Alan Jardine & John's GR10 Report for year 4 – 2007 Return
This year was through the beginning of
the Ariège. As we did not relish carrying camping equipment or taking chances
with cabanes we contacted Bergtoppers early in the year and arranged
their support. In effect they made
all our accommodation arrangements, they also made or arranged to have made our
picnic lunches each day, and provided very welcome transport which allowed us to
carry a significantly lighter load each day. Normally our rucks would be in the
region of 11/12Kg without water. I reckon we probably halved that. This was a
great help as some days were difficult enough.
We were fortunate that we chose to walk
later this year as they had a very wet summer and the weather had just settled
the day we arrived, we could see signs of the heavy rain they had been having.
The Bergtoppers set up is basically a
Dutch couple Roelof & Ireen & 2 lovely children. They live near Seix
(10k approx before Seix along the GR10) and have established a campsite/gite
style at their home. They plan to build in Seix itself in the near future and
live there in the winter months. They manage to do all the arrangements &
transport by themselves though we were there at the end of the season. Roelof
does take other trips in the region into
We flew into
There we were met by Ireen
who transported us to Seix and we were booked into Auberge Haut du Salat (also
run by Dutch folk). It is a nice hotel, old fashioned & comfortable with
good food and a friendly atmosphere.
Day 1 Eylie to La Pucelle (est
6 hrs +900/-900m)
Ireen & the children picked us up at the hotel at 0730 and transported us to
Eylie where we finished the previous year 2006. We headed up to Col de L'Arech
at 1802 (2hrs 25m) hard going for me as I was not as fit as I should have been.
Temperatures of 33 to 35c. Then down through oak/beech shade to rendezvous point
at the picnic spot at La Pucelle. We were slightly ahead of
time, however Ireen & kids were there to greet us with a cold beer from the
river! A short break there & they then took us back to Hotel Crabère
in Sentein. This place is big & to be frank just barely OK. A reasonable meal
and a good rest.
Day 2 La Pucelle to Riberot
(est 5 hrs +900/-900m)
Day 4 Bergtoppers to Seix (est
3-4 hrs -600/+200)
A leisurely start after an excellent ham omelet with Ireen & co. A very
comfortable walk into Seix and back to our same hotel room as we had on our
first night of the walk. We were in time for lunch and were joined just after by
Ireen who arrived with our bags. This necessitated another carafe of rosé
followed by a welcome afternoon nap. We had a pre dinner explore of Seix, a very
pleasant small town and a good base for the purpose. A good evening meal &
an early night, as usual!
Day 5 Seix to Rouze (est 9hrs
+1500/-1300/+200)
An early start greatly assisted by Ireen again who kindly took us up the first
road stretch, about 6/7km (to avoid us re-covering a lot of what we had walked
the previous day!). A hard climb up for 4 hrs to Port d'Aula at 2000m with Mt.
Valier at 2800 overlooking us. It did seem a bit strange to reach the top and
find a road and 4 guys cycling by! Again a long tedious descent to Couflens
where we had a break before the steep but shady climb to the gite at Rouze &
the Goat lady about 45 mins later.
The gite was comfortable, a dormitory
style room up stairs where we looked to be the only residents. Our bags had been
left by earlier by Ireen. A good shower, some washing followed by a Pastis
settled us in preparation for the evening meal which was to be cooked for us by
the owner of the Gite who also is famous for her goats, milk & cheeses.
John's inspection of the fridge led us
to believe that the meat marinating in it was goat for our meal. We had been
assured that the food here was excellent. Unfortunately the goat did not appear
on the menu!
The meal was OK, salad and cheese with
wine supplied, however when the lady asked us if we had enough wine we said yes,
but were taken aback when she departed to her farm taking the remains of the
bottle with her!
Later that evening, after we had turned
in I heard folks arriving, so I checked that they were not having a midnight
feast with our breakfast!
Later that evening Yann the patron
& his wife 3 children turned up. Also several others arrived for the night.
Yann very capably prepared an excellent meal for us all whilst he looked after
the children, and generally kept us all amused. The meal was a very enjoyable
affair with a good mix of conversations.
Day 7 St. Lizier to Aulus les
Bains (est. 6hrs +1000/-1000)
(The GR10 Trail by Paul Lucia gives the full route as more like +1361/-1351,
however we decided to take the short cut at the later stage of the day). At
breakfast next morning there was a family who were there to see their son head
off for Banyuls, fully loaded with tent & gear. O' to be young! Though we
did meet up with him later as he came back on the route having taken a wrong
turn.
A good days walking up to Col d'Escots
and thence onto Aulus where we were booked into Gite Presbytre, a slightly old
fashioned but very adequate place with a warm welcome from Christophe the
proprietor. He also provided an excellent meal later which we enjoyed outside in
the garden. We actually arrived slightly ahead of our bags, though Ireen arrived
soon after us. Aulus is a pleasant place with a choice of several places to have
a beer or to eat. During the evening we mentioned that the first few Km in the
morning was a boring road & that a lift to Coumebière
would be very nice!
Day 8 Aulus les Bains to
Monicou (est. 8hrs +1000/-700) according to Bergtoppers
(Paul Lucia gives the climb/descent as 1300/993).
Christophe very kindly arranged a lift
for us up to Coumebière
with his wife/partner in her Clio. A nice start to a potentially long day. We
started off in a damp mist & climbed steadily in a zigzag to Port de Saleix.
Then a tricky descent via the wire rope and toe holds and then as the mist
cleared further we could see better the great scenery as we approached the
Étangs Bassiès. We
did not go across to the refuge as we wanted to keep up the pace and had a long
way to go. We had a break just before the descent and watched as a helicopter
brought stores up to the refuge. The descent down over loose footing was pretty
awful and we were glad to at last get to the aqueduct for, we guess, a flat walk
of around 4k. Thence in to Marc and the “sting” was the walk up to the Gite
at Monicou.
Ireen had already been & left our
bags. The Gite is very old fashioned and basic. Also it became apparent that it
was almost full with French, German Austrians & an American girl staying.
Ireen had left us food which we
prepared ourselves They were all friendly folk but the facilities were barely up
to it. The old lady who runs the place has a tiny bar & we could get a beer.
However it became cool that night and with a big day ahead we turned in
surrounded by the “United Nations” & one of their dog on the floor
beside my bunk!
Day 9 Monicou to Goulier (est.
9hrs +600/-500 Bergtoppers) Lucia says 8hrs 1372/1349
An early start still almost dark after a poor breakfast. Set off at a good pace,
John anxious for more speed as we had a big day ahead! Up quickly to 1640 and
down to Artiès comfortably ahead of the schedule time. We decided against the
very steep short cut and went on up to the head of the valley at Étang
d'Izourt. The weather a bit iffy at this time though it did hold up OK. As we
came down the other side of the valley we came across extensive pipeline work in
progress (Electricity Workers) and this had badly effected the markings. Also we
later got a little lost and had to retrace a couple of times to identify the
proper route. The long walk down the side of the valley with a steep drop on the
left of the path was initially interesting but seemed to go on for ever and with
a loose surface became a hard slog and we were glad to get it over. If I had it
to do again I might consider the short cut as I don't think the trudge to the
top of the valley was worth the effort. We relieved to get into a wood and a
more pleasant descent where John spotted a red squirrel. Into Goulier after 9hrs
15, not too bad for a couple of old fellas, but probably up there with the
hardest days of the GR10 so far.
We were booked into Relais d'Endron at
the top of the village. We found it very good with separate rooms, clean and
good food. Again our bags had arrived ahead. Later that evening we were joined
by one of the Germans, a young guy who had just got in from Monicou (though he
did start later!) One day to go!
Away after a good breakfast, a beautiful morning cool & clear with frost on
the ground in places near the top. A great day, and a nice short day to complete
our walk for 2007. We arrived into Siguer to be met by Roelof and his daughter.
I managed a shower at the “Gite type” facility provided by the villagers.
Very welcome, it has bunks and cooking facilities though no supplies available
that we could see.
We had arranged that Roelof would take
us to the train at Tarascon but when we got there we found the next one was
2+hrs later, so he kindly took us to Foix where we had our lunch & a coffee
before catching the train onto Toulouse
.
A night in
We were very happy with Bergtoppers,
their transport & bookings were good and we found them very helpful in all
respects. Carrying the light packs also makes a significant difference. We shall
be using then again this year.
Proposed
Itinerary for GR10 2008