July 8th July: Weather 4°C to 20°C Overcast, sometimes rain, sometimes hot and sunny
Refuge de l'Oule to St Lary Soulan: 18.4k walk: 6hrs: 8.30am to 2.30pm
Altitude Gain and Loss: Total Ascent 800m: Total Descent 1500m
Accommodation: Nevada Chambre d'Hotes
Goodbye Refuge de l'Oule
Highlight today was walking up to the grassy ski slopes of Col de Portet (2215m) then along a grassy ridge with views all around to the high Pyrenees in misty rain before arriving in the very pretty, but touristy town of St Larry. We stayed at Nevada Chambre d’Hotes - I’d score it 11 out of 10 on Booking.com.
After a warmish night, a few phone calls home, and a cool shower, we’re down to breakfast at 7.30am. It’s a DIY breakfast of stale bread and jams, but we have access to the coffee machine with super hot milky coffee or tea which made a good start to the day. Our French friend whom we’d crossed paths with in the past few days, seems to have teamed up with a Japanese lady who is solo hiking (we think her choice not his to team up), and speaks very little French or English and after breakfast they head off together to St Lary.
Last look at Lac de l’Oule 1800m
Steep dirt road up from Lake
Mummy and baby marmot
Grassy ski slopes high valley St Lary
Col de Portet 2215m
Misty rain
St Lary in misty valley
Coffee on the run. It’s raining
10 mins after coffee, sun comes out
St Lary 800 metres below in valley
On the lookout for a Carrefour’s
Lunch in the park St Lary
Pretty flower filled street St Lary
In time for Tour de France
We leave at 8.30am in a cool 16°C with high cloud. It’s a really steep lean-over-nose-touch-the-ground kinda climb on a stony gravel road. There’s magnificent views back to Lac de l’Oule several hundred metres below. The road continues through rolling hills of ski fields, with romping cows and marmots. We pass one cute marmot family of mummy and baby sitting near the edge of their burrow, checking out the click clack of poles on the stones, and ready to dart back down under. After about an hour of climbing, we reach the Col de Portet at 2215m, a very grassy col set amongst the ski fields. It’s not as hideous as some ski slopes we’ve seen which are stripped bare to barren rock.
A few more k up the road and there’s a turn off the gravel road to a ridge track. It’s starting to rain so we stop to put on a back pack cover and poncho. It’s still 16°C, not cold but not warm, as we continue through cow paddocks along the ridge with views all around. The spitting rain hasn’t dampened the view, and we can see the high ski resort of La Cabane on the next mountain across, close to Pla d’Atet at 1700 metres, a stage finish of the Tour de France in 2014. At 12pm, after walking for 3hrs 30 mins, the ridge path finishes and we can see a steep track down through the forrest into St Lary. It’s time to stop for a coffee in the rain to consider our options.
A hot coffee with some left over blueberry tart from last night goes down well, but we need to stand to have it as the ground is wet. Walking down a steep track in a poncho is not safe so we elect to take the minor road down. But 10 minutes after starting, the rain lifts and the sun comes out and in 10 minutes the temperature lifts from a cool 16°C to a warm 28°C. We can see St Lary clearly in the valley about 600 metres below as we walk down the road. Half way down, the GR10 track crosses the road, and with ponchos off, we walk down the steep steps into the village of Vignec, about 1k from St Lary. Down the road to St Lary there’s a Market Carrefour’s sign to Bourisp, a village just up from St Lary, which we'll pass through tomorrow morning on our GR10 walk. We take note - a place to stop to buy lunch.
It’s 2.30pm when we roll into St Lary, one of the top ski resorts in the Pyrenees but also a thermal baths town. The streets are very touristy, but the village is so pretty, adorned with flowers. There’s a Montagne Carrefour (smaller than a Market Carrefour) in St Lary open from 8 til 9 all day every day, so we buy lunch of butter, cheese, tomato and a fresh baguette and find a spot in a park in the centre of town. We had carried some lunch from Lac d’Oule - old butter, half a tomato with a two day old baguette. But that all went in the bin when we bought some fresh stuff.
Our Nevada Chambre d’Hote opens at 3pm, and it’s already 2.45 so time to wander up the road to find this place. We’re welcomed with open arms by Christina who shows us to our room - it's perfect. There’s a garden area outside our door where we can hang washing and have a picnic dinner. The room is luxurious and spacious with a great shower, queen size comfy bed and TV with a good picture of the Tour de France. After showering, washing and hanging out just about everything we own on the chairs in the garden, it’s time to perch on the bed and watch Le Tour with a beer and nuts that Ian has slipped down the road to buy.
A late lunch followed by beer and nuts, and at 6pm we’re still not hungry but Ian trots off to the Petit Casino supermarket down the road, one that was closed when we walked past earlier, to buy a snack and bottle of wine. He returns with a fresh baguette, bottle of rose, Pate Campagne, tomato and a block of Dark Hazelnut Chocolate, to go with our cheese and butter. Some snack! At 6.30pm we’re sitting in our garden eating our “snack” and watching the washing dry.
A few spits of rain, and we’re back inside planning our next few days which is based around watching the Tour de France on Thursday July 13th climb to Col de Peyresourde, July 14th Finish in Foix, Saturday 15th Start in Blagnac/Touluse. It’s hard to believe our hike on the Pyrenees is almost over.
Not a big day tomorrow, and breakfast is at 8am.