GR10 // day 24 // Bagneres de Luchon

Today I'm having a rest day, so I sleep long. Breakfast of the traditional continental type is taken at a café in the center of the town. I have no big plans for the day; the only thing I need to do is getting food for some of the days in the Ariege.

Inside the church in Bagneres de Luchon.

A rest day is really a necessary evil you have to do when you're doing a long distance walk. In fact you actually don't want to stop walking, since that is the rhythm you've become accustomed to. But the body may benefit from getting some rest in between. So you should be patient and let your body get some time for itself.

Dark clouds from the horizon on the way.

I meet the Polish family again; they've planned to spend the next long and hard stage to Fos in two and will only go to Artigue today. The thought has crossed my mind as well.

Arriving at Bagneres de Luchon is marking the end of the Pyrénées Centrales and the beginning of the Pyrénées Ariégeoises, even though I won't be crossing the real boundary before two days time (Col d'Auéran). What count however is that according to my guidebook, preparations for this part of the trail has to be done here in Bagneres. This refers mostly to buying food supplies for those days where it won't be possible to do so on the way.

Thunderstorm in the mountains above Bagneres de Luchon, lightning flashes lit up the clouds seen from my balcony at the hotel.

There is a race in the town in the afternoon. I eat a dinner at a restaurant, which is ok but nothing more. During the afternoon dark clouds has drifted in over the town from the mountains and in the evening the clouds are lit up by flashes of lightning.

<- Bagneres de LuchonFos ->

GR10 // day 23 // Oo - Bagneres de Luchon

Distance: 18.5km (474.2km), time spent: 9:26 (180:04).
Ascent / descent: 1003m (25695m) / 1857m (25314m).
Altitude (start / end / highest): 1504m / 650m / 2275m.
Weather: Sunny.

After todays stage I will have walked through two of the four topo guides for the trail that I have got with me, in other words I'm about half way. That said, I don't carry the books itself, I've cut out all the map pages that I need on the walk and thrown away the pages that I don't need. For each day I've completed I've left behind the map pages I don't have any use for anymore on the place I've been staying, so my stack of maps are now about half of what I started with.

On the way up from Lac d'Oo and the Refuge du Lac d'Oo.

In the topo guides the trail is marked in red, next to Lac d'Oo in the topo guide for Pyrénées Centrales the red line is going across several height meters on its route up towards Col d'Espingo. And it is here that you find me and Evelyne on our way up from the lake, we decided to walk together to Bagneres de Luchon. While the sunlight slow, but steady, is moving down the mountain sides to Lac d'Oo so are we moving up towards Hourquette des Hounts-Secs.

View in the direction of Col de la Coume de Bourg from Hourquette des Hounts-Secs.

We walk up from one side to the other while the lake below is lying squeezed between the mountains below. Up at Hourquette des Hounts-Secs (2275m) we can stare down towards the blue eye below. The Polish family that I met yesterday is relaxing at the edge of the pass and is enjoying the nice weather. Towards Col de la Coume de Bourg the trail is climbing up and down along the mountain side. Deep down below you can see the parking lot at the Auberge d'Astau and above it the pass I went over and down from yesterday.

Lac d'Oo.

After a break with a great view at Col de la Coume de Bourg (2275m) are we both keen on a beer. With the view in mind we're now aware that in front of us now is the Ariege, which is the part of the Pyrenees the trail goes through that most people are most reluctant to go through. The trail is going in the direction of Superbagneres and already from far away is the old hotel visible. Above us a flock of eagles are circling.

It seems there must be something about me and half way on a long distance walk, as on Corsica my camera is malfunctioning when I'm on the last day before I'm half way. In frustration I see the camera blackout completely. Evelyne is trying to keep my mood up. At Superbagneres (1804m) we order a beer and a plate of meat each. Luckily it's only the battery that is mysteriously flat again, but this time I've brought with me a spare battery. The smile is back again. The weather is so nice that we stay at the place for about two hours.

Evelyne with the trail and Hourquette des Hounts-Secs in the background.

Instead of walking down from Superbagneres Evelyne is choosing to take the cableway down. I'm a little bit more of a puritan and feel that I have to take the route down, so our ways are separated for the moment. But we have agreed to meet again later in Bagneres to eat dinner. If you look away from the idea that you have to follow the route all the way, then taking the cableway is a better idea. The trail down the forest takes forever and you never have the feeling of getting any closer to the town at all.

View from Col de la Coume de Bourg.

The hostess at the Refuge de Lac d'Oo had booked a hotel for me in Bagneres de Luchon (650m), Le Chalet. A small house that creaks, but it feels good to have a room for myself now. I've booked the place for two nights; since I will have a rest day tomorrow (I think it's a good idea now). The room has a small balcony, which suits me fine.

Celebrating half way on the journey with Evelyne in Bagneres de Luchon.

I meet Evelyne at the place where we agreed to meet and are finding ourselves a place to celebrate being half way on the trip. It becomes a nice ending on a nice day (that could have been a huge letdown). Unfortunately Evelyne is feeling that it's too much uncertainty around the Ariege, so she has decided to travel straight to Merens les Vals instead. On the balcony the night is illuminated from a clear starry sky.

<- OoBagneres de Luchon ->

GR10 // day 22 // Adervielle - Oo

Distance: 21.2km (455.7km), time spent: 7:50 (170:38).
Ascent / descent: 1567m (24692m) / 1011m (23457m).
Altitude (start / end / highest): 948m / 1504m / 2131m.
Weather: Sunny.

After a nice stay at the gîte in Adervielle there are about 3-4 kilometers to Loudenvielle and GR10. Outside is yesterdays tristesse forgotten. It's a clear blue sky and todays walk goes to one of the places that originally led me to choose to do the trail, Lac d'Oo. I'm excited to get to see the lake that is lying like it almost has been sunk among the steep mountain sides.

Paragliders coming in to land at a meadow next to Lac de Génos Loudenvielle, which may be a possible reason why there are so many people here in the village. It appears that there are good conditions for paragliding in the area.

Back in Loudenvielle I wave to the nice women at the office of tourism when I pass by yet another time. On the way to the village there weren't few paragliders that was flying over the landscape and going in for landing at a meadow next to Lac de Génos Loudenvielle. I start walking upwards again, this time for good.

Up at Germ (1339m) it gets clear that I would probably have managed to get some food there, but that is forgotten now. After Germ we leave the civilization behind for a while and venture into and up the mountains. Couret de Latuhe can now be seen clearly on the other side of the valley, with a collection of paraglider-chutes lying on one of the cols behind. The trail is then going high up in the green dominion of the Aube valley.

View up towards Pas de Couret d'Esquierry, a walk through a green valley.

Cabane d'Ourtiga.

At Cabane d'Ourtiga (1600m) a large group of walkers are on a daytrip up to the cabin, which is quite cozy inside. I can look up to the Pas de Couret d'Esquierry, a steep and verdant pass 500 meters higher up. On the way up the view is getting better and better the higher I get.

Then the waymarking is getting a little bit diffused, and something tells me that I'm going the wrong way. From the valley below there is a lot of shouting which calm down when I turn and continue in the correct direction. On the way I take a close look at the landscape that I got lost in yesterday. Seen from here it's quite difficult to understand that it's possible to get lost there. Yesterday would have been a nice walk in good weather.

View back from the climb up to Pas de Couret d'Esquierry, with Couret de Latuhe in the horizon.

At the top of Pas de Couret d'Esquierry (2131m) it's time for a break. A family is relaxing in the sun while they're drying their tent. On the way down a marmot is looking at us curiously, for not to forget all the cows. And it's steep down to the Astau valley. But it isn't the steepness that takes my breath away, but the sight of all the cars at the parking place next to Auberge d'Astau. I see for myself an ocean of people up at Lac d'Oo.

Pas de Couret d'Esquierry.

I take a break down by the hostel (1139m) together with all the day trippers. Pancakes are always a safe bet. Luckily I go towards the stream and the ocean of people on the way up. Up at the lake there is a great sight awaited me, Lac d'Oo (1504m) with Cascade d'Oo in the background. The waterfall is known since the Victorian times.

Lac d'Oo wit Cascade d'Oo at the end of the lake.

It becomes a nice evening at the Refuge du Lac d'Oo, which are nicer in the inside than on the outside. I eat dinner together with the family I passed on the top of Pas de Couret d'Esquierry, which is a Polish family doing a part of the GR10. In addition to Evelyne who appeared just at the start of the meal. She'd gone the wrong way on the same spot as I did, but unlike me continued further on in that direction and ended up out of course. It was apparently quite typical of her. Evelyne had also started from Hendaye, but had taken some short cuts along the way. In the evening me and Evelyne are reading in the lights of our headlamps in the darkness at the dormitory. On the other side of Lac d'Oo the water is flowing unceasingly down from the waterfall.

<- AdervielleBagneres de Luchon ->

GR10 // day 21 // Oredon - Adervielle

Distance: 34.8km (434.5km), time spent: 11:41 (162:48).
Ascent / descent: 1434m (23125m) / 2654m (22446m).
Altitude (start / end / highest): 1856m / 948m / 2260m.
Weather: Sun in the morning, fog and rain the rest of the day.

Today my plan was to go to Loudenvielle, but it's a long walk there. And since I'm currently located about 400 meters below the route I will have to start the day with a tough climb up again. In the evening before I discussed some alternatives (like following the road up back to Lac d'Aumar) with the host of Chalet-Hôtel d'Oredon, which in turn ended up by him offering to drive me up to the lake. A kind offer which I accepted. So I don't have to do the steep climb up in the beginning, but I will have to do the part between Lac d'Aumar and Col d'Estodou again.

Lac d'Oule, the mist is rising up from the valley below and floats over the water.

The weather is very nice in the beginning, but down in the valleys the clouds are lurking. At the end of Lac d'Oule the morning mist is rising up from the valley below and is floating over the water, fingers of fog strokes the mountain sides around the water. It isn't water I'm looking down at when I walk on the trail beneath Crete de Graouès-Blanques, but a sea of fog.

Lac d'Oule and the valley are covered by fog below Crete de Graouès-Blanques.

It's a pleasant walk in a green landscape to Col de Portet, behind me the path from Col d'Estodou is disappearing down into the clouds with Pic de Néouvielle still looming in the background. The sky has been blue all the time so far, but when I sit down on the top of Col de Portet (2215m) to put on some sun creme the clouds are coming rolling in. The rest of the day was to be a walk in fog and rain.

I get lost in the fog around La Serre (2004m). The fog is so dense that I can't see that many meters in front of me, at a waymark it's no longer possible to see clearly where the trail is going. The only thing I can see is a faint outline in the grass, which I follow further into the fog. Soon the outline disappears as well. I walk a little bit further before I come to a junction of three paths, but none of them is marked with the GR-waymark (one white and one red line). In the end I'm deep in the land of fog without clearly knowing where I am.

Green and pleasant hills before Col de Portet.

Take a breather and breathe out, reset my sense of direction again. Turn and think back. I turn and walk back in the direction I came from, but on the way back I have to climb up a small mountain side. I didn't climb down one. But the direction is good and I find the route again. I continue walking towards Vielle-Aure slightly upset, but relieved.

Dense fog after Col de Portet, here a car is wrapped in by the grey veil.

The first of two steep and hard descents of the day take me down to Vielle-Aure (800m), where I get to order some lunch despite that the food serving has closed. I must have been looking quite frustrated. Then it goes upwards again and at Azet (1168m) it starts to pour down.

Dense fog, rain and a muddy trail before I yet again is entering Tour de France-land at Couret de Latuhe (1586m). Warnings were given that it was difficult finding the correct route down from the pass, but I don't have any problems here. I arrive very tired at Loudenvielle, after the second of two steep and hard descents of the day, to the realization that there isn't any place available to stay here.

Farm in the mist and rain between Vielle-Aure and Loudenvielle.

Clearly tired, frustrated and low on blood sugar am I starting walking further on the trail towards Germ, but half-way up I find out that it's really a bad idea. I don't know if I will be able to get food there and in my frustration I forgot to think about buying food in Loudenvielle. So I turn and walk down again. My plan now is to see if I can find a place at the camping site instead (though I really don't like camping sites).

Back in Loudenvielle I walk past the office of tourism, which now as opposed to earlier is almost empty of people. I ask if they know about any places available to stay. There isn't, but they know about a gîte that is located a little bit outside of the village that should have available spaces. They even offer to drive me out there when they close. I accept that kind offer as well, before I walk down to the supermarket to buy some food. Apparently another trekker also arrived here and found herself in the same situation as me, Evelyne from Poland, so we're two persons being driven out to Adervielle.

Loudenvielle beneath the thick and grey layer of clouds.

After such a hard and arduous day it feels extremely good to come to a nice gîte where we receive a warm welcome by the hostess. And by that the day isn't that bad in the end. I got a hot shower, changed into dry clothes and made myself dinner before a nice evening. Again I think about how lucky I was with the choice of going to Bareges the other day, if not I would have walked yesterdays fantastic stage in the bad weather of today.

<- OredonOo ->

GR10 // day 20 // Bareges - Oredon

Distance: 21.0km (399.7km), time spent: 8:20 (151:07).
Ascent / descent: 1349m (21691m) / 763m (19792m).
Altitude (start / end / highest): 1240m / 1856m / 2509m.
Weather: Marvelous.

Yesterday evening I wondered whether it would have been better to stay at Luz St Saveur instead of continuing to Bareges, but today I was overjoyed that I had done that choice. Because there was a truly spectacular day awaiting me in the Pyrenees today after having woken up to a very good breakfast in Gîte d'Etape l'Oasis. It was such a day that you only dream of experiencing.

Walking through the Bareges valley in the morning.

Out of Bareges I soon get to see with my own eyes how big damages the flooding has done, where the riverbed was there goes now a deep rift through the town. The GR10 is originally crossing the river over a bridge, but that is now impossible. So in the start you have to stay on the road up through the valley, it's however not the worst part of walking alongside a road on. I'm back on the GR10 at the parking lot beneath Pont de la Gaubie (1538m), after the bridge the only things that matters are the high mountains and beautiful scenery.

Lac de Coucyla Gran with Cabane d'Aygues-Cluses situated next to it.

From here the trail goes up through a lovely valley past little creeks and waters, with panoramic mountains on each side. Horses graze in the wet and tall grass. Next to Lac de Coucyla Gran is Cabane d'Aygues-Cluses (2150m) a popular target for a picnic, but the cabane itself is quite spartan. It's a green wonderworld.

Then the trail wants to take you up to the highest point on the GR10, if you don't count the route past the Hourquette d'Ossoue as the main route of the GR10, the Col de la Madamète. This isn't that easy, since the beautiful scenery makes it almost impossible not to stop on the way up to enjoy the view. The climb is making an abrupt stop at Lacs de Madamète (2299m). Blue water against blue sky and thoughts back to the Lac de Bastani at Corsica. Just like there I here also have to sit down by the water's edge and do nothing else than enjoying the sight.

View from the top of Col de la Madamète.

Antennas and domes just like out of a science-fiction movie is appearing behind me in the horizon, it's the Pic du Midi de Bigorre (2877m) that has a huge astronomical observatory on its summit. If the scenery has been great on the way up, then the scenery revealing itself at the top of the Col de la Madamète (2509m) is a wonder. I gaze upon the magnificent Néouvielle. Pic de Néouvielle (3091m) joins forces with great lakes and mountains to create a marvelous view.

Clouds reflecting in the surface of Gourg de Rabas.

Each step down from the pass is almost like a new photograph, it's what you say...a day of Kodak moments. The further down you get, more of the magnificent lakes below are revealing itself with Pic du Néouvielle more and more dominating. The few clouds that are in the sky are drifting over the water mirror of Gourg de Rabas, reflected in the water. Yesterdays travails are forgotten, this is an epiphany. Water and lakes in the landscape always brings out the best in a view, Lac d'Aumar and Lac d'Aubert no exception.

Magnificent scenery around Néouvielle.

I have to sit down and put my feet in the water of Lac d'Aumar (2190m). There are a couple of people around the lake and I've met quite a few on my way here, but I'd expected that it should've been more on a day like this. When I walk towards Col d'Estodou (2260m) I can look down at Lac d'Oredon (1856m) far below, knowing well that I have to go the steep way down even though the GR10 doesn't.

Lac d'Aumar.

Chalet-Hôtel de l'Oule is closed for restoration so I chose to go down to Lac d'Oredon instead; the alternative was Refuge de Bastan. From Col d'Estodou there is about 400 meters down, and I have to start tomorrow by going up the same steep way. The evening at the Chalet-Hôtel d'Oredon was a nice ending to a fantastic day in the Pyrenees.

<- BaregesAdervielle ->

GR10 // day 19 // Saugue - Bareges

Distance: 34.1km (378.7km), time spent: 9:51 (142:47).
Ascent / descent: 872m (20342m) / 1242m (19029m).
Altitude (start / end / highest): 1610m / 1240m / 1874m.
Weather: Clouds in the morning, sunny and hot during the day.

I chose to go to Bareges today instead of only going to Luz St Saveur, since the stage between Luz and Bareges wasn't supposed to be very long. This turned out to be a much longer and harder day than expected, where the highlight of the day came early in the walk.

The Saugue plateau, a dramatic landscape in the light.

It's cloudy and some rain in the morning, but when I start to walk the sun is breaking through the layer of clouds and is creating a dramatic landscape. The Saugue plateau is illuminated by a quaint light which it's great to behold. The trail is crossing the Gave d'Aspe before moving up towards Col de Suberpeyre (1725m). Mountains are appearing out of the clouds.

The Saugue plateau with Cirque de Gavarnie in the background.

It's a lovely view back towards Saugue with Cirque de Gavarnie in the background to a blue sky. I walk over Col de Suberpeyre which is covered by violet flowers. Down Gave de Cestréde the mountain farms looks half abandoned. Pragneres (895moh) is at the end of the road of the highlight of today.

Violet flowers at Col de Suberpeyre.

From here the trail is following the road and become a boring walk until Luz St Saveur, only interrupted by a just as boring walk through the woods up towards croix de Sia (1025m). After a while the path is joining the original GR10 route from Cauterets and is following it past Pont Napoleon (755m), which is a bridge that goes over the deep Gavarnie valley, to Luz St Saveur (720m).

Pont Napoleon, which goes high over the Gave de Gavarnie.

After an hour break in Luz St Saveur, where I visited the Templar-church and ate lunch, I start walking towards Bareges. The path is quite steep in the beginning and it's starting to become hot. I'm starting to get a little bit tired; the route to Luz was harder than expected. And it isn't the most exciting walk after Luz St Saveur either; I pass Couret d'Ousset (1322m). First when I go into the Golou valley and Gué de Bolou (1460m) is the trail getting interesting again with some nice scenery around.

The Templar-church in Luz St Saveur.

I arrive at Bareges quite tired where I secure a place at the Gîte d'Etape l'Oasis. The Bareges valley was one of the areas in the Pyrenees that was hardest struck by the flooding, which might explain why there is so quiet in the place on a Saturday evening. An English couple who walked the GR10 earlier experienced getting a message while they were walking that the hotel they were going to stay at here had to be demolished and so they had to find another place to stay, they also ended up at the Oasis. The whole camping site here was taken by the flood.

The Bolou valley.

I share a room with two Germans walking a part of the GR10. It's quiet in the place; I eat a good dinner at the Restaurant l'Isba; cured meat, magret de canard, cheese and ice cream for dessert. After a tiresome and mainly boring day, with the exception of the nice beginning, it feels good to go to bed with the promise of great weather tomorrow.

<- SaugueOredon ->

GR10 // day 18 // Ossoue - Saugue

Distance: 20.4km (344.6km), time spent: 7:17 (132:56).
Ascent / descent: 223m (19470m) / 1174m (17787m).
Altitude (start / end / highest): 2651m / 1610m / 2651m.
Weather: Sunny, rain and thunder in the evening and night.

This was a nice day where I went to Saugue. I awoke early to a nice view over the mountains. During the night the wind had blown quite hard at times, but my tent had survived the siege of the wind. As opposed to usual I doesn't start todays walk with an ascent, instead I have to negotiate a long and steep descent from Refuge de Bayssellance.

Morning at Refuge de Bayssellance.

Steep down from the Refuge de Bayssellance to the Oulettes d'Ossoue, where I had to cross the river on the ice.

Carved out of the mountain are the Grottes de Bellevue, a set of caves made by the eccentric count Henry Russell to be used as overnight accommodation and entertainment. How much entertainment I would've got there I don't know, but I would have liked to have spent one night in one of the caves.

Down by the Oulettes d'Ossoue the bridge over the river is broken in two, but the remaining glacier at the start of the valley is working fine as a bridge as well. It's sunny and nice weather so I had a nice view over the valley on the way down. A small lake, Barrage d'Ossoue (1834m), is located behind a dam above the Gave d'Ossoue. After crossing the dam the trail goes up to the verdant pastures above the Ossoue valley.

Barrage d'Ossoue.

The verdant Gave d'Ossoue that goes down towards Gavarnie.

Towards Gavarnie the trail goes over the meadows in a fertile and lovely valley frequently used as pasture. Looking back you can see up towards the mighty Vignemale massif, and in between you can discern Refuge de Bayssellance high up among the peaks. The trail passes by three cabanes on the way, Cabane pastorale de Lourdes, Cabane de Sausse-Dessus and Cabane Toussaous. I'm in the middle of marmot land; the place is teeming with the small rodents that are running all around the fields and across the trail.

It really is a verdant valley and it's a long way down to the bottom of it. I walk past a group where one of the trekkers is belonging to the curious breed that hikes with an umbrella (read Clear Waters Rising by Nicholas Crane for an even better hike with an umbrella). Even though the trail isn't going all the way down to Gavarnie, I walk down to it. This is a tourist place with a lot of people and I quickly decide that I doesn't want to spend the evening here, Cirque de Gavarnie or not.

View back towards the Vignemale-massif on the way down the Ossoue valley.

It is much nicer up at the Saugue plateau, a tranquil and pleasant culture landscape with small farms scattered around the green fields. A pleasant walk, but there are dark clouds brewing from Cirque de Gavarnie that are coming my way. The rain is arriving just before I arrive at Gîte d'Etape de Saugue. Later in the evening it is pouring down from the sky and deep thunderclaps can almost be seen over the mountains.

The Saugue plateau.

During the afternoon and evening more wet wanderers seeking shelter are arriving at the nice gîte, but after a while the aren't any more places available so some have to spend the night outside in their tent. While the weather is ravaging outside I enjoy myself inside with a good dinner and nice company. I play yam, which is a French variant of yatzy, with some of the other walkers. At the end of the evening I withdraw to my own room where I relax while the rain is hammering down onto the roof above.

<- OssoueBareges ->

GR10 // day 17 // Cauterets - Ossoue

Distance: 19.4km (324.2km), time spent: 8:34 (125:39).
Ascent / descent: 2186m (19247m) / 448m (16613m).
Altitude (start / end / highest): 913m / 2651m / 3032m.
Weather: Sunny throughout the day.

This was another eventful and beautiful day, for good and worse with an emphasis on good. Today I set course for the highest situated staffed refuge in the Pyrenees, where I will pass over the highest point of the GR10 on the way.

The ruined bridge over the Lutour River at la Raillere.

The Pyrenees was earlier in the year home of some severe flooding, which were to put their mark on the first part of my walk today. After having walked for about an hour through a forest after leaving Cauterets I arrive at a junction, where the path of the GR10 is barred by ribbons and a note with the following message: 'Access interdit au public'. Other than not care about the message and walk on I have no option but to walk back to Cauterets again. I walk on and soon the reason for the message is evident. The trail is crossing a rapid, where the bridge has been broken by the flooding.

Lac de Gaube.

I walk down to the river and jump across to where the remains of the bridge are and shake it quite hard. It seems not to fall completely apart so I take the chance so walk across it. I hold on to the railing and then walk fast over the bridge that is hanging unevenly over the rapids (my mother will probably not be happy when she hears about this). I get across and can continue down to the restaurants below before I start walking up Val de Jeret. It's an enjoyable walk in the morning next to the river up to Pont d'Espagne (1496m).

Great mountain scenery with grassing horses and the majestic Vignemale in the background.

It's swarming with people up at the beautiful Lac de Gaube (1725m). Being early up doesn't help when you have to cover some grounds to get to a place, when the day-trippers only need to drive up to Pont d'Espagne and take the cableway up. The lake is lovely and beyond it mighty peaks are rising to the sky, it's quite understandable that it's a popular spot. Yet, a lot of people, so I don't take the longest break at the lake before I continue walking upwards.

The tension is rising the further up the valley I go, for the sight of the mightiest mountain on the French side of the Pyrenees is tempting. After a nice ascent through a nice valley I can finally let go of my breath and look up towards the majestic Vignemale (3298m). There is a great image before me, green meadows with grassing horses and the mighty mountain towering behind. I take a break at Refuge des Oulettes de Gaube (2151m) where I enjoy the view of Vignemale, together with a sidelong glance at the pass I have to go over next.

View from Petit Vignemale.

Up to Hourquette d'Ossoue (2734m) the stony path is undulating steeply upwards, with Vignemale guarding every step you take. I catch up with Dominik and Anna on the way up, they had planned to go another route from Refuge d'Ilheou, but we had expected that we would meet again at Refuge de Bayssellance. At the top of the pass we can look down upon the mountain hut and the beautiful mountain scenery with the sun shining down upon us, the mountains finally displaying more gray colors than green.

At the summit of Petit Vignemale. The characteristic shape of Pic du Midi d'Ossau can be seen far away in the horizon to the left.

At the pass we leave the backpacks behind and climb up to Petit Vignemale (3032m), it's an easy climb up to the top from Hourquette d'Ossue. The view is a panorama of peaks, just wonderful. In the far distance in the horizon I can glimpse Pic du Midi d'Ossau. There are people at the summit of Vignemale; no wonder, it's splendid weather. I'm extremely pleased at the moment.

Down by Refuge de Bayssellance (2651m) I pitch my tent to a striking view, I'm high up so I'm a little bit anxious about the tent. I take a drink together with Dominik and Anna inside the cabin. The following evening is just a nice as the day, a clear and starry sky with a moon shining upon Vignemale.

Night over Vignemale.

<- CauteretsSaugue ->