Gourette 27th June

Tuesday 27th June: Weather 14°C to 27°C back to 14°C Overcast til 2.30pm then thunderstorms

Gabbas to Gourette: 23.5k walk: 10hrs: 7.45am to 5.45pm

Altitude Gain and Loss: Total Ascent 1800m: Total Descent 1500m

Accommodation: Hotel La Boule de Neige

Good bye Hotel Vignau

Gabas - famous for cheese

Misty valley above Gabbas

Corniche des Alhas OR Pont du Goua

Corniche des Alhas a bit hairy

Beautiful streaming waterfalls

10 min coffee break

Along the Plateau de Cezy

Plateau de Cezy 1610m

Valley of Soossouoeu

Beautiful Iris and other wildflowers

GR10 sign painters

What an amazing day. So many highlights and one of our biggest days - a 3300 metre day -1800 metres total ascent and 1500 metres total descent. It took 6hrs 30 mins to climb to the Hourquette d’Arre (2465m) where there were amazing views as good as the Alps. And then 30 mins later on the way down we got caught in a thunderstorm and walked 3 hrs in the rain and mist. A 10 hr day.

Our day started at 6am and we’re packed and ready to leave early for our long climb to the Hourquette d’Arre. The only WiFi in the Hotel Vignau is at is at their Restaurant Vignau across the road so we have breakfast there at 7am to catch up with emails and home. Bill and Joan soon join us. They are heading out of Gabas today to Lourdes. Breakfast is a spread of hot pancakes, fresh bread, buttery croissants, and jam and butter - with hot tea. We say goodby to Bill and Joan and we’re out the door by 7.45am.

It’s a cool misty morning as we walk 400 metres up the road to the junction of the GR10 that we left yesterday, passing a tourist sign describing how important Gabas is in storing and maturing cheeses of the area. We arrive at the GR10 sign that says 9hrs 45 mins to Gourette - OK we say, we’ll be a bit quicker than that - at 23k we should be there in 8hrs, soon after 4pm. Big mistake!!

All starts well as we climb up through the forest and after an hour, we come to a junction where we need to decide to follow the GR10 to the Corniche des Alhas which is a narrow shelf with a 200 m drop below - but there is a hand rail. Yippee!! Or we could go via the Pont du Goua, a variant that avoids the Corniche shelf. Ian chooses the shelf and soon we’re shuffling our way along a narrow rock ledge with a 200 m drop to the gorge below, while hanging on to a wire handrail that’s little comfort. It’s only a short 500 m section and we’ve been on worse. The track crosses the roaring Gave de Soussoueoue which services a hydro- electric plant, and after another 20 mins of descending we start the long climb to the Hourquette d’Arre. In 30 mins we arrive at the Houn de Mouscabarous (1361m) and have a quick 10 min cup of coffee - we’ve managed to climb 300 metres and descend to teh height we started at. There’s still a lot of climbing to do today.

Up and up to the Plateau du Cezy at 1600 m where we walk along a balcony for several k looking down on the sheep and cattle in the valley below that look like maggots on a lettuce leaf. Across the valley we see le Petit Train d’Artouste, which claims to be the highest train in Europe. A gondola takes tourists from the Lac de Fabréges up the Pic de la Sagette to the terminus of the railway, which traverses the north slopes of the Crête de la Sagette to reach Lac d’Artouste (1997m). On and on through fields of wild flowers and we pass two workers - the sign painters - with their brushes and cans of red and white paint marking the GR10 stripes. They tell us we still have a long way up. We know!

The track takes a sudden turn upwards and we know we’re in for a steep climb - we still have 800 metres of ascent to the Hourquette d’Arre. There’s pockets of deep snow, an we stop to fill a small coke bottle with snow to put in our food bag to keep the butter solid. The climb through grassland is steep and there’s a few snow drifts to cross before we reach a steep shaly section with no obvious path through, except we know we’re heading up to a dip in the mountains which we presume to be the Hourquette d’Arre. The wind is cyclonic and we can barely keep upright as we reach the Hourquette d’Arre (2465m). But there’s no time to savour the moment. We have spent 6hrs 30 mins climbing to reach this point and now it;s so windy and so cold, we take a few snapshots of the fantastic Pyrenees in all their glory, and descend to the other side to find a warm sheltered spot for lunch.

At 2.40pm we find a grassy ledge and in 10 mins we’ve eaten our bread and jam and start heading down. There’s a storm brewing and we can hear the thunder rumbling on top of the col where we were 20 mins ago. Its starts to rain and the mist rolls in. But we still have 1100m to descend to Gourette. For the next 3hrs we descend down slipper rocky tracks in the mist. We’ve donned our raingear and ponchos, and whilst we’re not freezing, 14°C with rain is still cold.

Half way down, a flock of sheep appear out of the mist, standing on “our” path. is there a sheep dog? Doesn't appear to be so we move on through the flock with sheep hopping over the edge out of our way to the depths below. The rain gets heavier. We think we are near Gourette but can’t see any sign of anything. At 5pm we see a sign that says 2k to Gourette! Can’t be! It’s so dark now we can barely see the track in the forest. Finally at 5.40pm we see tennis courts through the mist - civilisation. And then the village of Gourette appears. There’s a few lights on in a few places but most appear closed - it’s a ski resort and only a few places stay open for the summer. Down through the centre and we see lights on in a hotel up the road - La Boule de Neige. Its 5.45pm, 10hrs exactly after we left Gabas, when we appear at the door wet and sodden to be greeted by the most friendly assistant who takes our wet gear down to the drying room, tells us the WiFi code and ushers us off to Room 14. How nice is this.

After a bit of washing and a shower we’re quickly downstairs ordering a bottle of Merlot and a beer, sitting in the heated lounge room watching the rain outside. Dinner is fantastic. We have 3 waiters and there’s just us two in the dining room. I have a plate of salad, followed by steak and chips and a slice of apple tart, Ian has potato soup and omelette.