Team Jeff n Rach: The Pyrenees Coast to Coast: October 2014

Goulier (1110m) to Siguer (740m) via Col de Lercoul (1549m)

We didn't fool ourselves today re trying to start early. We are never good at early starts after a 'holiday' and today was only 4 hours and 40 minutes according to 'our' guide book (the French GR Grande Randonnee). So we knew we'd be late out of the blocks. We woke up about 8.30am, had coffee and a cig on our patio, went back to bed and Skyped Tony to say belated happy birthday and then went over to the restaurant for breakfast at 10am. The breakfasts at the Gite Montcalm (which is more what we would call a hotel) are great - good coffee, juice, a croissant, chocolate croissant and breadstick each, and home made jam.

We asked the woman working at the hotel to organise a taxi for us to take us to Goulier. Goulier is where we finished walking a couple of days before on our day walk so we felt no need to trapse to Vicdessos and then 400 vertical metres up the road to reach our starting point.

After sending a couple of emails and showering we decided that it was time to start packing about 20 minutes before the taxi was due. The taxi was late so Jeff took the opportunity to duck to the local tobac down the road and buy a few extra supplies. He tells me he also has a treat that has to last us four days - but he's not going to produce it until after dinner.

The taxi driver was a very friendly older woman who, despite knowing that we don't speak any French, gave us a detailed description of all we passed on the way to Goulier. We paid our 20 euro for the lift and said our goodbyes. She was insistant we walk a certain way to Siguer - but we stuck to our trusty red and white markers.

The walking today was pleasant and easy - and even had sections of flat. The only other time we've had a significant flat was walking along the ancient aqueduct a few days ago. The first half hour was up through beech forest to Col de Risoul. It was a noisy climb as all the dried leaves are on the path so each step produces a crunch sound. As we got higher to Col de Esquerus, Col de Grail and then Col de Lercoul the trees changed to pine so we'd be walking on paths of pine needles. Coming down via Lercoul we again were walking on a blanket of crunchy leaves.

It was a beautiful walk into Siguer, beside a creek and small river, passing fields of sheep with their jumping lambs and sheep dogs coming out onto the road for a pat.

We had no idea where we were going to sleep this night and higher up we had try to spy whether there was a good place for camping above Siguer. We knew the gite in the town was closed and that there was a chambre d'hote/B&B but we thought we'd probably camp seeing as we had already bought the food for 4 or 5 days.

Entering the town we saw a sign that seemed like it was for free accommodation for walkers so we checked this out and decided it would be a good place. For a start it had a tree ladden with apples, and also had a toilet, outside table and inside table, chairs and bunks.

We dropped off our packs and decided to wander the village. Although we'd read that this sleepy town has no bar, restaurant or hotel - we had to check it out ourselves - in the hope that we'd find somewhere to buy a beer or a carafe of wine. It wasn't to be so came back to our home for the night to make a strong cup of coffee to have with a cig. It's been forever since we haven't had a drink to have at the end of our day's walking - and it's nearly 7pm as I write this and so far we are coping.

These are some poics from around the village - this first one is 'la place' (the village square/centre).

Jeff's making dinner while I write the diary - and he's already picked the apples to turn into our dessert.

Voil - dinner is served.

Dessert being prepared.

It got too cold outside - which was still warmer than inside - so it was time for bed.

Siguer (740m) to Ruisseau de Calvière (about 1600m) via Pla de Montcamp (1904m)

We slept for about 10 hours last night. I had coffee delivered to me in bed at 7.30am by a tall handsome slim bloke. I'm trying to do something about the 'slim' aspect as Jeff has lost quite a bit of weight since we started trekking.

Over breakfast this morning we were laughing, remembering how we used to watch the Cambodians do their morning exercise on the riverfront from Warren's balcony while we had our morning coffee and cig. Our favourite person to watch was 'Gumboots Lady' who did her exercises in her gumboots. She would not have worked up a sweat as she only took little steps but it was her arm actions that caused us to laugh. Here I am imitating her in order to get warmed up for our 7-9 hours of walking for the day.

The 9 o'clock church bells got us into action and we were on our way by 9.15. The first 40 minutes were on a lovely path up to the small village of Gesties (960m). On the way up we fantasised about choosing a cafe to have an expresso and bacon and eggs at - knowing there were no cafes, bars or restaurants. We stopped for a few minutes to fill up with water and Jeff took time to smell the roses before continuing our climb.

We climbed up to Col de Gamel (1390m) through more forest and there we stopped to take elevenses - and were amazed it was only 11.10am - the nearest to 11am we've ever had our morning tea - as sometimes we haven't even started our days walking by then!

Poorly's guide book states re the path from Col de Gamel: "I have not yet met anyone who has actually found the correct route onto the ridge above" so we were carfeful to make sure we were following the red and white markers. We suspect they were only redone this season as the way turned out to be well marked.

Heading up to Pla de Montcamp was really cold because of the wind even though it was a sunny day. We'd read about the weather for the coming week while in Auzat, and though each day was going to be sunny, this day showed that the temperature would only be 7 degrees C - where all the others would be in the 20s. The forecast turned out to be correct and we had our coats, hats and gloves on for most of the day. In Ireland it would have been considered a beautiful summers day!

From the top of Pla de Montcamp we could see the shepherd's hut below where we would stop for lunch and use the picnic table. Again, although the sun was shining brightly it was bitterly cold. We enjoyed our goats cheese on Swedish crackers and muesli bars and biscuits and then headed off into the wind again. We were looking forward to the descent, just to get out of the wind.

We stopped at Cabane de Balledreyt (1600m) which Poorly described as a ruin but we found a brand new cabin. It was a dream cabin - great beds, lovely fireplace and stocked with a cask of red wine, pate, other tins of food, candles, kindling, wood, paper and even fire starters, cooking pots and pans. Everything was provided. We had a glass of red wine each while contemplating whether we should stop here for the night. It was beautiful and sunny and we imagined sitting in the sun, reading and drinking wine - but Jeff was keen to push on and I reluctantly agreed, so we left. Jeff would have liked to have flogged some of the red wine but we didn't.

As we walked back into the wind we imagined how we could be now sitting and drinking wine... We even contemplated turning back to the cabin after about 30 minutes.

It was a pretty wander down to the stream at Jesse du Sirbal (1350m) where we stopped for a cig.

The climb up to Col de Simont, through forest, was steep but at the col the views of the hills were lovely as the sun was shining on them and they all looked a burnt orange colour.

We descended and decided that we'd stop and make camp by the stream at Ruisseau de Calvière - a good decision seeing as we were losing daylight and it was getting cold!

We set up the tent and made our nuggly home for the night. We had minestrone soup, bread and cheese, followed by chocolate - but no wine or pate.

Ruisseau de Calvière (about 1600m) to camping spot (2035m) near Col de la Didorte

We are currently taking turns to read to each other each night as we only have one ipad. Currently we are reading the book called 'The Cruel Crossing: Escaping Hilter Across the Pyrenees' by Edward Stourton - but last night I only read a few pages before my eyes couldn't stay awake anymore - and then realised that Jeff was also nearly asleep. Unfortunately, then I couldn't go to sleep for hours it seemed as I couldn't get warm. I also learned why we don't set up a tent on a slope - but in my defence it was either a slight slope or wet, soggy ground.

We woke at 8am to a beautiful day but only got up about 8.30 - so by the time we had a couple of cups of coffee and then breakfast and then packed up the tent it was after 10.30 before we left our campsite.

The 2 hour walk down to Coudenes (1050m) was gorgeous - through a forest and beside a river and a couple of waterfalls.

We stopped for elevenses at the bridge.

The up then started, again through forest - the first couple of hours was to Jasse d'Artaran (1695m).

Then it was a pleasant slight uphill, above the treeline, to Plateau de Beille (1817m). Arriving here was a bit of a shock as we've been in remote areas lately and hardly seen anyone else but on this plateau was a huge modern complex with many people and a lot of bulldozers doing excavation work. It wasn't a pretty sight. We headed straight for the restaurant/bar to buy a couple of beers but were told that it was booked for a group and not open to the public - but they did give us some water to drink. We tried again to buy some wine to takeaway in our carafe - but again got a polite sorry but no in French. Even one of the men in the big group felt sorry for us - but couldn't do anything about it. So we used their bathroom and toilet and left. There was a gite very near this complex and we tried there to buy some wine and beer but they didn't have any to sell. Even though the gite was closed the kind man said he would make an exception if we wanted to stay - but we thought there was no point if we couldn't sit in the sun and have a beer or wine - as we might as well keep walking and find our own campsite.

We are pleased we left as we had a lovely couple of hours walk along a grassy track until we came to a lovely campsite. It was great to leave the plateau and be on our own again where we felt like we had the Ariege to ourselves again.

As I write Jeff is cooking our main course - a rice rissotto with chorizo sausage - and we've already had our first course - French onion soup.

Camping spot (2035m) near Col de la Didorte to camping spot (1660m) by the river at Ruisseau de Mourguillou

We ended the night last night with a cappuccino, some chocolate and a read. We decided to set the alarm as otherwise we wake up really late. It worked - the alarm went off at 6.45am and we peeled ourselves out of our sleeping bags about 7.15. It was a gorgeous spot to wake up to and have our morning coffee.

This was the sky at 8.07 in the morning.

We were away by 8.50 this morning and 10 minutes later we saw the cabin that we had decided last night would probably be too far away. In any event it was locked.

Today's walk is probably one of the most scenic - it was a nice change to not go through any forest. All the paths had great views.

The first point we reached was Col de la Didorte only about 30 minutes away.

We then climbed up to points with beautiful views, stopping to sit and just look.

We love watching either the vultures or eagles gliding on the thermals (we can't tell them apart).

We thought we'd reached Col de Behl when in fact we hadn't - which was disappointing as we thought we'd made good time. The traverse along a rocky ridge was great and we were pleased when we finally saw the Refuge de Rulhe (2185m) down a grassy slope. This is where we had our lunch.

We were unsure whether we'd be able to make it to Merens-les-Vals as the signpost said it was 5.5 hours away and it was already 1.45pm when we left from lunch. We had enough food to camp another night so it wasn't a worry if we made it or not.

The scenery was yet again stunning on this afternoon's walk. We passed lakes, crossed boulders, had a steep climb over a ridge and then a scary (in a couple of parts) traverse. I hate traverses when the path is really narrow and slopes away/downwards. Jeff had to help me across these. My darling is so big and tough and brave.

When we arrived at Ruisseau de Mourguillou we knew we had to stop to camp - it was too good a campsite to not camp at. We spent some time picking the perfect spot and chose a spot across the river.

We thought we had the whole valley and river to ourselves - until we heard a loud noise - a mob of horses running around like crazy things where we had first thought we'd set up camp. We were happy watching them - until they crossed the river and became far too interested in us and our things. They tried getting into our tent and took away one of my hiking poles and then surrounded us. It seemed like they were being territorial. We were a bit reluctant to get close to them as we'd seen how fast, strong and powerful they were and didn't want them getting annoyed at us and rearing up. They wouldn't budge when I shooed them - but Jeff, using his very stern voice, managed to make them move a few metres from our things (but not before they'd munted my pole handle) and luckily after a couple of hours they finally left.

We are now sitting round the camp fire. Jeff did an impressive job cooking dinner on it - soup, then noodles and now we are just waiting for the billy to boil for a cuppa to have with our block of chocolate. Sitting outside here is magical. The stars are all shining brightly and we have the whole place to ourselves - we hope.

Camping spot (1660m) by the river at Ruisseau de Mourguillou to Merens-les-Vals (1050m)

Yay. The horses didn't return during the night.

Jeff was right last night re thinking that he should cook on the open fire last night - as the gas ran out when boiling the billy for the second cup of coffee this morning.

The temperatures have really dropped in the mornings and evenings so it's getting harder to extract ourselves from our sleeping bags. This morning it was 7 degrees Celsius inside the tent. We've decided that our next tent purchase should not only have wifi but should be centrally heated as well.

We left camp at about 10.30am. It really was a beautiful site. The tent, thermarests and sleeping bags were all a bit damp so we knew we'd need to get them in the sunshine at some stage during the day. The other things on our 'must do' list was to buy cooking gas, more food and the French guide for the final section of the GR10 - and if possible wash clothes and have a shower. Jeff's number one priority was of course to have a beer and an expresso.

The casual stroll down to Merens-les-Vals was lovely and much easier going than other descents.

On arrival at Merens we found that the whole town was closed - "due to lack of interest" Jeff reckons. It is normal in French villages for the shops to be shut between the hours of 12 and 3.30pm - but looking at the bare shelves in the shop window we could tell it wasn't opening any time soon!

We decided then to catch a bus to the next town Ax-les-Thermes - however, the one alleged bus didn't leave for another 4 hours - so we had to resort to hitching. Jeff recalling his hitch-hiking days "as a long-haired hippy freak in the 60s" (his words not mine) doesn't like hitching and had to be coached, yet again, re the importance of the engaging smile and establishing eye contact.

We got picked up 5 minutes later by a lovely young Spanish woman named Amelia who was on holiday in France. She was a walker herself who was very interested in the GR10 as she'd done parts of the Camino de Santiago - and she dropped us in the centre of Ax.

We lucked it with getting the last room with a balcony at a cute little 2-star hotel, across the road from the church, in the centre. Jeff's happy to be near the bells again as he's missed them throughout The Ariege.

After a shower, Jeff had an adventure at the laverie (laundromat). He had a nice young woman run to her home to get him detergent when he lost his one euro in the detergent dispenser, then he required the assistance of a young Spanish guy when he couldn't open the washing machine door. Jeff says that domestic blindness is alive and well.

While our tent, thermarests and sleeping bags hung all around our room we went in search of our cooking gas, guide book, camping food and the most important item of the day - Haagen Dazs ice-cream. Unfortunately for Jeff, the most important item could not be procured in the immediate environs - and the intermarche was just passed the next village. We were given estimates of distance between 2 and 5 kms - even though Jeff is sure it was 10km. We had a lovely walk there along the serenity of the motorway with the big trucks whizzing by. It was worth it though as we got a pint of Pralines and Cream and Macadamia Brittle - as well as those other not so essential camping food items for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next 5 days. Other goodies acquired for the afternoon included bubbles, red wine and a six-pack of Belgium's finest - Grimbergen, 3 tins of olives, Gorgonzola, mussels - Yum!

We hitched back to Ax and settled in, on our balcony, for the siege. First things first - the bubbles.

It was about 8.30pm when we went out wondering to see where we'd have dinner - not that either of us were hungry. We found a very friendly hole-in-the-wall restaurant where the waitress convinced us we needed to try the toro dish. She didn't speak any English but we appreciated her enthusiasm at miming the dance of the matador so we took her recommendation.