Hiking the GR10 - Pyrenees

Monday19th June:  Weather 24°C to 36°C Extremely Hot and sunny

Pau:  10k walk to buy a gas bottle

Accommodation: Brit Hotel Bosquet

After a smooth 9hr very quiet TGV trip, we arrive at 8am in Pau to a warm hazy morning.  The station is on the river and it’s a 1k uphill walk to our Brit Hotel Bosquet where we are welcomed by Sylvie and given our room immediately - the booking for the night before that we missed was not wasted and it was good to get in so early to have a shower and breakfast and do some more sorting.  

There’s a note indicating we can get a kettle from downstairs, and a cup of tea in our room was very welcome before walking a few hundred metres up the road to buy some milk, cream and yoghurt to go with our muesli brought from Australia.  The room is hot already, and the day has barely started to heat up.  The air-conditioning blows even hotter air around so we open the window and successfully cause the curtain rod to plummet to the floor.  A few running repairs with sticky tape, a quick breakfast and a few emails and phone calls to book and an extra night in Lescun for the next night before heading back to the shops to find the Go Sport store that we have earmarked for a gas can for our Jet Boil.  There appears to be few other locations along the GR10 where we can buy this special screw top gas can and the Go Sport catalogue shows the exact can we need.  

We find the store very easily and arrive to find the large roller door being pulled down.  Immediately thinking it must be closing for lunch at 12pm, like most other stores in France, I run to the shop begging the girl to re-open for just a minute, and I hold up a photo of our gas can that I had printed off the internet before we left oz. But she explains in broken English that the store is “Ferme”.  Yes, but when do you re-open? She points to a sign that says "Ferme Indefinetement" - closed for good she says, as we now see the empty shelves!!  

Our two other options are the Intersport about 4k up the main road or the Decathlon 7k in the opposite direction at Lescar.  We choose the Intersport and an hour later we’re in the store where an assistant points us to a butane/propane mix and tells us the MSR can is specific to MSR gas lighters.  Not convinced, Ian looks up the Jet Boil and sure enough, the MSR is the correct one.  

It’s getting hotter as we head back into the centre of Pau, and a stop off to buy a cold bottle of Peregrine aerated spring water is necessary.  The  green flashing sign of the Pharmacy near town indicates the temperature is fluctuating between 36°C and 37°C and our room is even hotter.  Lunch with fresh bread and melted butter goes well with a cup of tea.  We’ve made a mental note that this trip will be minus our butter and cheese that we can usually carry into the alps.

We need to leave Pau ASAP in the morning and head for them there hills - the Pyrenees.  The afternoon is spent packing our duffel bag with “Send to Foix stuff” then a 5 min walk to the Post Office sees us posting our bag via Colissomo, the French equivalent of parcel post in oz, for 25 euro. The outdoor cafes are full of locals drinking beer and wine and some cafes have installed a mist sprayer to keep patrons cool.  The pharmacy thermometer is now showing 40°C at 6pm.

After a visit to the Petit Casiono to buy a cold Syrah Rose for 3 euro and some bread, cheese, mayonnaise and tomatoes, its back to a hot room to repack our backpacks, have a cool shower and lie on top of the bed.