posting will be on Friday night.