David Le Vay - The Hairy Hikers: A Coast-to-Coast Trek Along the French Pyrenees

THE HAIRY HIKERS

Copyright David Le Vay, 2012

Map by Robert Smith

All rights reserved.

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The right of David Le Vay to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Le Vay lives in south-west London. He is a child-therapist and a senior lecturer at Roehampton University, a jazz pianist in a band that gigs regularly around London and a keen cricket player.

CONTENTS

Prologue
Arrival in Hendaye

Day 1 Hendaye to Biriatou

Day 2 Biriatou to Olhette

Day 3 Olhette to Anhoa

Day 4 Anhoa to Bidarray

Day 5 Bidarray to St-tienne-de-Bagorry

Day 6 St-tienne-de-Bagorry to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port

Day 7 St-Jean-Pied-de-Port Rest Day

Day 8 St-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Phagalcette

Day 9 Phagalcette to Chalet D'Iraty

Day 10 Chalet D'Iraty to Logibar

Day 11 Logibar to St Engrce

Day 12 St Engrce to Arette la Pierre St-Martin

Day 13 Refuge Jeandel to Lescun

Day 14 Lescun to Borce

Day 15 Borce to Gabas

Day 16 Borce to Gabas (Again)

Day 17 Gabas to Gourette The Central Pyrenees

Day 18 Gourette to Arrens-Marsous

Day 19 Arrens-Marsous to Cauterets

Day 20 Cauterets Rest Day

Day 21 Cauterets to Luz-St-Sauveur

Day 22 Luz to Barges

Day 23 Barges to Lac de L'Oule

Day 24 Lac de L'Oule to Azet

Day 25 Azet to Granges D'Astau

Day 26 Granges D'Astau to Luchon

Day 27 Luchon

Day 28 Lost in Luchon

Day 29 Still Lost in Luncon

Day 30 Luchon to Fos

Day 31 Fos to Refuge de l'tang d'Araing

Day 32 Refuge de l'tang D'Araing to Eylie

Day 33 Eylie to Cabane du Pla de la Lau

Day 34 To the Corrie Lake

Day 35 Corrie Lake to Seix

Day 36 Seix to St Lizier Campsite

Day 37 St Lizier to Aulus-les-Bains

Day 38 Aulus-les-Bains to Vicdessos

Day 39 Vicdessos to Siguer

Day 40 Siguer Camping

Day 41 To the Refuge de Rulhe

Day 42 Refuge de Rulhe to Mrens

Day 43 Mrens to Refuge Des Bsines The Eastern Pyrenees

Day 44 Refuge Des Bsines to Lake of Many Vowels

Day 45 Lake of Many Vowels to Villefranche de Conflent

Day 46 Villefranche de Conflent to Refuge du Ras de la Carana

Day 47 Refuge du Ras de la Carana to Py

Day 48 Py to Refuge de Mariailles

Day 49 Refuge de Mariailles to Chalet des Cortalets

Day 50 Refuge de Cortalets to Amlie-les-Bains

Day 51 Amlie-les-Bains to Las Illas

Day 52 Las Illas to Pic des Quatre Termes

Day 53 Pic des Quatre Termes to Banyuls Sur Mer Epilogue

Epilogue

PROLOGUE

'But I hate walking I've always hated walking.' My plaintive and frankly rather pathetic cry rang out around the dining room as we sat eating breakfast one fairly ordinary Saturday morning. My partner Nicky looked at me with a combination of concern and irritation whilst Jessica, our daughter, simply raised a curious eyebrow, gave a wry smile and held my arm in the way that you might an elderly gent as you escort him across a busy road.

The cause of my sorry angst was the fact that I was days away from embarking on a two-month, 850-km trek along the entire length of the Pyrenees; coast to coast from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. I was, for better or worse, about to strike forth along the fabled GR10, a 'Grande Randonne' footpath that begins in the small town of Hendaye on the Atlantic coast and follows the French side of the Pyrenees eastwards, all the way to Banyuls-sur-Mer on the Mediterranean. Quite why I was doing this I didn't know. Did I hate walking? Maybe.

Up until this point, the longest walk I had ever undertaken was a 24-km sponsored school walk with my mother across Ashdown Forest in East Sussex when I was twelve. All I remember is that it rained non-stop that day, and after we had finished we sat dripping in the school hall whilst they revived us with hot chicken soup. I had been on some pretty good day-walks since then, maybe four or five hours at the most, but I had never been on any kind of hiking or trekking holiday as such. The nearest I got to this was when, many years ago at the ripe old age of thirty, I decided to go to the Lake District for a week on my own; to walk and 'find myself' in the hills. Unfortunately, I didn't like what I found and lasted only a couple of days (which somehow didn't include a lot of walking) before returning back home with my metaphorical tail between my legs.

I am still not entirely sure where the idea of doing the GR10 originated. No doubt, at the age of forty-three, there was a flavour of mid-life crisis about the whole thing. We didn't have an au pair for me to run away with, I knew I couldn't climb Everest and I wasn't about to circumnavigate the globe on a spacehopper, but the idea of an epic mountain trek seemed both challenging and just about within the realms of possibility. And once this idea had entered my mind it just sat there, percolating for some months like a strong black French double espresso.

I hadn't mentioned anything to Nicky at this stage, although she knew that I was feeling a little stir-crazy and wanted to do something to haul myself, albeit temporarily, out of the clutches of suburbia and my somewhat stressful job as a child-therapist. Over the years I have banged on enough times about buying a house abroad or living on a barge or growing a beard and hiding in the woods down at our allotment, so all in all Nicky was well aware that I had the potential to do something stupid at some point in my life. I stumbled upon the GR10 itself whilst I surfed the Net looking at walking holidays in France, and somehow the idea of a coast-to-coast walk that incorporated mountains, French villages and beautiful scenery seemed just about perfect. I had always had something of a love affair with France, having spent many holidays there both with Nicky and Jess and with friends in my younger days. As for mountains, there is something very special about the intense sensation of height and space, the solitude and sense of escape and the way in which they transform one's perspective, both externally and internally. They have always captivated me.