We keep coming back to the Pyrenees. It is the mixture of old landscapes, nice villages and the possibility to bivouac in the mountains that attracts us, although the bivouacking is getting more and more restricted.

Transportation

The train system in France is excellent: we went in one day from Utrecht to Ax-les-Thermes and were there around dinner time. No delays and comfortable trains. There are buses in the Pyrenees but do not count on too frequent services. We got stuck in Bielsa on a Friday afternoon and the earliest bus was Monday morning. Bielsa is not the most exciting place to stay so we decided to hitch-hike Saturday morning to the nearest larger town (Ainsa) to take a bus. We have been hitch-hiking several times during this holiday and that works quite well! It has a certain charm to travel with public transportation instead of your own car, but you need to have the time and sometimes have a stoic attitude.  

From St-Jean-Pied-de-Port in the afternoon we hiked along the chemin de St. Jacques de Compostelle to the refuge Orisson. The next day followed for a while the chemin StJdC to Col de Bentarte, where we started to follow the GR11 into Spain. Our plan was to take the Haute Route Pyreneene (HRP) but a fog came up very rapidly (not uncommon in Basque country) and since the route was not well signed at all, we decided to go down to Fabrica de Orbaitzeta. There we wanted to pick up the GR11 again, but we got lost and wandered around for a while. We went down all the way and picked up the path along the river Irati Ibaia to the Embalse de Ibaria. Meanwhile, the blisters on M’s feet were starting to become really bad (the necessary precautionary sport tape was forgotten on this trip). After some discussion it was decided to take a taxi to Ochagavía, where an extra day was spend to heal the wounds and buy tape for the rest of the trip.

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After having hiked in the Pyrenees for the first time carrying full gear a few years ago with experienced friends, we did our first trekking with the two of us in 2003. Often when we go hiking in the Pyrenees, we take the highspeed train to Paris, and from there the nighttrain to the south of France. In this case our destination was Ax-les-Thermes where we did some shopping, before going one stop further to Merens-les-Vals, where we started our trip.

Map with first part of trekking

The first day is always difficult, having to get used to walking in this type of terrain, the heavy backpacks and the climbing to gain altitude. Our first camp site we aimed for was the refuge Rulhe. Upon arrival, we put up our tent and went into the refuge, where our evening meal consisted of a bottle of coke, and some potato chips. Too exhausted to do anything else than listen to a not so funny hut warden (although he thought differently) teaching a class of school kids about the mountains. Weather was really great and we continued into Andorra, picking up freshly painted trail signs from the cabana Sorda in Andorra. Continue Reading…