Vallée de l'Eyne -> Banyuls-sur-Mer

Friday August 21

We didn't expect to have such a blast today. We knew it was going to be a crest hike but not this good! Very windy though! But a gorgeous succession of peaks and mountain passes all above 2600m.

 Mountain pass of (Col de) Núria 2680m

Peak (Pic) d'Eyne 2786m

Peak of (Pic de) Nou Fonts 2861m

Peak of (Pic de) Noucreus 2800m

Peak (Pic) Inférieur de la Vaca 2826m

And so on... We took so many pictures!

 Even after our lunch stop at Ulldeter we continued hiking above 2000m.

Here I'm showing we've loaded plenty of water since it's going to be a "dry camping" tonight. There's no water at such high altitudes...

We arrive at Porteille de Rotja and set camp. What a great place here too!

Saturday August 22

Grrrr! I forgot my hat at camp and had to hike back to get it. I need my hat! Look, so much sun above the sea of clouds!

We are entering Canigou's Mountain range. The last high range section of the Pyrenees before the sea. We've spent two full days hiking on crests above 2000m and enjoying the gorgeous scenery.

We're above the clouds, it's always so special.

But now we gotta go back down a bit to enjoy a good lunch at Mariailles refuge before we start the climb to Canigou.

These pine trees growing on rocks at high altitude really look like the John Muir Trail in California!

No dry camping tonight! A nice shaded spot by a creek on the way to Canigou north slope access. We make a lot of envious backpackers!

Muriel takes her bath in the frigid water of the raging stream. She says it's paradise!

Sunday August 23

Today is Canigou day!

We leave early after sunrise and get to the base of the summit quickly since our camp was close by. It's very windy and cold. But sunny.

Then we have a blast at Canigou's chimney since nobody is there yet! A beautiful long scramble, intimidating but quite easy.

It is the coldest day we've had in the entire HRP. Northern wind is blowing hard at the summit where only a few people are standing.

Here it is: our last high summit on the HRP, 2784m (but lower than the prior days crest though!). We will now descend to reach the town of Amélie-les-Bains at 200m tomorrow !!!!

But before getting to Amélie we proceed down this beautiful trail at the foot steps of Canigou, "les balcons du Canigou".

We enjoy very much this slow transition to lower grounds....

...And a nice stone hut where we'll cleanup and spend the night. No tent setting tonight (second time only!).

Monday August 24

We resume going down to Amélie-les-Bains.

What a beautiful pinetrees forest!

And what a transition! We finish our hike surrounded by small mediterranean oak tres.

And along the way we've gorged on blackberries, ripe and growing everywhere along the trail. 

We have down climbed 1800m today!

Tuesday August 25

We ate too much at Amélie-les-Bains... Oh well we still need all the calories we can take! It's a grueling 1400m climb to the next HRP's official summit! Roc de Frausa!

We leave Amélie before sunrise to climb as much as possible in cool temperatures.

An oak tree this big might be several hundred years old!

Canigou Mountain range is now behind us!

Summit picture! We haven't summited often on the HRP actually!, the mountain passes were our summits!

And then we keep hiking down in a beautiful forest!

Wednesday August 26

Today it's supposed to be the least interesting day of the entire HRP.

I disagree! There's no such thing as a "least interesting day" on the HRP!

It's just different. Instead of mountain peaks and lakes we have oaks and birch trees.

And we have a 800m climb from Perthus to Col de l'Ullat!

And another 250m climb to Pic Neulos (1250m) after that! It just doesn't stop!

It's been a hot day.

So we're very happy to get to Tagnerede fountain for a bivouac!

A social bivouac! Other hikers are setting camp here too because it's the last water before the end. We have to load up water for a full day hiking in scorching heat tomorrow.

Tomorrow is arrival day! The beach of Banyuls on the mediterranean is waiting 😁

Thursday August 27

We thought adventure was over! And we had even congratulated ourselves on a (almost) uneventful hike: no injuries, no gear issues, no big scares.... Well, it's never over until "the fat lady sings"! (You know, in operas, the diva always shows up at the very end).

10:00pm: after a few tent vibrations and noises I stand up, sleepy and adjust our gear inside the tent, by our feet. It's windy outside and that might be the origin of the vibrations.

10:15pm: a much bigger tent vibration and ripping sound definitely wakes me up. I check again our gear and find out something has cut through our tent and taken MY food bag.

10:15pm and 10 seconds later

I'm outside with my headlamp looking for the culprit. 2 eyes appear just a few meters away. Looks like a fox. I immediately go get my walking stick and start running after it, yelling and playing fox predator. I find my food bag opened; plastic bags, zip locks, etc. are spread out. I collect all I can. My chocolate cookies and Spanish dry sausage are gone!

The eyes are still looking at me but further down. I throw a few rocks. The thing disappears in the woods.

Meanwhile Muriel got out. She saw the animal too while I was gathering my food. She says she saw the characteristic raccoon tail.

This is what a raccoon looks like by the way (not our picture!)

10:30pm We're both back in the tent looking at the gaping hole the raccoon slashed open.

There are 3 other tents with us at this site but we've been the only victims it looks like.

We assume we scared the raccoon with my yelling and rocks. Muriel covers the hole with her backpack and we go back to sleep.

12:05am Another ripping sound awakes us! Muriel yells as she ears it half asleep, I jump off the tent again.

The beast is back!!!!

I don't see it outside but this time he ripped a red piece of fabric of the tent; there's still saliva on it!

12:10am It's taken us 5 minutes to decide we can't sleep here. The raccoon will keep coming till he gets what he wants. This fountain spot is actually accessible by car thru a forest road. Lots of people come here also on weekends; the raccoon must be used to slash tents and get food. We're no match for this situation. We must leave.

12:20am We have packed everything in our backpacks (yes we're really fast at this by now) plus water (2 liters each, we very seldom carry this much water, but here we have to; our feet really don't appreciate the extra weight on these rocky paths) and start hiking in total darkness; the half moon that could have given us some light has just disappeared below the tree line.

Yup, we're still able to enjoy nature nightlife shows; a toad came out of the mud hole next to our campsite.

We pretty much haven't used our headlamps the entire trip, now they're an essential piece of gear. Thankfully we're following the GR10 at this point and it's quite well blazed. But we still lose the track here and there when the blazes aren't close enough. The trail isn't obvious to follow. The GPS thankfully saves us. It's like walking in fog.

Far below we see the lights of Spanish towns to the south and the French tows to the north. We're 1000m above sea level on a crest where cattle is roaming free. So we often disturb sleeping cows. 

It's a 7h hike to Banyuls and we dont know how much of it we can do in the dark. We just keep hiking, chased by a hungry and very poorly mannered raccoon...

Headlamps attract plenty of flying bugs also and the wind isn't enough to chase them away sometimes. We better breathe with our mouth closed. As we hike we awake cows, rabbits and wild boars.

2am Food stop. Muriel finishes her cheese, I eat a muesli breakfast. And I find my sausage at the bottom of my bag. The nasty raccoon only got hold of the cookies actually. Aha!

4am We're just too sleepy and start looking for a spot to crash before we break an ankle our tore a ligament on the uneven dark trail. At last, we find one and crash indeed.

7am Muriel awakes and gently awakens me too. Time to keep moving before the heat.

We look at our tent's hole in disbelief.

This wasn't a nightmare... It really happened!

It's a beautiful sunrise and, surprisingly, the little sleep we had has reenergized us enough.

The eventful night is not over though, but this time we get a very good surprise! 

For only a few minutes after we start hiking we cross our path with...

...David and Sandra from the Netherland whom we had met on our first day!!!! And now we're finishing on the same day!!! What a coincidence!!

We catch up with trail news and start hiking. We are now very close to the arrival!!

We're very tired from the lack of sleep and extra night hiking but we keep going, to the beach!

That's it! We take our swim in the mediterranean. It's very hot in Banyuls.

The HRP is roughly 800km and 44km ascent (5.5 times the Everest, from sea level). Overall we feel it's like hiking the John Muir Trail section of the PCT but several times in a row! (3? 4?)

We have made it in 49 days total including 3 rest days (zero km), and with a Grand Raccoon Finale on the top of it!!

Our only casualty is our tent: beware of wildlife in populated tent sites!

-- The End --