Grande Randonnée des Pyrenees (GR10) - Lac Gentau to Gabas

Distance: 10km

Ascent: -

Descent: 1000m

An easy and beautiful descent through pine, oak and beech forest today. Passed some gorgeous mountain lakes fed by fast flowing streams.

No accommodation at Gabas, of course. So, after a beer and some of the most delicious cheese I’ve ever had, I hitched to Eaux-Chaudes, a one bar/restaurant Béarnaise town, where I found a room.

At night shepherds marched a herd of sheep through town. Then cattle. Then several more of each. A lot of them are lame presumably from falls while grazing in the rugged karst. Some of the cows in particular have terrific bulges where fractures have healed.

Speaking of lame, I’m pretty happy with how the body has held up but I’m in dire need of time out to heal up a few wounds such as those on my hips. My feet look like a crime scene. Also, a rest in a proper bed without people around me snoring and farting would be nice.

Grande Randonnée des Pyrenees (GR10) - Etsaut to Lac Gentau

Distance: 16km

Ascent: 1600m

Descent: 200m

My biggest lesson on this trip is not to hike in Europe in August, unless you’re taking a more remote route like the HRP and plan to do a lot of wild camping. Accommodation is stretched, there are too many flies and it’s too damn hot. In most seasons, snow won’t be a problem after mid-June (so you can start early June) or before the end of September.

No second or third night of accommodation available in Lescun - which I really needed - but I found a vegetarian B&B in nearby Etsaut. Courgette soup made a nice change to saucisson, jambon, bread and vast quantities of fromage. At least for one night.

The chap who runs the vegetarian B&B had met the author of my Cicerone Press GR10 guidebook and confirmed my suspicion that he is a bit weird. Apparently, he is a naturist and his business card is a picture of him naked. But I digress …

This hike was an absolute ball-tearer! Early on the walker must tackle the Chemin de la Mâture, a 1.2km path rising 250m cut into the side of a vertical cliff. The path was originally constructed in the 1600s by Louis XIV to source and supply timber for the French navy. I reckon they lost a few logs. Keeping a lid on vertigo/anxiety is exhausting in itself.

Thereafter was extremely rough terrain, zig zagging up through a valley to a pass at 2,200m near the Col d’Ayous. 

I saw 2 patous, the Pyrenean mountain dog, but fortunately the shepherds had them under control. They are beautiful but extremely dangerous. Left alone with the sheep as pups they think they are sheep, are as flighty as sheep, but are massive wolf-like dogs. Basically, they have Stockholm Syndrome and are nuts.

The reward was coming face to face with the Pic du Midi d’Ossau at the top of the pass …unexpected and breath taking. And a little further down the other side at Lac Gentau, my vote for best camping site (‘not strictly legal’ category) 2022.

Now we’re sucking diesel!

Grande Randonnée des Pyrenees (GR10) - Refuge Jeandel to Lescun

Distance: 15km
Ascent: 400m
Descent: 1200m

Sainte-Engrace is the last Basque village on the GR10 heading east. After that is the High Pyrenees and the well protected Parc National des Pyrénées.

The plan was to spend 2 nights in Sainte-Engrace to do some bodily repairs, ahead of the transition. Unfortunately, there were no beds left for a second night. The alternative of continuing, my legs too shredded to attempt it so immediately in fine conditions, was out of the question when rain set in all day. 

You don’t want to cross karst in rain.

So, I got a cab up to La Pierre Saint Martin, location of Refuge Jeandel, and a rather horrible 80s ski resort. Not the best place to recuperate but I was into the High Pyrenees at last.

I set off this morning, happy to get out of there, and the difference was striking and immediate. Green pastures were replaced by limestone karst landscape and scree slopes. Oak and beech changed to pine. Limestone peaks jutted above. The scale of these mountains is disorienting. Sometimes, you just need to focus on the track and how you place your feet.

Had my first taste of altitude effects today as I got up to the 2000m mark with effort through the scree. The last 20m of the Pas de l’Osque was pure mountaineering with a cable to hold onto while booted feet with toes clenched clawed onto nothing more than 4 or 5cm of ledge. Fuck that up and you are falling for a long time.

The first water source was at the aptly named “Cabane du Cap de la Baitch”.

Thereafter, the trail descended below the tree line and picked up beech and oak forest once again.
Lescun is delightful. As beautiful an old French village in the middle of the mountains as you could hope to find. 

Grande Randonnée des Pyrenees (GR10) - Col d’Anhaou to Sainte-Engrace

Distance: 14km

Ascent: 150m
Descent: 1000m

Not a hell of a lot to report on this section because it mostly took place in thick fog.

Apparently, I passed along the top of Gorge de Kakoueta which is meant to be stunning vertical limestone.

Further down was farmland and, for some reason, lots of donkeys (including the one pictured staying close by his mum). It’s not right we use the word “donkey” (or “ass”) as a derogation, they’re a beautiful animal. Mules, though, I’ve no time for.

I also trod some very ancient paths where it seemed appropriate to have someone following, clip-clopping with 2 halves of a coconut shell.

The journey should only have been 12kms …but I screwed up my navigation …but then I got the last bed in Sainte-Engrace …but they were full for dinner …but they sold the best cheese in the world, only slightly stale bread and a very passable local red wine.

Along this journey I’ve had a lot of opportunity to meditate on the story told by Philip Seymour Hoffman in ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’:

A boy is given a horse on his 14th birthday. Everyone in the village says, “Oh how wonderful.” But a Zen master who lives in the village says, “We'll see.” 'The boy falls off the horse and breaks his foot. Everyone in the village says, “Oh how awful.” The Zen master says, “We'll see.” The village is thrown into war and all the young men have to go to war. But, because of the broken foot, the boy stays behind. Everyone says, “Oh, how wonderful.” The Zen master says, “We'll see.” 

 

Grande Randonnée des Pyrenees (GR10) - Chalet d’Iraty to Auberge Logibar

Distance: 17km

Ascent: 550m

Descent: 1450m.

A tricky navigation through heavy fog and, after a day of rain, walking over slippery granite and, in the lower sections, mud made of clay and cowshit. Slippery surfaces are not good for old knees, especially on long descents.

Shepherds huts along the way meet the most basic of basic accommodation needs. Not for me!

The approach to Auberge Logibar was stunning, with great views over the nearby town of Larrau.

And tonight the Logibars are on me!

Grande Randonnée des Pyrenees (GR10) - Chalet Pedro to Chalet d’Iraty

Distance: 5.5km

Ascent: 350m

Descent: 50m.

As we are all too aware, life is seldom a linear progression. We repeat mistakes until we learn. We retread the same ground.

And so at Chalet Pedro, almost out of cash and learning that there are no cash points in any of the upcoming towns, I made the decision to hitchhike back to St Jean Pied de Port. A dash for cash, if you like. I’d also noticed that I’d misplaced my antidepressants and you just can’t stop taking those things.

So after a couple of days back in St Jean, cashed up and dosed up, I hired a taxi to take me back to Chalet Pedro and resume the trek …a bandit’s dream, but for being a Grandmaster in the ancient Lancastrian martial art of Eckythump.

Just a short stroll today to get back in the swing of things. Up through an oak and beech forest, giving way to fields of bracken fern, holly bush, wandering sheep and cows, and beyond that what will become a ski resort in a few short months.

Grande Randonnée des Pyrenees (GR10) - Gîtes d’étape Kaskoleta to Chalet Pedro

Distance: 15km

Ascent: 1200m

Descent: 650m.

The day started with a reasonably challenging navigation straight up through Pyrenean ‘pea soup’. Eventually hiked out of that at about 1000m. The landscape gets progressively wilder, although significantly drier. That, I am told, is unprecedented and there are no climate change deniers amongst the Basque.

At 1400m was a Neolithic stone circle, a 5000 year old burial site. Why? What? How? etc etc. I sat there for a while imagining. 

The scent of bushfire put an end to that.

The descent into Chalet Pedro was mercifully cool under the shade of a beautiful forest.

Grande Randonnée des Pyrenees (GR10) - St Jean Pied de Port to Gîtes d’étape Kaskoleta

Distance: 17km
Ascent: 900m
Descent: 400m.

On the road again after mending body and soul for a couple of days. The heat continues unabated and hiking out of Biddaray would have involved 3 x 1000m plus ascents with technical descents through an area with no water sources. Deathwish material! So I took an 18m train trip to St Jean and started from there. This is the town where the GR 10 (which traverses the Pyrenees West to East) intersects the Way of St James (which crosses the Pyrenees at Roncevalles).

Another day above 40C today through stunning countryside ending with a home cooked meal at this ramshackle Gîtes d’étape, and some great laughs with fellow hikers across at least 3 language barriers.