11 August 2006 - Posts
Day 29 of continuous walking. I crossed the Chemin de la Liberté at the Col de la Core and dropped down towards Aunac. I followed the track along the brook which was like something out of the New Zealand rain forest - just like the film set for 'The Piano'. The gîte at Aunac has been the most welcoming so far. The owners have 38 donkeys and organise walking trips around the area. When I asked if I could buy some food they immediately invited me to lunch - a feast of salads, home-grown broad beans, souris d'agneau, local brebis cheese and a welcome glass or two of red wine. François and Ginetta, who run the place, have an idyllic spot and made me feel part of the family - we were on 'tu' terms right from the start.
Up at 07h30 but the Puy-en-Velay three who had arrived after me and camped 100 yards away had already left. Somehow, today I seemed to have no energy at all and it took ages to reach the Cap des Lauses, but it was a climb of more than 3,000 feet. When I dropped down to the Lac d'Ayes it was in cloud so I went on another couple of hours, past the Etang de Bethmale (too many mosquitoes and a 'no camping' sign) to a lovely stretch of forest. As the light was fading I, at last, found a place to pitch the tent. What an interesting night, distant cow bells, owls shrieking, some strange animals making a loud coughing sound and others snuffling right outside the tent. Despite all of that I managed an exhausted eight hours of sleep.
The couple who run the refuge at Eylie d'en Haut are charming - not from the Ariège, but have made their life here for the past ten years. He is a talented artist and his work is on display in the communal dining room. One wall of the dining room is all windows and looks out onto the other side of the valley - quite lovely, except you can see the steep path that needs to be climbed tomorrow.
Six people from near Foix arrived and spent an hour pouring over maps, deciding on the route for their four-day mountain walk.
The three people from Nantes were there, too, and they were also planning their next day's walk. I read the Sunday Times, a treat brought by Ruth. Dinner that night was both delicious and interesting. We were joined by an American professor from 'Waaashington' who was on his 11th trip to the Ariège. Conversation around the table, in French of course, ranged from the rise and decline of the mining industry in the Ariège to the number of local caves with prehistoric wall paintings. All that was last night but, this morning, the Foix six left before first light. I was half an hour behind them at 06h00 and climbed to the top of the Col de l'Arech. Another three from the Puy-en-Velay area that I had met en route a couple of days earlier had stayed in a Cabane at the top of the Col d'Arech and had watched me climb. It seemed a long way down through the beech woods, but I eventually reached the little bridge over the stream and stopped for lunch. A man and two horses appeared from nowhere and disappeared almost as quickly. Then a bunch of children arrived with two 20-something carers and took their lunch on the bridge. I felt so full of energy I decided to climb the next ridge, passing the scheduled camping spot at Cabane de Besset and going down the other side to the Pla de la Lau. I chose a place to pitch my tent among the cowpats on the side of the river, but sat in a wet patch - cow pee I presume, whilst putting up the tent. This was the first time I had camped for quite a while and the first time with this tent. It wasn't made any easier by being surrounded by small boys firing questions at me. I'm sure any one of them could have put the tent up faster than me. I dined on a boil-in-the-bag Chilli con Carne. Thank you, Sue and Karl. It's amazing how delicious food seems when you're camping!