Jeudi 6 août
After a 20 min taxi ride we met with our uncle J-Max and aunt Jo at the south side of Vielha's tunnel and started hiking towards the lakes of the Encantats. What a blast!
So many shades of blue!
Not a long day and we went swimming twice! Water was cold.
We bivouac down at this lake, right where Muriel is looking at.
We traverse the Estanh del Mar and hike down to Restanca refuge.
From the refuge we say goodbye to our uncle and aunt as they loop back to their car while we keep going.
We pass Colomer refuge and find a beautiful spot to bivouac. Our legs are sore; we've been hiking on tough terrain, mostly granit boulders, up and down 4 mountain passes. Time for a break!
We start hiking early, by 7:30am and get to the first mountain pass in the shade. But as soon as we get to the top... Sun in the eyes!
The HRP leaves the marked trails today and we have to navigate off trail. We experiment butt sliding on steep grass. It works!
After the granit boulders filled trails of the past days the section after Bonaigua pass has easier rock. But it's hot!
Estany de Garrabea
We follow the best we can the GPS track. There are a few kerns here and there, and very very light trail marks. I still wouldn't venture here without a GPS.
Then grass areas; it feels so remote.
We climb a few more mountain passes. But, by the time we start descending to Alos de Isil clouds and thunder get serious again around us.
By 2pm we're getting totally soaked by heavy rain and hailstorm. There's no escape. It keeps raining really hard until we reach Alos de Isil. It's a 1200m descent. Trail is ok most of the way but as we get closer to town, the trail disappears. We drop down steep grass fields bordered by big thorny bushes. Taking cover under the bigger trees when the hail is getting scary. It's epic!
Muriel is smiling here at Alos de Isil but she's drenched and worned out. Luckily we get phone coverage and a taxi to a hotel below! We need to dry all our belongings! No bivouac tonight!
We're back on the trail after a 3 day break in Vielha. It was a necessary rest; we enjoyed the almost empty hotel and its great breakfasts! But we struggled with the obligation to wear masks, in and out doors...
Friday Aug 7
We awake with the Besiberri peak behind us.
Saturday August 8
It rained a bit last night but we awake in blue skies.
Again we have to navigate with the GPS as there is no blazes and the trails are quite confusing.
We still manage to get to a nice lake.
Sunday August 9
The biggest navigation challenge so far. Like crossing boulder fields with no blazes or kerns. Wild country!
Monday August 10
It only rains a little bit though. This particularly challenging mountain pass features the remains of several adventurous cows. Not the kind of reassurance we need, especially with threatening stormy weather nearby! We make it over and down steep sloppy terrain escaping bad weather then, passing by the cow bones scattered along the way (not really enticing) we finally arrive at col de Cornella at 13:00.
It's steep on the other side.
But weather improves a bit and after a lunch break we climb a bit more to col de Calberante. 1500m total climb today!!!!
We down climb on glacier polished rocks until we find our bivouac. It's very scenic and different over here.
We have plenty of time to get to Marc in Ariège where we will meet with our friends Andy and Babette, on Thursday.
We enjoy a long lunch break at Noarre, a fancy lot of remodeled barns.
We still want to hike a little more towards Certascan pass; the trail is quite steep and the sun gets out. We enjoy a few water holes in the way.
Finally we arrive at a beautiful small valley with pine trees and another waterfall, at 2000m. It's 2pm and we call it a day. A very short hiking day!
The taxi picks us up on time and drops us at Alos de Isil again. Skies are blue. And up we go. Again.
It's a long climb to Col de Cornella and the skies get dark little by little from the West. We're still traumatised by yesterday's downpour.
Many lakes on either side.
Tuesday August 11
A few rain drops get us packing faster. But sun is not too far away.
So we take plenty of breaks.
Wednesday August 12
The Pyrenees have a different look today with all the clouds and stormy wind. We make it to Certascan pass and then to the refuge bearing the same name. Great food and great service at this one. Highly recommended!
We stay a long time as we only need to hike a couple of hours to the base of Artigue pass.
But we suffer through another thunderstorm downpour with lightning and hail just an hour back on the trail! This is a picture of the hailstones falling on us while we crouch next to a tree for shelter!
Luckily we find a shelter where we make some tea and had layers of dry clothes. The temperature fell 10°C in just 1/2 hour!! Thankfully the sky clears up fast afterwards and the sun is back! Feels great!
A cow is chewing on a cow bone. That's unusual. Probably to get salt.
We enter in France at Artigue pass, we've been in Spain since Arremoulit pass, many days ago!
After the scree we follow Artigue creek all the way to Marc. We're passing by the last mountain range reaching 3000m: Montcalm/Estat.
At Marc we get lucky and find a hitch to Auzat where we meet our friends Babette & Andy at a hotel. They brought us the groceries for our next section and will hike with us a few days. Our bags will get a bit heavier again!
We awake in heavy winds. The sky is filled with clouds traveling fast.
We eat breakfast in the tent, pack and start hiking up to Certascan pass.
When the thunderstorm seems to have moved far enough we start hiking again. The trail is a river, it's still raining and we're soaked and freezing from the waist down but we keep moving to warm up. On the top of it the trail requires some climbing moves!
Thursday August 13
Winds have finally abated. We climb up to Artigue pass.
Then it's a long boulder scree down climb. The longest we've had since we started! Welcome to the wild mountains region of Ariège !
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