Tuesday 11th July: Weather 16°C to 24°C Cool, misty then absolutely beautiful sunny day and warm
Loudenvielle to Refuge du Lac d'Oo: 17.5k walk: 7hrs 45mins: 9.15am to 5.00pm
Altitude Gain and Loss: Total Ascent 1804m: Total Descent 1267m
Accommodation: Refuge du Lac d'Oo
Church in the mist at Germ
Another amazing day with perfect weather! Highlights were many. Climbing 1300 metres through the mist to sunny blue skies to the top of the Couret d’Esquierry at 2132 metres, descending 1100 metres to the Val d’Astau with hundreds of cars in the car park, then climbing the last 400 metres to Lac d’Oo and meeting hundreds of tourists on the way down, young and old day hikers, some in things or sandals or with kids, and many sunburnt. They’ve spent a day at Lac d’Oo and we’re headed there. When we arrive at 5.00pm its and absolutely amazing lake, set at the bottom of high mountains with the beautifuil Cascade d’Oo plummeting down the mountainside into the lake. Then we understood why there were so many tourists who’s tramped up and down to the Lake.
First mountain pops out of mist
Mist, blue skies, green mountains
Morning tea at the barage
Cow and baby calf on the track
Another suck before moving please
Cabane d'Ourtiga
Such a beautiful day
Hard slog uphill to the Couret
Still on the GR10
Typical Pyrenees green meadows, mist, snow, cloud, and mountains
Rising out of the mist to the Couret
Hikers at Couret d’Esquierry 2131m
Not having my lunch
Down through the beech forest
Hundreds of cars at Pont Astau
Afternoon tea before next climb
Amazing Lac d’Oo with Cascade
Refuge du Lac d’Oo by the lake
Beer o’clock at Lac d'Oo
A sleep in tll 7am and time for a phone call home before breakfast. Ian’s phone data has run out so he goes downstairs and outside to Laurence’s little office to connect to buy more data while I run down to the boulangerie to buy two baguettes for lunches today and tomorrow. The reason the Noisetiers WiFi wasn’t good is that the walls of the 300 year old house are 3 foot thick. That’s a good enough reason! At 8am we’re having breakfast of fresh fruit, fresh baguettes, muesli, cake and tea. We linger a little longer once the data is connected to check emails etc, as tonight is the Refuge Lac d’Oo in the high pyrenees with little chance of WiFi connection.
At 9.15m we’re headed up to Germ, same route as we took yesterday on the way to Peyragudes. It’s 16°C and misty as we walk up through the forest and emerge in the village of Germ an hour later. Then uphill on the GR10 into the mist. It’s a 3k walk around the balcony and we see nothing but mist in the valley until all of a sudden the first mountain pops out of the mist.
At a small barage (dam), it’s 11.30am and time to have a coffee before the steep climb. It’s a beautiful spot for coffee. The sun is out the mist has lifted, and there’s blue skies ahead. There’s many day walkers going our way, but they turn off our GR10 track and head for a different Col - Les Barguerettes. We continue up towards the Couret d’Esquierry. There’s a group of cows on the path. Most move on but a mother and her calf stay put. Mum is feeding on some lush grass and baby is snuzzling in to mum’s udder for a suck of milk, neither wanting to move so we walk below them and leave them in peace.
We continue to climb to the Cabane L’Ourtiga and see the day hikers away in the distance. Looking back there’s mist in the valley behind us but looking up the sky becomes bluer. At 1.15pm we reach the grassy col of Courtet d’Esquierry at 2132 metres a climb of 1200 metres from Loudenvielle. There’s other hikers on this col, mostly day walkers who have come up from the other side. We find a spot on a rock to have lunch. Fresh bread, tomato, capsicum, cheese and butter. A family of 4 goats wanders close. Probably mum and 3 kids. She has a full udder and doesn’t like the capsicum stem I offer. They’ve obviously been fed here before better stuff. Maybe they like chocolate.
There’s a 1000 metre descent ahead. First it’s down a stony hanging valley before dropping steeply through a beech forest. It takes us almost 2hrs to descend. We can see hundreds of cars parked below in the Val d’Astau. There’s a few places selling drinks, crepes, ice creams etc and hundreds of day trippers enjoying this beautiful day. We find a spot on the grass in the midst of the parked cars for a cup of tea and a piece of almond cake I bought at the boulangerie this morning. It’s 3.45pm. Fifteen minutes later we’re heading up to Lac d’Oo.
The track is really a gravel road and we meet hundreds of tourists walking back down. Yes hundreds - old, young, big, small, some in thongs, some with walking sticks (not poles) - all walking back from a day trip to Lac d’Oo. It’s a well worn tourist track. And at 5.00pm when we reach Lac d’Oo, we know why they have come - this small lake set below high mountains with a cascade streaming in at the opposite end. We wonder in amazement how two or three hundred day trippers could fit in this little spot at the end of the lake near the Refuge Lac d'Oo, no bigger than the size of a volley ball court - and with almost no room around the edge of the lake because of the steep sided mountains. Amazing. The refuge does a roaring trade in lunches, snacks, drinks, icecreams etc.
We meet Jerome (he who saysin my emails that my French is so good. Thanks google translation!). He shows us to our two bedroom dorm - it fits two single beds and nothing else. At least we don't have to put up with other snorers. After showering and washing our clothes whilst standing in the shower, it’s down to the picnic tables to blog and have a beer (Ian) and a wine (me) - I carried the last dregs of red wine up from Loudenvielle).
At 7.30pm it’s dinner. We’re sitting with John and Robin, two Welshmen who are doing the GR10 in bits each year. Dinner is soup, pork steak (or it could be veal) with tomato and pasta, and apple tart, washed down with a rose. It’s a basic refuge in a fantastic location but with a passionate chef.
At 10pm, we’re in bed. It’s a long day tomorrow with a 2000 metre downhill into Bagneres de Luchon.