Canigou Baby, Yeah!

When I left Estany Bleu, my home on Friday night, I climbed back onto the ridge I’d been following from the top of the Vallée d’Eyne, and carried on heading east. The guidebook suggested dropping down to Refuge Ull de Terr but I’d been advised to stick to the ridge, so I bagged a few more summits, including Bastiments at 2,881m, with some magnificent views.

I began feeling a bit low as I came along the ridge – partly because I wasn’t following the book and so had no way of guaging progress, and partly because I was worried about where to get water and where to camp that night.

Going Solo

The highest point in the UK is Ben Nevis, at 1,344m. Since I left Lescun on 26th June (over a month ago), I hadn’t been below that level until yesterday, when Klaas and I hitched down to Ax-les-Thermes to find some decent shops.

We had a pretty successful trip, finding fuel for the stoves, maps for the final section, food supplies and, of course, Magnums. Ax had a market going on, so we got some great dried fruit there – rather than just carrying peanuts and cashews, I’ve now got them mixed with raisins, cranberries, goji berries, banana pieces and papaya – it’s delicious!

The Third Place

After 37 days going back and forth across the border between France and Spain, we reached our third country on Thursday: Andorra. I’ve never been here before and don’t know a great deal about it, but I learnt the other day that the official language is Catalan. They learn that together with French and Spanish at school, and most of the people we’ve met seem to speak English too.

Speaking of Catalan, we met some kids from Catalunya at the campsite in Arties. They seemed as keen as the Basque people to be independent from Spain – they’d been supporting Holland against Spain in the world cup final, so were commiserating with Klaas.

Birthday Calories

Although section 4 of the HRP only has one staffed refuge, Klaas and I decided when we were making our plan in Arties that we’d take maximum advantage, to reduce the weight of food we had to carry. As it happened, the refuge fitted perfectly with my birthday, so yesterday at about 14:00 we arrived at Refugi de Certascan and started eating.

After a lunch of salad, lentil casserole, canneloni and cake, we spent the afternoon chatting, then had soup, pasta and a rather bizarre course of sausages and crisps, before finishing off with a chocolate dessert. This morning we had a decent breakfast and left with an excellent picnic lunch, so altogether saved ourselves the weight of four meals.

Things to do, people to see...

Although rest days give you a rest from walking, there’s a lot to do. Yesterday involved a bit of exploring the village, some shopping, kit-maintenance and an afternoon by the pool, while today we’ve had a trip into Vielha for some more serious shopping.

While the four of us were by the pool yesterday, Klaas and I went through the next section and worked out which route we’re going to take, primarily so we could calculate how much food to buy. We’ve adapted some days from my book to end in slightly different places and used the route from Klaas’s book towards the end of the section, which saves us a day. Unfortunately the only places we can get food are a single refuge and a restaurant near the end of one of the days, so we’re going to be carrying way more food than before.

Section Three - Complete

After his easier day yesterday, Klaas was back on top form for the final stage of section three, while Lucy, Ross and I were all nursing our injuries from yesterday’s beautiful but damaging walk along the lakeside. None of the injuries were serious enough to slow us down much though, so we made pretty good time apart from an unsheduled Compeed realignment stop.

There was only 600m of ascent in today’s route, which is comparatively little. We climbed up from Refugi de la Restanca past more amazing lakes and over three cols, then began the descent towards the stage end at Salardu. The first 400m or so were pretty tough, with some steep sections and some huge boulder fields to cross, but eventually we made it down to Refugi de Colomers, beside yet another beautiful lake. The guide said that our brief visit to the Parc Nacional d’Augüestortes would inspire us to return and it’s right - it’s an absolutely stunning place.

The Famous Four

Today was the first day of the walk that there’s been four of us - after a couple of days of trying, Ross and Lucy finally joined Klaas and me as we set off on a section of the GR11 from Hospital de Vielha, hoping for a drier day than yesterday. Some of the kit had dried out overnight, but my rucksack was still pretty wet so it was a relief to set off with a blue sky.

The High Point

Today began with a short sharp climb from the refuge up to Col Inférior des Literoles which, at 2,983m, is the highest that the HRP goes. We had a great climb up, both feeling pretty strong after our two half-days.

Reaching the high-point of the route felt great, but obviously we couldn’t leave it at that, so we climbed on up the remaining 17m and took a few photos at 3,000m.

The Klaas and Jonny Show

After a couple of nights partying in Gavarnie, it was back to work today. The gang split up, with The Felice and Ryan Show heading south in search of the Odessa National Park, while the newly formed Anglo-Dutch partnership headed east.

It was quite sad last night saying goodbye to the other guys. From here on we reckon we’re less likely to meet again, though they’re hoping to end around the same time as me, so we may see each other in Banyuls.

The boys (and girl) are back in town

At the end of the first stage I arrived in Lescun and the first people I met were the American couple, Ryan and Felice, looking for an internet outside the post office. Yesterday I popped into the Office de Tourisme in Gavarnie to find somewhere to stay, and they’d finally found the internet, courtesy of Gavarnie’s single networked PC. They immediately accused me of being Klaas’s friend and told me he was waiting for me at the campsite, which made me feel a bit bad as I’d already decided to stay in a hostel, due to the weather forecast.

A month's extra snow

Because there’s a lot more snow around than usual, there’s also a lot more water in the stream and rivers. The path I was following came to a crossing after about 30 minutes this morning, but the water was way too high to cross. Someone had kindly placed some big metal pipes every couple of feet and piled rocks between them to try and create some stepping-stones, but the entire construction was under water.

Section One - Complete

After nine days walking, I’m having a rest day in the village of Lescun today. I was hoping Lescun might have an internet of some sort but, despite most GR10 and HRP walkers pausing here for a day, no-one has thought about the money to be made from having a connected PC.

Luckily that disappointment has been balanced out by meeting some great people here. Yesterday I met Klaas - a retired climbing instructor from the Dutch army, who has the same tent as me! He’s also doing the HRP solo, and has an even heavier bag than me, which was reassuring.