9th August. 12.40 pm.
It seemed to take longer to get light this morning, despite clear skies, and there was a distinct Autumnal air as I walked through the fields from Font Romeu to Eyne village. It is a relief to get away from the town and all the tourists. Two French guys had pitched next to me on the campsite, and both nights rolled in at about 3 am drunk and giggling like school children. Very annoying! Font Romeu served its purpose though, and I left rested and restocked.
George Veron's route across the fields proved difficult to follow. Chalets have been built to the south of Font Romeu and I lost count of how many fences I crossed. The fields of grass were laden with dew and it wasn't long before my trousers were soaked through. But it was a lovely morning and the hedgerows and harvested fields looked lovely in the early morning sunlight.
So I reached Eyne, a gorgeous little French village tucked into the folds of the valley and full of rustic charm. I
had thought to have a coffee there but it didn't look like anywhere would be open as it was still only 8.30 am.
Instead I sat on a bench overlooking the village, soaked up the view and chatted to one of the local dogs. (They seem to
understand me better than the people!)
Photo: Eyne village with the valley behind
The rest of the morning was spent following the good path up the Eyne Valley. This is a Nature reserve and is well known for its wild flowers, though I think I am a bit late for those. There was plenty of bird activity in the woods lower down and I saw what I'm sure was a Crested Tit. Higher up the trees thinned out and gave way to patches of Monkshood and Bilberry bushes. Marmots shrieked from the boulder field on the steep hillsides, and a herd of ponies whinnied from the high pastures. Eventually I came out into a wide open bowl with the stream bubbling through its middle. It was 12.30 and the first few big clouds were formimg over the ridges above me, so I decided to take a long lunch break and see if they developed. There is four hours walking on a high ridge before the next suitable camp spot, and after having storms during the last two days I am loath to set off if there is a risk of another this afternoon. I'll give it until 2.00 pm and make a decision then.
2.10 pm
Well, there is about 9/10ths cloud cover now and though it doesn't look too threatening yet I think I will stay here. There are quite a few day trippers up in the valley top and on the ridges, and a group of trekkers has just gone past. It will be interesting to see if they have to retreat later! Cups of tea and chocolate for me...! I will look forward to having the ridge to myself at sunrise tomorrow.
4.30 pm.
This is all very exciting! I was sat in the valley at about 2,200m having those cups of tea when the horse that had
been whinnying up on the hill came down and started posturing to everyone who was walking past. He is a chestnut stallion
with a great shock of white mane, but is seperate from the herd and appears clumsy and unsteady on his feet. He finally
came over to where I sat, threw up his head, whinnied at me [very loud!] and then ran past stamping his hooves! I was very
brave and stayed sat down and took a photo, but I was trembling afterwards!
Anyway, the clouds hadn't become any more threatening, and I didn't fancy spending the night with my new friend, so I packed up and set off up the valley. Higher up I decided that the cloud over Pic de Noufants was looking darker, and at the valley head found a small knoll where people had clearly camped before, right next to the spring. I was just finishing pitching the tent when the first clap of thunder rolled around the valley! I am at 2500m here, it is raining steadily now and I expect some fireworks this evening! This beats Font Romeu any day!
7.30 pm.
The display never really happened. Thunder rolled about the valley for a couple of hours, but without an attendant light display. However, it has been spotting with rain, which has confined me to the tent which acts as a very good hide. A herd of Izard have come down off the hills - I counted 14 adults and 6 fawns - and they are grazing by the stream below my tent. The adult males are quite striking with their black markings on their flanks, and the fawns are grey and scraggy looking. I have also had a young Wheatear hopping about on the rocks just outside the tent door, and a group of four vultures soaring over the head of the valley earlier. Oh, and there are Marmots too!
8.45 pm.
This gets better! I have now got another family of antelope feeding within 100ft of the front door of my tent. There is a male with them with thick light coloured, swept-back horns. I think these are Ibex?! They are slightly stockier than the Izard and without the black markings. They bleat to each other like sheep to keep the group together. I feel like David Attenborough!
10th August. 6.00 pm.
I got my head down and put some miles in today, and I will need to do the same for the next two days to get to Amelie. It was a wonderful varied day's walking, this morning being over the peaks of Pic de Noufants and then this afternoon on the broad grassy ridges of the Plan de Calm Agre.
I woke early this mornig, before 5.00 am and took my sleeping bag outside and lay watching the stars until the dawn
broke. I saw lots of shooting stars, including one very bright one which left a trail in its wake. Satalites tracked across
the sky in all directions. Then, as it got lighter I grabbed some breakfast, packed up and set off.
I was on the summit of Pic d'Eyne by 7.15 am, in time to see the sun rise over Pic de Noufants to the east. The early morning light was a mellow yellow and picked out the rocky ridges and peaks beautifully. I then made the steep climb round a curving ridge onto Pic de Noufonts (more lovely views) before following the undulating ridge eastwards. I was surprised by how many other walkers were around, but being a Sunday morning I guess they had camped in the numerous valleys and corries that surround these peaks. One group had pitched their tent right on one of the high ridges, despite the thunder during the previous evening.
Photo: A herd of Izard silhouetted of the flanks of Pic de Noufonts
The final peak on the ridge was Pic de la Vache which gave good views into the Caranca valley to the North with numerous mountain tarns, scattered pine forest and pale white rock. It was then a long but easy trudge along a wide gravely path down from Col de Tirapits and then up and over Col de la Marrana to the refuge at Ull de Ter, passing a string of day trippers on the way and arriving at the refuge at 11 o'clock.
The Ull de Ter hut is a nice traditional looking refuge in a lovely position under the soaring crags of Gra de Fajol. The staff were friendly and cooked me a large omlette sandwich, despite being before lunchtime, which I devoured with a can of Coke.
I then dropped down to the ski area of Vallter. As ski areas go it looked to be a nice one, and not too intrusive on the mountain scenery. It would certainly be a lovely place to ski in winter, surrounded as it is by craggy peaks and pine forest. From there a steep climb took me up onto the wide open grassy plains of the Plan de Calm Agre where I picked up a good path which avoided the rounded peaks along the ridge and traversed eastwards for several kilometres as the blue skies gradually clouded over.
Just before Portella de Roja the ridge narrowed into a white rocky quartz arrete, where I disturbed a huge flock of vultures. Their colleagues were still picking over a carcass down in the valley to the South, and despite being the best part of a kilometre away I could hear their screeches as they squabbled over the remains. I reckon there must have been over a hundred birds there in total!
At Portella de Roja there is a nice little hut but no water supply. By now I was feeling tired and the clouds were getting darker, so I dropped into the Roja valley to the North and found a nice spot to pitch the tent on a knoll, not far from a spring and with a fine view of Canigou to the East. I've now got the last big mountain in my sights!
11th August. 1.00pm
There was a dramatic storm over Canigou yesterday evening. A single column of cloud formed that must have been thousands of feet high. It gradually spread wider and then sank to envelop everything to the East of me in darkness. At the height of the storm the thunder was almost continous. I only caught the edge of it, with some banks of drifting fog and about an hour of steady rain, with one or two very large hailstones. However, I once again awoke to clear blue skies this morning and a lovely sunrise over Canigou.
The morning's walk took me along more high grassy plateau following the ridge line of the Esquerdes de Roja, where the grassy ridge was topped by shattered quartz outcrops. It was easy and enjoyable walking and I took my time, stopping a couple of times for snacks and to enjoy the expansive views. Then, once over the flat plateau of Plaguillem I trudged down forest tracks to the Refuge de Meriailles, which enjoys fantastic views up the Cadi valley to the North West of Canigou.
I am sat on their terrace now, tucking into a large salad and 'Omlette Jambon'. The Cadi valley is guarded by a gateway of dramatic rock spires that wouldn't look out of place in a scene of Lord of the Rings! I am savouring the prospect of walking up there this afternoon, to camp on the slopes of Canigou.
7.30pm
The walk up the Cadi came up to expectations, through pine forests on a good path that traversed high above the river gorge. I am now camped in the corries at its head surrounded by craggy ridges and summits. It's far more mountainous and dramatic than I had expected and Canigou looks quite exciting from here.
We had a shower of rain earlier but yesterday's storms have not repeated themselves and the clouds have cleared to leave a lovely warm sunny evening. I am sat outside my tent with just my shorts on, looking out over ridge after ridge of misty hills out to the west. It's great to know that I have walked over all of them, plus a great many more beyond!
12th August. 10.00am.
My watch beeped me at 5.30 am and I crammed some muesli down my neck and packed up in the combined light of my
headtorch and a full moon. By 6.15 I was trudging up the path out of the Gorgs de Cadi as the moon turned yellow
and sank in the west and the sky over the ridge above me grew steadily lighter. Determined to see the sun rise I worked
hard and fretted as the path zig zagged across the slope and gained height too slowly for my liking. But I need not have
worried as I was sat on the Portella de Vallmanya, at 2600m, as the scarlet
disc of the sun slid into view behind a bank of mist. I was then treated to a second sunrise as it cleared the misty haze
and finally lit up the mountain tops about me. The climb onto Canigou by the south gully was a lovely scramble. A blocky
stairway, steep enough to be exciting without causing too much worry!
Photos: Sunrise from the Portella de Vallmanya & the ridges of Canigou
The lack of detail on the Spanish maps, and George's references to crowds on the summit, had led me to expect a
boring hump of a mountain. Not a bit of it! Canigou is a big and complex mountain of high rocky ridges and soaring
cliffs, with a view from the summit to match. It is the perfect eastern outpost of the Pyrenees and a fitting climax
to the mountains of the HRP. I had the summit to myself for a while and soaked up the view before striding down the easy
'tourist' path to the Refuge de Cortalets where I am now sat enjoying a well earned cup of coffee. I had planned to make the
most of Canigou, as the last major mountain on my trek, and it couldn't have worked out better. I'm chuffed to bits!
7.00 pm
This afternoon's walk took me along the Balcon de Canigou, an amazing traverse right round the east side of the Canigou massiff, high above the deep valley below. It passed along hillsides so steep that in places the path was cut out of the rock or teetered along walls of up to 40ft high. And for all its 10km the path was paved with pine needles and shaded by trees - much appreciated in the heat of the afternoon.
Thunderstorms threatened in the late afternoon, but like yesterday they came to nothing and the sun reasserted itself. I emerged out of the forest onto Col de la Cirera at about 4 o'clock and lay in the sun in a cool breeze before descending to the Gite d'Etape at Bateres. There were no camping spots evident and I needed a shower and food (as my supplies were virtually out) so decided to stay at the Gite. The dormitory is only small (8 beds) and there are only three French guys in with me so I think I will sleep OK. The shower was lovely and dinner is imminent, so I think it was a good decision.
13th August. 7.40am.
How wrong I was! I left Batere with a bitter taste in my mouth this morning. The 'patron' is a bigot with a chip on his shoulder about the English! I don't understand French spoken quickly, but it was pretty obvious that the twenty minute tirade that he treated his customers to before dinner was about how awful the English are! I was then put on a table with seven French and served a very poor meal comprising a couscous salad, a portion of chicken with chips and a slice of water melon. This took two and a half hours to serve whilst I sat in silence amidst unitelligable conversation. Tired and depressed I retired to bed at 10.00 pm, only to be woken later to pay my bill and be told that breakfast wasn't served until 8.30 am! I got up early this mornng to find that the French walkers had been left a breakfast to eat before they set off!
I packed and left, walking hard to dispel the bad feelings. I profoundly wish that Batere isn't indicative of the hospitality in this area! I am now sat by the ruined tower of Torre de Vetera looking at the sun reflecting off the Mediterranean Sea and thinking of home.
8.30 pm
In the event I was glad that I was encouraged to pack up and get away quickly this moring. It turned out to be a stinking hot day down in the Tech Valley - my watch registered 40 degrees in the shade this afternoon! The walk was a relatively easy one, down winding forest tracks and along good paths through beech forests, the like of which I have not seen since the Pays Basque. The forest tracks would have been unbearable this afternoon though!
I staggered into the outskirts of Amelie and flopped onto a park bench at about midday. After cooling down I then had a long trudge through to the other side of the town to the Municipal campsite, which isn't great and doesn't have much shade, but is adequate for my needs. Amelie itself is a nice town with a small square and a good collection of pavement cafes. Behind the town is a gorge which I will no doubt visit whilst I am here.
I contacted Ryanair this afternoon and delayed my flight to next Thursday. This wasn't an easy decision! My first instinct is to get the trek finished and get home as soon as possible, but I know I will enjoy the finish so much more with Jim and Chris that it is worth waiting a couple of days.
I had a late lunch at a lovely little restaurant with a terrace overlooking the river. It was out of town and quiet but the food excellent. The main course was Galette Complete; a sort of crepe parcel filled with ham, cheese and fresh tomatoes. Delicious! After baking in the shade this afternoon, I am now eating again! This time just pizza in a tacky little place on the edge of town. It will be interesting to see when Jim and Chris arrive. I think it will be Friday, which gives me two days to kill here.