Well that's it. I've done it!Well that's it. I've done it!
Having been home for just over a week, I am now coming to terms with putting the trek behind me and getting on with my life. It has been such a big challenge, and something that I have looked forward to since deciding to leave my job over a year ago, that its completion is quite a watershed in my life.
But before I move on, I want to summarise my experience and capture what I have learned to try and help other people who want to walk the route. I'll start by summarising the experience here, and will then develop my website to include my first hand experience. Who knows, I might even be able to inspire you do have a go yourself?
It was tough! More so than I expected, despite having some experience of walking in the mountains. In places the terrain was more rugged and steep than anything to be found on the British mainland, and on a par with walking over the passes in the Black Cullin on the Isle of Skye. This was being done carrying a heavy pack and was being repeated day after day. I wasn't surprised to find some terrain of this difficulty, but was surprised at the relentlessness of the steep, rocky paths, the loose scree and the boulder fields.
The other major problem was food. More often than not I was restocking at small village grocery shops where the choice of
dried food was extremely limited. The standard meal was pasta mixed with powdered soup. Chocolate would melt in the heat, whilst
other forms of high energy food were difficult to find. So sometimes I went hungry and lost weight, and other times I resorted
to carrying cans or some fresh food and then struggled with a heavy sack. It was never easy to find the right compromise.
There is a big difference between walking a route like this for a few days, and doing it for several weeks. The stamina and fat reserves that would normally see you through a short walking holiday get used up and you have to be taking on enough energy to match your expenditure. Also, the whole issue of mental stamina raises its head. You have to love the mountains, and the more you appreciate the scenery and the wildlife, the easier it is to keep going. But inevitably there are times when you don't want to walk, even when you feel like packing up and going home, and you need to have the resilience to keep going and to find joy in what you are doing.
Navigation was a problem, especially on the eastern half of the route. Once beyond the Western Pyrenees National Park most of the paths were indistinct and in many places were non-existant. In the Haute Garonne the topography was complex, with thousands of steep little valleys and mountain lakes, and it was very easy to lose ones way. This invariably left one struggling over very rough terrain or attempting impassable cols. I would recommend carrying 1:25,000 maps for the Haute Garonne, there isn't enough detail on the 1:50,000.
I met a number of people who were experienced at trekking in Europe and had walked various GR routes, including those in Corsica and the Alps. Without exception these people thought that the HRP was the most arduous recognised trek in Europe!
The scenery was jaw-dropping! I've got some lovely photo's but they don't begin to do it justice. You've just got to get
out there and see it for yourself.
The great thing about trekking along the Pyrenees is that the landscape changes every few days. All through the Basque country the green hills are getting steadily bigger and rockier. Then you've got the rollercoaster ride through the Hautes Pyrenees, from the limestone spires of Anseberre to the great Cirque of Gavarnie and the glacial wilderness of the Gourgs Blancs. This is followed by the granite mountains of the Haute Garonne with its countless turquoise lakes and the floral valleys of Andorra. Then finally the Pyrenees Orientales with its high grassy plateaus, the great peak of Canigou and the parched brown hillsides and cork forests of the mediterranean coast.
Without a doubt, my fondest memories are of some of wild spots that I camped. This is some of the best camping country in the whole of Europe, and to walk through it without sleeping out on the hills is to only get part of the experience! The high camps were the memorable ones, next to mountain tarns or tumbling streams and surrounded by rocky cliffs. Many evening meals were accompanied by rumbles of thunder as the storms brewed, but then the skies would clear as it went dark to reveal the stars as I have never seen them before.
The HRP takes you over some very high passes, but it was nice to top out on one or two of the big summits. The days on
Vignemale and Le Taillon with Mac were fantastic. I got a thrill from some of the high scrambley bits too; the descent from
Pic d'Anie, the Passage d'Orteig, Port du Lavedan, the Gorgs Blancs and the ascents of Pic de Moulliers and Canigou stand
out.
The wildlife was wonderful. There were the Vultures and Royal Eagles, and many other birds of prey that I failed to identify, and then the Crossbills when I camped near Bouillouses. I saw loads of Izard, and the evening camped in the Eyne valley watching the Izard and Ibex from my tent was very memorable. However, the most incredible sightings were made around my feet; the grass was always alive with lizards, frogs, butterflies, grasshoppers, crickets and ants. There were times when the ground seemed to move in front of me as I walked. I never realised there were so many different species of grasshopper!
The flowers were fantastic too. The summer season is squeezed into about three months in the high mountains. When I walked out of Hendaye the bluebells were out, and by the time we reached Banyuls just 9 weeks later the beech trees were starting to show their autumn colours. The flower meadows were particularly good around Col du Somport and Andorra, and the Pyrenean Iris's were the stars of the show.
Of course it was! The memories of this trip will stay with me for the rest of my life, and the achievement can never be taken away. I am proud to have supported Macmillan Cancer Relief, the fundraising has been an education and a challenge in its own right. I've met some new friends along the way, Jim and Chris were great company, and was lucky to be able to share some of the experience with some treasured family & friends in the guise of Gill, Ian and Mac.
I'm certainly a bit tougher and leaner now (I was starting to get a bit soft as I approach my forties) and it has made me appreciate the conveniencies of home that we all take for granted; e.g. fresh food, the electric kettle, the fridge and tap water! It has also made me appreciate being able to hold a conversation; eight weeks of not being able to speak the lingo was quite enough!
to everyone who has sponsored me and helped me to support Macmillan. I won't name individuals because there are too many and some might not want to be named, but a collective 'Thank You' to everyone at National Grid, the partners at MBM solicitors, Energyline, Falke for the excellent socks and all my friends and family.
Thanks also to those who accompanied me on the walk. I wouldn't have been able to walk it all on my own. The psychological
battle is easier when you can share the pains & frustrations. To Mac for getting me over Port de Lavedan the wrong way. To
Gill and Ian for rescuing me from the bottom of the stairs in Isil. To Jim and Chris for agreeing that every day really was
tough and joining me for the finale in Banyuls. To Ben Sharp for a memorable evening at Ansabere and to Ruben Heineke for
your company at Lescun. Also to Christophe Trinquier for a great day on the Bielsa ridge.
A very special thank you to Gill and Issy, who let husband and Daddy go away for nine weeks "to get it out of his system", I'm very lucky! Also to my Mum (Freda) and Gill's Mum & Dad (John & Joan) for looking after Issy whilst Gill joined me for 2 weeks, and for your general moral support.