Team Jeff n Rach: The Pyrenees Coast to Coast

Mantet (1550m) to Refuge de Mariailles (1718m) via Col de Mantet (1761m)

We had breakfast at 8am which was the normal bread, butter and jams. There was a toaster though so at least we could have a bit of a change. I asked Angeline if I could buy four of her apples, seeing as she had a big bowl of them sitting on her kitchen bench - but they looked better from a distance than when eating them as they were soft - so three euros for these was a bit of a rip off.

Jeff having the morning cig, beside our room, before breakfast.

We were happy because we set off by 9.15am as this was an improvement on the leaving times for the last few days.

The first section was an easy stroll up to Col de Mantet (1761m) and then a combination of road and trail walking down to the cute town of Py at 1023m.

First glimpse of the village Py.

We saw a lovely little outside balcony cafe above a small shop attached to a gite/chambre d'hote so we dropped our pack and ordered expressos and a litre of wine. The lovely man returned with expressos and a glass of wine. When we corrected him and said 'un litre vin rouge' he looked perplexed. Just because it was only 11.30am and we were obviously walking he must have decided that we didn't need a litre - but we showed him our wine carafe and told him that we'd only have a glass now and carry the rest to have with our lunch or dinner - so the litre of wine duly arrived. We made a few purchases from his shop including a lovely baguette, pot of rillette (like a stredded pork pate) and some vegetarian patties to fry for dinner (because they were relatively light to carry).

By 12.30 we decided we better make a move and then followed the trail on a really pretty path that traversed around a hill to a new valley and then climbed a little bit to Col de Jou (1125m).

The climb got a bit steeper then up to the Refuge de Mariailles at 1718m but equally as pretty as the path was up through forest and beside a small stream/aquaduct.

On the way we found a nice spot with lovely views to have our lunch.

View on the walk, late afternoon.

The Refuge de Mariailles, which our guidebook had said was open all year, had actually closed the night before.

Luckily for us there was a cabin about 100 metres away. There was a young French couple, Marie and Redde, there who had just arrived before us. It was the first time we haven't had an unguarded cabin to ourselves - but it was delightful to share it with them. Jeff had carried an armload of firewood from the Refuge de Mariailles so we got a fire going in the dining room before the temperature dropped too much and then Jeff went and collected some water from the 'source'.

We had a lovely evening, sharing our wine with Marie and Redde and listening to stories about the human rights work they've done. Our soup was delicious and the vege patties were ok - wouldn't buy them again though.

Views from around the cabin.

Jeff was a bit worried about snoring during the night seeing as we were sleeping in the same room as the French couple. I gave them some prior warning and they said it was okay as Redde also snored. With the fire stoked up to keep the place warm during the evening we went to bed about 9.30 pm - a late night on the trail!

Refuge de Mariailles (1718m) to Chalet des Cortalets (2150m) via Pic du Canigou (2784m)

Marie and Redde were so silent during the night that I wondered a few times if they were still there. Jeff got a few quiet requests to turn onto his side - although he reckons he was bruised when he woke up. We set the alarm this morning for 7am as we had a big day. We'd decided to deviate, for the first time, from the GR10 to go up Mount Canigou on one side and down the other to reach Chalet des Cortalets. The GR10 route goes around its base.

After a leisurely breakfast we said our goodbyes and headed out about 9am.

It's funny that some days we are full of energy and others we are sluggish - today was a sluggish day. We think it was because we hadn't eaten enough for dinner and breakfast. I'd only had oranges for breakfast which Marie had kindly given me - so after only about an hour of walking we stopped beside a river to cook up some noodles.

The walk up to the base of Mount Canigou should have been a relatively easy stroll but it seemed to take us ages.

The last part was a scramble up rocks but was fun - even though people had recommended that we shouldn't do it with our packs on. We had to though seeing as we were taking a different route down from the top.

The views at the top were glorious but we couldn't see the Mediterranean.

The walk down from the summit, luckily, was on a well formed trail with no rock clambering.

Chalet de Cortalets was closed, when we arrived about 5.30pm, but they provided a cabin for walkers to use. The cabin that we could use is the building on the left in this pic.

We've been really pleased to have been able to use cabins such as this one. They have tables and chairs, a fire-place (usually with firewood and kindling) and beds. Plus they are free. This cabin had good matresses - but as usual, no toilets and unfortunately the nearby water source had been turned off. Jeff did a 30 minute walk in the dark trying to find water and ended up having to take some from the lake. Probably not the cleanest water but we purified it and boiled it well when we made the soup.

There were already two French guys in residences or the night. They were happy to be staying there as the night before they camped and said it was freezing. They already had the fire going so the warm was very welcome. Jeff had got quite cold coming down from Canigou.

We had originally presumed that we'd be having our dinner at the Chalet de Cortalets - so we didn't have much food left - only one packet of soup and a bag of crackers and cheese. The tobacco had also run out. We were in luck though. The French guys had tobacco and pate - but no crackers to eat it with. We had the crackers. They had nothing for dessert and we had a packet of almond biscuits - so everyone was happy. The piece de resistance, however, was the beer some Spanish people had left for the French guys that afternoon!

Chalet des Cortalets (2150m) to Arles-sur-Tech (282m)

I'm not sure if Jeff snored during the night as I was so tired that I slept from when we went to bed at 9 till about 4.30am when the French guys got up. Their plan was to go up Canigou to see the sunrise - although only one of them was keen on this plan. The other guy was not keen as he knew the weather was changing today - and he definitely was not keen the early start.

We went back to sleep and woke again at 6.15am and decided that we'd get into action stations to try to leave before 7.30. We were actually out the door by 7.15 after having had a cuppa tea and breakfast.

The advantage of not having toilets at the cabins is that ablutions are often carried out in the most amazing settings:

It was a long day and we ended up walking 27 kilometres, but unlike yesterday, didn't feel sluggish. Jeff attributes that to the benefits of the beer.

Our first target of the day was Ras del Prat Cabrera - and this was was only meant to take 55 minutes according to Poorly and 1 hour 20 according to our French guide book - but we figure they must have been running as it took us 1 hour 45.

The next section of the walk took us on a traverse, over some streams and past a couple of lovely cabins before heading up to Col de la Cirere where the weather changed dramatically and a cold wind blew over the top. I had to retreat back into the forest as I honestly thought I'd get blown off the side. We waited a few minutes though and I held onto Jeff's pack and we got up and over it without any problem. Jeff hates the wind and was freezing by this point. It looked as if a big storm was rolling in but by the time we reached Refuge de Batere the weather had calmed. From here it was a 3 hour 15 minute walk down to the town of Ales-sur-Tech.

We checked into the Hotel Les Glycines. Our room is perfect for us as it has a balcony (for smoking on and keeping the beer and bubbles chilled) and a bath.

Jeff had taken a couple of falls (oops, I mean manly tumbles) and so had a couple of chunks of bark missing off his arm so while he took a bath shower (a shower whilst sitting in the bath) I went to the supermarket on the corner and bought the essentials - a bottle of bubbles (actually proper champagne on special for 11 euros, 3 different types of beer for Jeff to try, some grapes, chocolate and some gauze pads and tape for fixing Jeff up. We decided the contects of our first aid kit would not suffice this time.

The local restaurant right near our hotel was next on our list. We were greeted warmly by the ebullient restaurant owner. She sat us down and promptly gave us menus in English - which was a first and a real treat because there were 5 different 3-course menu options - and each course with about 4 options - so there was a lot of reading and choosing of food to be done. I chose the seafood menu and from that chose shrimp cocktail, salmon and then chocolate fondant and Jeff chose the Catalan menu and from those options chose anchovies with roasted red capsicum and salad, then wild boar casserole followed by tarte tartin. Last night we decided to have a half litre of red and white rather than the litre of red - and the white was also good. We had our coffees whilst talking to the restaurant owners. The husband of the bubbly woman was the chef and he's given us recommendations for tonight's dinner.

Arles-sur-Tech Rest Day

We decided we needed a rest day today as the bodies are feeling it a bit after the march yesterday.

Today has been a treat so far. We did a couple of Skype calls, took the opportunity to do our washing in the bath (probably the last opportunity to wash our clothes before the end of the trek) and sat on our balcony chatting and reading. Nex we went on a tour of the town (which didn't take long). We chose our croissants and pastries from the local baker and then went in search of the best cafe - of which there was only one - so there was no disagreements there.

I then took Jeff on a tour of the local supermarket and we made decisions on dinners and lunches for our last few days of trekking. There's much to be decided in a French supermarket - so many different cheeses and meats, pate and rillettes.

We are now back on our balcony having the last couple of beers before going out for lunch - at the same restaurant as last night. We've already perused the lunch menu when we walked past this morning.

Before going for lunch I wanted to change Jeff's dressings but he wasn't keen. Here's a photo of him being petulent.

Lunch was great. The restaurant had a lot of people in it by the time we arrived. For entres I had Catalan salad and Jeff had anchovies and salad, main course I had confit canard (roast duck) and Jeff had coq au vin, and dessert we had apple pie and a Catalan version of creme brulee. We enjoyed having white wine last night so had this again with lunch. Even though it was chilly we had our coffees outside with a cig.

We were so full after lunch but still called into the supermarket for some essential afternoon supplies to keep us going till dinner. Back in the warm hotel Jeff had a sleep while I had a bath for an hour or two. It was a good old fashioned one - long and deep. When Jeff woke up I ran a bath for him. He's not keen on baths - but I managed to coax him in, with a glass of bubbles, and he actually enjoyed it.

At 8pm we wrapped up and headed off to 'our' restaurant again. We decided we'd eat a light meal - but presented with all the choices again we each settled for another three course menu.

This time Jeff went for the meat lovers menu and me the Catalan one. My entree of melon with Serrano ham was devine. I was surprised they had it on the menu as a choice as we'd been told by a restaurant owner a couple of weeks ago that the melon season had finished and we'd not seen any in the supermarkets recently, but they bought their melon from Spain. Jeff had a salad with gizzards, then entrecote steak followed by Catalan mascapone with raspberry coulis. I had a Catalan meatball dish - made with veal, beef and pork followed by tarte tartin. The lovely woman gave us an eau de vie each, made from apples, to have after our coffees.

Back in our hotel room we polished off a hip flask of cognac before falling into bed.

Arles-sur-Tech (282m) to Coll Cerda (1058m)

We were happy to see the sun when we woke this morning seeing as yesterday was like winter. We were packed by 9.30am and, after chatting with the friendly hotelier about where the GR10 track left from, we headed to our cafe - but not before we'd perused the two bakeries for our breakfast pastries, bought some things from the epicerie and filled our wine carafe.

We left Arels-sur-Tech at 10.40 and first headed past the town market then over the bridge and through some paddocks before heading on the path up to Col de Paracolls (902m) through chestnut forest. A sprightly old gentleman strided past us - but he only had a day pack. We later saw him later sitting on the Col tucking into a hearty lunch.

We were pleased we'd had the day off yesterday and had made it to Arles-sur-Tech, and weren't up higher in the mountains, when we saw the snow that had fallen last night.

We then traversed round the mountain and dropped down to a village, Montalba-d'Amelie (543m), that was full of hunters cooking up their day's catch of wild boar/sanglier.

We then climbed gently up the valley before climbing steeply up past an old mill to Col Cerda (1058m) which we reached just on dark.

We thought there was a cabin 15 minutes off the GR10 trail and so we headed off on a path that lead up to a peak. It was lucky there was nearly a full moon to see our way. I had a head lamp on though as my night vision is obviously not as good as Jeff's. We eventually gave up on the path when it seemed to have reached the little summit peak and so returned back to Col Cerda where we found a flat spot and set up camp.

Jeff had the dinner menu all planned but it so cold that we gave up on that idea and decided to have a picnic in the tent. The picnic included an entre of anchovie olives and smoked almonds then saucisson, camembert, chevre, fresh bread we'd bought from the bakery that morning then a big bar of chocolate - and of course the mandatory tipple of vin rouge.

Coll Cerda (1058m) to Las Illas (550m) via Col du Puits de la Neige (1240m)

It was only 4 degrees celcius in the tent as we had our picnic last night so we thought we'd freeze during the night - but we were both very nuggly and slept really well. We woke at about 7.30 to the tinkle of bells and snorting of the local nag as he came up to be nosey. Jeff was out of bed about 8am to put on the billy for the morning cappaccino with the extra shot of coffee. We had a couple of cups of coffee until the sun hit the tent when we finally began to thaw and Jeff could remove the cover of the very frosty tent.

We were in no hurry to leave as today was meant to be an easy day of only 4.5 hours - but it ended up taking 6.5 hours.

We thought the walk up to Col du Puits de la Neige would be quick and easy as it was less than 200m up - but it ended up taking us forever, it seemed, as it went up through forest to about 1400m and then continued to undulate.

These little cairns are really helpful for finding the way in the absence of the red and white markers.

It was slow going as the path was thickly covered with fallen leaves so we had to be careful not to slip off the side on slippery roots and rocks, hidden by the leaves.

Before we reached the col we had our first glimpse of the Mediterranean Sea which had been shrouded in mist from the summit of Mount Canigou a few days earlier.

Our next col was Coll des Cireres at 1015. This was another pretty walk that took us much longer than the 1 hour estimated by the French guide book. Again we took it slowly in case there were rocks and roots concealed by the carpet of leaves. I especially enjoyed this section as Jeff talked most of the way about things his dad had shared with him about the war days in Africa and Borneo.

It was an easy walk after Coll des Cireres as most of it was on a wider track.

The last few kilometres were on the road to Las Illas.

The hotel we stayed at (called Hostal dels Trabucayres) was very old (buttress walls and exposed old wooden beams etc) and had a lot of character. I'm still not sure what the difference is between a hotel and a hostal though. Our room was very cute and had a balcony - but we didn't have an ensuite - however, we did have a bidet and sink.

Dinner was served at 7.30 which seems to be 'the' time that hotels serve dinners when you have half board. It was delicious: a starter of a really interesting mix of different salads, for the main - lamb and gravy and lots of veges (that were really tasty as they had been pan fried with bits of fatty bacon) and a vege bake.

We had coffees and Armangac outside - but it was so cold we had a very quick ciggarette and retreated to our room.

Las Illas (550m) to somewhere in Spain about 6km across the border from Le Perthus (290m)

Well, what a day this turned out to be! We woke early to the alarm which went off at 6.30 and lay in bed staring at each other, each reluctant to break the mood - not to mention to put our feet down on the cold marble floor.

After packing we presented ourselves for breakfast, which was predictable: croissants, toast, butter jam and coffee and were on our way by 8.15.

Rach's bit: You'd never guess from these pics that Jeff does not like cats!

After the last couple of days of difficulties in meeting the times in the guidebooks we moved quickly down the road out of the village and were somewhat disconcerted to find the route markers did not match the trail laid out in the map on the French guidebook. When we finally emerged on the ridgetop, we found that the trail had, in fact, bypassed the first col and we entered the small village of Mas Nou at 667m and were in fact, slightly ahead of schedule. We continued along the ridgeline following a 4-wheel drive track along the French/Spanish border for a few kms before coming down to Col de Priorat at 459m, again ahead of time.

The trail then left the ridgetop and we descended through what we think was cork forest, where we found large stacks of bark that had been stripped from the trees. On close examination, we realised the trees were alive, having been ring-barked for the bottom 2m. We can only assume that this is the way cork is harvested: when the bark sheds at the end of the growing season (this will have to be a subject for further investigation).

We finally joined a concrete road which traversed the side of the valley heading to the frontier town to Le Perthus.

We had covered 16km in less that the time recommended by the French guide and it is here that the wheels fell off!

As it was before noon and we had plenty of time in hand we decided to have lunch after stocking up on cheap Spanish tobacco. Ah, what is it they say about "the wages of sin"......

We stopped at a nice little al fresco restaurant in the centre of town and orded two different menus: we both started with melon and serrano ham and while I had seafood paella for main, Rach had the poulet a la ratouille.

This came with a little pitcher of wine each but no water. Fine yes? No, after muggins finished his meal, he promptly over heated and fainted at the table. I soon had a crowd gathered round concerned that I had had some kind of seizure but Rach very sensibly suggested that I drink the water that the lady at the next table gave me. To cut a long story short, after sitting for about an hour and recovering my equilibrium, the owner of the restaurant made a booking at a hotel 6km down the road and organised for one of his staff to drive us there. The driver took us over the border. We checked in to the hotel and I slept for the rest of the day. The lengths one has to go to to get back in to Spain.......!

We did a search of the internet and decided my "seizure" was most likely a result of dehydration after the last couple of days in which neither of us had taken much water. Indeed, the previous day, we drunk very little during our 6 hour trek (as there wasn't any water sources) and then we had beer and wine with dinner followed by Armagnac (just a small one, mind you). Lesson for young players!

Rach's bit

Yes, that was a great lesson for Jeff - one that lasted till at least 6.30pm when he wanted to go for a wonder to look at the hotel restaurant menu. Of course, that was just a cover story to go to the shop. I could not believe he returned with a six-pack of beer.

Jeff's response: "Well they are only 250 ml bottles. After all, a man's not a camel."

Le Perthus (290m) to Col de l'Ouillat (936m)

Despite the bravado of last night, I was a bit cautious with our start this morning. We had slept well and while Rach was talking on Skype, I went down and had a healthy breakfast of coffee and croissants (best chocolate croissants on the whole GR10!)

The hotel were wonderful and organised for one of the staff of the hotel to run us back in to France to rejoin the trail at Le Perthus

We were back on trail by 12 noon. We passed under the motorway on our way out of town and then commenced the relatively easy climb from 290m to the Col de I'Ouillat at 936m. We had been planning to go over the 1200m pic above the col and sleep that night in a refuge about an hour and a quarter further on.

The initial part of the trail led us, once again, through cork forest dominated by gnarled trees from which the bark had been harvested.

Much of the trail today followed the border between France and Spain. We kept coming across the border markers shown below.

When we arrived at the funky little chalet/refuge at the Col, I did not take a lot of convincing to stay. I was busy re-hydrating with an espresso and glass of red, while Rach was perusing the menu options.

Given that it was freezing cold and there was a strong wind blasting out of the north, it was a no brainer really.

The music in the chalet was a great mix of blues, bluegrass and reggae. Heaps of songs we recognised (about 3 different versions of Bico, the Peter Gabriel song), all by musicians I didn't recognise.

Besides, it was a beautiful sunset and we had some magnificent view of Canigou capped by snow (triple ridge line, top right in the following photos).

Sunset REALLY was spectacular!

Rach was soon engaged with the locals.

In the end, I had to insist she give Young Liam back to his Mum, the chalet owner.

The meal was "rare good balast" as Sam might have said in Lord of the Rings. Rach opted for the pork cheeks, while I had the civet of wild boar.

This would have to be the most engaging bull terrier I have ever met (they usually try to eat ME, not politely wait for the offerings from the chalet guests).

I was on Snuggle Duty i.e. warming the sleeping bags before Rach got in.

Col de l'Ouillat (936m) to Banyuls-sur-Mer (0m)

LAST DAY! We had anticipated (and dreaded) this day for so long, but were up early, packed and breakfasted by 7.30. Whichever way, it was going to be a long day of at least 7 1/2 hours walking according to the guidebooks.

We set out through the beech forest above the chalet and were soon climbing steadily to our first of 3 pics for the day.

The ascent seemed to take an inordinate amount of time and we soon found we were some 20 minutes behind the time estimates give to our first point of interest for the day, Pic Neulos, festooned with radio-repeater towers.

The views back along the Pyrenees were spectacular though.

At one point we were having unkind thoughts about the trail-master however as it was less-than-clear as to where to go. This is me searching (yet again) for the red and white markers.

Rach, of course, always found them!

Rach's bit: What Jeff wrote is not true - sometimes I'd sail on past big red and white crosses (which signifies the wrong direction). This video is when I thought, incorrectly that we were nearing the top of Pic des Quatre Termes...

... And this shows I was looking in completely the wrong direction for the next marker and Jeff is calling "on on" as he's found it.

We soon got our first view for the day of the Mediterranean.

But still had a stoney-row to hoe before we had any hope of putting our feet in the sea.

Yay, it's a sign, it's a sign!!!!! (apologies to the Monty Python brethren)

Lunch was in a (relatively) protected spot on the last pic of the day: Pic de Sailfort at 981m. Having carried a couple of kilos of brebi, chevre, saucisson, bread-crackers, porc rillette and chocolate FOR EVER, our last repast (if not supper) was to be something of a feast. The only thing missing was a draught of vin rouge. We forgot to fill up Helen's caraf that morning. Ce la vie.

We finally had our first view of Banyuls: only 3 1/4 hours to go and a descent of the best part of 1000m. "Phh! it is nerthing".

While Banyuls never seemed to get any closer, the final descent was an interesting and relatively straightforward process of putting one-foot-in-front-of-the-other. We passed beneath the 3rd of a series of ancient Roman watch-towers that we had seen along the way...

...and followed the unerring red and white markers to their terminus in front of the hotel d'ville.

We had completed the trek of 903.7km and the 49,714 vertical metres of acent and descent from the Atlantic Ocean in Hendaye to the Mediterranean Sea in Banyuls-sur-Mer across the Pyrenees (oh, and the extra 700 metres up and down Canigou). Bit chuffed really. There was only one more thing to do.

I HAD to at least dip a toe in the Mediterranean Sea.

Now, do not let anybody tell you that the Mediterranean is particularly warm; particularly in mid-November. I had been planning to have a swim but after dipping the toe, I decided that would be enough for now.

Might have to come back in mid-July and see if it really is warm.

A couple of Happy-Campers.

Besides, we still had to find our hotel, shower, dinner and of course the mandatory celebratory tipple! It turned out to be up the side of the hill behind the port. It is the building to the right of the one with the blue neon sign in the top left hand corner below: some 50 vertical-sodding-metres up yet another hill!