Thank you for four weeks of great weather, I feel so lucky; Thank you for the fruits found along the path: apples, pears, peaches, hazelnuts, chestnuts, blackberries, and blueberries; Thank you for the clouds hanging low on the side of mountains; Thank you for the inns, the people I met there, and the kindness of …
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Reflection
I spent just over four weeks on the trail, and during these four weeks I was genuinely happy. Why? I must first acknowledge that there is no merit in being happy under such circumstances. After all I was in a situation where I had no responsibilities, no worries. I had selfishly disconnected myself from work, …
Day 29: Argein to Saint-Girons
October 4, 2019 – Departed 8:20 – Arrived 13:15 Continuing from Argein the GR78 followed more or less the Lez river. As it did yesterday it went in the hills on either side, but today it tended to stay closer to the bottom of the valley, which made for a slightly more direct route but …
Day 28: Portet-d’Aspet to Argein
October 3, 2019 – Departed 9:00 – Arrived 16:30 Back to sunny weather today. Everything more or less dried overnight, except for the boots – but this is a minor inconvenience. The GR78 went through a string of villages today – Portet-d’Aspet, Saint-Lary, Augirein, Saint-Jean-du-Castillonnais, Buzan, Aucazein, Argein – basically all in the same valley. …
Day 27: Juzet d’Izaut to Portet-d’Aspet
October 2, 2019 – Departed 8:45 – Arrived: 13:30 The rain that started yesterday afternoon continued overnight. Although it had stopped when I left, it started again one hour into my hike and kept me company for most of the day. It wasn’t unpleasant though, despite raining quite hard at times. My backpack stayed dry …
Day 26: Refuge Saint-Martin to Juzet d’Izaut
October 1, 2019 – Departed 9:10 – Arrived 15:00 An easy stage, mostly through forests, on nice paths with very few difficulties. The geography has changed again, where I am now is mostly forest-covered hills, as far as one can see. This morning as I was leaving the Refuge I could hear forestry workers nearby, …
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Day 25: Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges to Refuge Saint-Martin
September 30, 2019 – Departed 14:00 – Arrived 19:20 Today I took a half day of rest. I decided I would do only a short stage in the afternoon, and use the morning to visit Saint-Bertrand. I thought Saint-Bertrand was a city but it’s really a village, with maybe 200 souls. It’s a very cute …
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Day 24: Lortet to Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges
September 29, 2019 – Departed 8:15 – Arrived: 18:15 I slept so-so but was up at the crack of dawn, or even before, taking the tent down when the day had barely broken. Then I had a quick breakfast and started walking. The sky was spotless and it remained so the entire day. Even at …
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Day 23: Moulin des Baronnies to Lortet
September 28, 2019 – Departed 9:20 – Arrived 19:00 The day started late as I was waiting for the rain to stop. It did, and this enabled me to enjoy the first segment of today’s hike, which followed the Arros river upstream. The path then went through some gentle hills and valleys, under overcast but …
Day 22: Gerde to Moulin des Baronnies
September 27, 2019 – Departed 9:45 – Arrived 17:15 The path seems to be taking me further away from the very foot of the Pyrénées, and closer to the plain. Hills are gentler, there are many villages around. I also met quite a few hikers today, including two from Whitehorse. Who would have thought? We …
Day 21: Germs-sur-l’Oussouet to Gerde
September 26, 2019 – Departed 8:45 – Arrived 17:45 Tonight I am camping in Gerde, just outside of Bagnères-de-Bigorre (apparently I have been in Bigorre for a while, not Béarn anymore). It’s a three star campground, it even has wifi (although not very good), camping ain’t what it used to be. But for me it’s …
Day 20: Lourdes to Germs-sur-l’Oussouet
September 25, 2019 – Departed 8:35 – Arrived 16:35 For this next part of my journey I have decided to switch to the GR78, rather than go back on the GR10. The GR78 is one of the Camino trails, this one is known as the Pyrenean Piémont (or foot of the hills) route and it …
Interlude: Cité Saint-Pierre
September 17-24, 2019 For the past 7 days I have been in Lourdes volunteering at the Cité Saint-Pierre. The Cité was created in the mid 1950’s to enable poorer people to undertake the pilgrimage to Lourdes. It’s a fairly sprawling complex located a short distance from the Basilica (in any case there is a shuttle …
Day 19: Refuge de Haugarou to Lourdes
September 16, 2019 – Departed 8:20 – Arrived 16:50 I assumed that going from the Refuge (elevation: 1,200 m) to Lourdes (420 mSe) would be all downhill. I was wrong of course, the GR101 goes up and down through several cols on the way. It was nice though. The hike started on easy forestry roads …
Day 18 – Gourette to Refuge de Haugarou
September 15, 2019 – Departed 8:40 – Arrived 16:10 Starting from Gourette (elevation 1,362 m) it was immediately going up to the Col de Tortes (1,800 m). It was a steep climb and I could feel at once that I was still tired from the day before. I accepted it and took my time, looking …
Day 17 – Gabas to Gourette
September 14, 2019 – Departed 8:25 – Arrived 18:40 This was supposed to be a long day and indeed it was. Basically the hike was going up for the first 7.5 hours from Gabas (elevation 1,035 m) to the Hourquette d’Arre (2,465 m), then down to Gourette the rest of the time. The climb represented …
Day 16 – Refuge d’Ayous to Gabas via Tour du Pic d’Ossau
September 13, 2019 – Departed 8:25 – Arrived 17:30 I had a terrible night, I am not even sure I slept at all. I can’t figure out why. With all the physical exercise I have been doing in the past two weeks I should be tired and sleep like a baby. Not the case. On …
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Day 15 – Etsaut to Refuge d’Ayous
September 12, 2019 – Departed 8:10 – Arrived 15:20 What a day! It started, just one hour into the hike, with two gems. The first to come into sight was the Fort du Portalet, a fort built I mid 1800’s to defend the valley against the Spaniards. The fort is located on the other side …
Day 14 – Etsaut
September 11, 2019 Resting today, and giving my muscles, knees, hips, and shoulders a break. I am not exhausted, just tired, but otherwise in good physical and mental shape. While on the path I try to keep my mind free from thoughts and focused on what surrounds me. With medium success I must say – …
Day 13 – Lescun to Etsaut
September 10, 2019 – Departed 9:15 – Arrived 15:30 A quiet day. It was raining when I left, so I put the rain cover, K-Way and gaiters on. The weather alternated between rain and no rain all day, so I kept removing the K-Way and putting it back on, but that was a minor inconvenience. …
Day 12 – La-Pierre-St-Martin to Lescun
September 9, 2019 – Departed 8:45 – Arrived 15:45 La-Pierre-St-Martin marks the Eastern limit of Pays Basque. Today I crossed into Haut-Béarn, and tonight I am staying in Lescun (895 m), a picturesque village that is surrounded on all sides by big mountains and cliffs. The architecture looks different too, with big stone houses and …
Day 11 – Ste Engrâce to La-Pierre-St-Martin
September 8, 2019 – Departed 8:20 – Arrived 14:05 As expected the day was almost only going up, except at the very beginning and the very end. I don’t mind going up when it’s a gentle slope like that of a forest road, what I don’t like is when the path cuts directly through the …
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Day 10 – Logibar to Ste Engrâce
September 7, 2019 – Departed 9:00 – Arrived 17:50 Another very long day. There was no other option today, as there was no auberge between Logibar and here. I must say that I am not too fond of long stages, like the one two days ago (11 hours) or the one today (almost 9), specially …
Day 9 – Chalet Pedro to Logibar
September 6, 2019 – Departed 10:20 – Arrived 16:10 I slept okay and wasn’t cold at all – a god sleeping bag helps. I was a bit slow to get going but given the previous day I had an excuse. I took it easy to Chalets d’Iraty. The path follows trails that are, this coming …
Day 8 – Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Chalet Pedro
September 5, 2019 – Departed 7:40 – Arrived 18:50 I was ready early and left then. The path out of Saint Jean was a paved road meandering through the outskirts of the village, which as a warm-up I did not mind. This was followed by a very steep climb and more rural trails. Everything was …
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Day 7 – Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
September 4, 2019 This was a rest day. I could not really sleep in because all the other hikers were getting ready to leave starting at 6:00 – mostly pilgrims on the Camino. The town is very funny in the sense that is gets very busy early in the morning, then by 8:00 or 8:30 …
Day 6 – Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
September 3, 2019 – Departed 8:30 – Arrived 15:15 The hike to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port was uneventful. Following yesterday’s pattern it started with 3 hours of walking uphill through various cols (passes) to the summit of Monhoa (1,021 m). The slope was not too steep, or I am getting used to it. There were great views from …
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Day 5 – Bidarray to Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry
September 2, 2019 – Departed 8:05 – Arrived 16:30 Things got more serious today with the crossing from Bidarray to Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry. The first three and a half hours were a steep and continuous climb from Bidarray (elevation 140 m) to the Pic d’Iparla (élévation 1,044 m) which is the first time the GR 10 has …
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Day 4 – Col des Veaux to Bidarray
September 1, 2019 – Departed 9:40 – Arrived 14:00 No rain after all, and I am not complaining. Today’s hike took me through some gentle sheep and pottok pastures to the Col d’Espalza. Then it was a one hour, very steep climb down a rocky gully to the valley below. A bit hard on the …
Day 3 – Sare to Col des Veaux
August 31, 2019 – Departed 8:20 – Arrived 15:00 I had a bad night – maybe choosing the gateau Basque for desert yesterday wasn’t a good idea. My roommate was up at 6:00, and started his hike by 7:00 – it was barely daylight. I had breakfast at 7:00 and was ready to go by …
Day 2 – Col d’Ibardin to Sare
August 30, 2019 – Departed 9:45 – Arrived 16:45 Today the hike was longer but easier than yesterday. A reasonably good night likely helped. I also came to realize that part of my difficulties yesterday were due to improper nutrition: all I had in my stomach when I started at noon was a pain aux …
Day 1 – Hendaye to Col d’Ibardin
August 29, 2019 – Departed 12:30 – Arrived 18:00 The train arrived close to noon, and I spent a few minutes on the beach getting my feet wet. Then I started hiking and got immediately lost, which happened at least three times today. The first couple of hours were okay. Then the slope got steeper …
This blog
This blog was simply a means for me to keep loved ones and friends informed of my progress (or lack thereof) on the trail while I attempted parts of the GR 10. I started on August 29, 2019, and I had no idea of how far I would be going. Maybe I’d stop after two …
GR10/GR101/GR78 August/September/October 2019 