Mr Bear Is Hungry

Yesterday morning began with an hour and a quarter climbing up a steep scree on the western face of Pic Carlit – the highest mountain in the Eastern Pyrenees at 2,921m, and the last time the HRP goes that high. The descent wasn’t generally as steep, but there were sections where it required scrambling using hands, so I was impressed by the number of tourists heading up.

This slowly turned to dismay as I walked down to Barrage de Bouillouse (second photo, taken from the summit of Carlit) – it was one of the most beautiful areas I’ve seen on the whole trail, but as I neared the dam the number of people rose exponentially.