Sunday 9th July: Weather 18°C to 24°C Cool morning, spots of rain midday, warm sunny afternoon
St Lary Soulan to Loudenvielle: 17k walk: 4hrs 30 mins 9.30am to 2pm: 13k walk, 4k stroll around lake
Altitude Gain and Loss: Total Ascent 850m: Total Descent 700m
Accommodation: BnB Les Noisetiers
Nevada Chambre d’Hotes Garden
A beautiful easy day in the not too high Pyrenees crossing from St Lary in one valley to Loudenvielle in the next through very pretty villages and over the Col d’Azet at 1580m. Such a relaxing day with pretty forested countryside, villages and cows.
A lazy morning. It’s Sunday and breakfast is at 8 o’clock. Time for a few phone calls home, to blog and sort out our gear. We can’t believe there’s only a few days of walking left. But it’s also exciting that soon we’ll be watching three days of Le Tour de France. As I type this now, we’re watching the last 45 mins of Sunday July 9th and see Richie Porte crash out of the race. So disappointing for us to see him carried away in an ambulance, heartbreaking for him as with our limited French we learn it’s le fini de Le tour pour Richie Porte. Still, that’s how it is in Le Tour. Not only survival of the fittest, but survival of the the spills.
Magnificent breakfast Navada
Up through the forests
Old church at Estensan
Views back to St Lary
Mist and green grass on way to col
Coffee break in the clouds
Ian’s trusty Jet Boil
Last bit steep on way to Col d'Azet
Views from Col d’Azet 1500 metres
Looking down on Loudenvielle
Very pretty village of Loudenvielle
Picnic lunch in the park
Time to smell the roses
8am and breakfast is on the second floor in the attic of Nevada Chambre d’Hotes - a magnificent spread of fresh baguettes, jams, butter, yoghurt, freshly squeezed orange juice, croissants, fresh fruit, muesli, dried fruit and nuts. And we’re the only ones there. We’d give this place 11 out of 10. It was a magnificent place. Would highly recommend. After breakfast, Christina proudly shows us the second chambre which is more a complete unit, with a lounge room as well as 2 bedrooms - designed for a family or 2 couples.
We leave at 9.30am, and stop at the Petit Casino for a fresh baguette and one tomato. I am 1 cent short and need to break a large note to pay for this bullocks heart tomato. But it’s worth the extra 100gms in small change to have a really nice tomato. It’s a steep climb out of St Lary through the forests towards the villages of Sailhan then Estensan, 200 metres above. St Lary is not on the GR10 but we rejoin it at Estensan, a pretty village with an old church towering into the mist. Up through more forested tracks through the larger village of Azet, and then through cow pastures towards the Col d’Azet at 1580 metres.
It’s almost 12pm and we’ve been walking uphill for almost two and a half hours, and soon we see the grassy Col in the distance with cars and people collected at the top where the road crosses. Our GR10 track has been criss crossing this road, giving cars and bikes easy to the col. Time for a coffee. It’s still a cool 18°C, but there’s no breeze, and it’s very pleasant sitting on a green grassy knoll, trying to dodge cow pats. The coffee is most welcome but we don’t need tart or jam and bread to go with it. Too much for breakfast! Thanks Donna and Milton for the blue foam sit pads which we’ve used every day for morning tea and lunch. An absolute necessity for a skinny bum! Ian’s gas bottle is low and we might need a refill before the end of the week.
It’s still a slog up the last bit to the Col d’Azet at 1580 metres and at the top we have glorious views to both valleys - St Lary and Loudenvielle. It’s a rather steep climb down and many times the track has muddy patches mixed with cow pats. Hikers have created round about routes that go down or up, and we likewise try to avoid these messy spots. Soon we have a glorious view of Loudenvielle in the valley below near the Lac de Genos.
More steep downhill through bracken and thorny shrubs - something we didn't encounter in the alps. It’s prickly and sticky and probably grows well here because there’s so much rain and humidity in the Pyrenees compared to the Alps. Today was cool but very humid. We find that our clothes sometimes don’t dry over night, whereas they always did in the alps.
At 2pm, we’re in Loudenvielle, and spy a beautiful park near the Lac de Genos with many picnic tables. Time for lunch of fresh baguette, cheese, butter and our bullocks heart tomato with a cup of tea. Then a short walk through the village to check out the Carrefour Montagne which is open all days from 8am to 8pm, and up to Les Noisetiers, our BnB for 2 days, just a few hundred metres up the road. It’s a beautiful old house built in 1723 and the owners Laurence and Jean-Marc have created a lovely BnB with 4 bedrooms. Ours is on the top floor in the attic, with ensuite and a large queen size bed. It’s too early to watch Le Tour with a beer, so we’re out the door, checking with the Tourist Office for the best route to the Col de Peyresourde. There’s two routes, one by the main road, and a walking track up through the village of Germ to Peyragudes, the finish of Le Tour. The lady at the tourist office tells us it will be really busy this Thursday July 13th when Le Tour arrives at the col.
There’s a walking track around Lac de Genos, a pleasant way to fill in a Sunday afternoon, with hundreds of tourists and holiday makers also strolling around the lake's edge. We pass a parking lot full of camper vans ready for Le Tour. Back at the Carrefour Montagne at 4.15pm to buy dinner for tonight - bread, cheese, pate, butter, tomatoes and capsicum, rose and beer, with a bag of crushed ice to keep it all cold. Then back to Les Noisetiers to watch the end of Le Tour with a wine and beer and a few nuts. Christopher Froome is still leader in le Maillot jeune, but Richie Porte has crashed out.
At 6pm, it’s a picnic dinner in the garden on the 5 metre long 2 plank table fit for a king. Such a beautiful evening. We’re joined by Jean Marc, who runs Les Noisetiers with his wife Laurence. He belongs to a special rescue group in the mountains and he tells us about the old house and all the Noisettes (hazel nut trees) in the garden - hence the name. He explains how to get up to the Col de Peyresourdes then hop across to the finish at Peyragudes. We’ll see it tomorrow, but on the day of Le Tour, we’ll be coming up from the Luchon side and probably won’t get to the top of the col, just half way up to see the riders slow to a crawl - mind you their crawl is my top speed at 30kph.
Laurence and Jean Marc are entertaining guests in their garden tonight, so we retire to our attic to blog and plan tomorrow’s walk to have a preview of the Col de Peyresourde. An early night at 9pm. Not sure how well we’ll sleep s we hear the church bells every half hour.
Les Noisetiers
Camper vans waiting for Le Tour
Around Lac de Genos