This is the last post about my 46 days hike across the French Pyrenees. During this time we finally got consistently good weather, there was a lot less elevation, we ascended the Canigou summit and met up with Saad again for a few days.
If you haven't done so already, check out the other segments of this incredible adventure.
Part 1: Basque country Pyrenees
Part 2: High Pyrenees
Part 3: Pyrenees Ariegoise
Day 38: Merens - Besine lodge
8.8km, 3h18
We had a celebratory farewell dinner the previous night to commemorate our time with Charlie. It had included a pint or three and both Francois and I agreed to take an easy day today.
We said our farewells to Charlie as he headed down to the train station.
Our trail followed a stream that had a few small waterfalls. The landscape was dryer than the last few days: more rocks and pine. We could smell the difference of trees in this part of the mountain.
After an hour and a half of easy hiking, we reached a beautiful mountain cirque and slowly made our way up to the Besine pass.
We reached the lodge around noon and enjoyed a mellow day afternoon. We ate, read and did laundry.
A thunderstorm passed over the refuge in the late afternoon. We were able to wait it out in the comfort of the lodge but my little tent didn't withstand the rainy onslaught. I had to expunge some water that had made its way inside.
Thankfully most of my stuff inside the tent stayed dry. My laundry that was drying outside, however, got a second rinse.
Day 39: Besine - Bolquere
29km, 8h
I woke up to find my inflatable mat completely deflated. I don't know what happened but for the rest of the hike, it would always deflate within a few hours.
Francois introduced me to Gofio, a sort of cooked flour that has many uses. It's a very convenient camping food to have. All you do is mix it with water, add some sugar and you have a good edible past for breakfast.
We hiked towards the Bolquere pass, following another beautiful stream.
On the other side of the mountain, the landscape changed dramatically. Very few trees and tons of rocks. The Oriental Pyrenees is the driest section of the GR10 and we were right in it.
We would trees again in the following days, but the aridity would be constant for the rest of the hike.
One advantage of this part though is its gentle slopes. After spending weeks going up and down steep trails, hiking on relatively levelled paths was a pleasure.
We swam in the Bouillouse Lake at lunch. It was my first and only swim in a river/lake of the adventure and I'm happy I got to do it at least once.
Both Francois and I had agreed to do this segment as quickly as possible to finish the hike as soon as possible. After almost 40 days in the mountains, we were eager to go back home.
The trail from the Bouillouse Lake to Bolquere is truly unremarkable. It goes around a ski station and you're in the trees on an old mountain road for most of it. It was underwhelming after what we had seen the past few weeks.
We stayed at the amazing Gite des Ramiers. It's a little off the GR10 path but worth the detour. A renovated complex with a fully equipped kitchen, comfortable bed and pleasant host. Can't ask for much more.
Bolquere is also the first time we found normal civilization again. It's a big village/small town. For the first time since Lourdes, we saw banks, cellphone stores, gyms, all the workings of a fully functioning town.
My shoes were completely falling apart. I had my 6 years old Salomon XA Wild which I loved, but aren't proper hiking shoes. One thing I didn't like about them is the quick lace system. Yes it is convenient, but once the laces start breaking, it hard to fix yourself.
That's exactly what was happening to me, the laces were disintegrating a bit more each day and I couldn't properly tighten my shoes. I made it work till the end of the trek but it was their last adventure.
We bought way too much food at the supermarket, made an enormous dinner and went straight to bed.
Day 40: Bolquere - Raz De La Carenza
21km, 6h
This was another lazy morning, we were in no rush to leave the comfort of our beds.
We were off the GR10 for quite some time, Francois needed a post office to ship home his ice axe and crampons.
Seeing that we had 5 km of road in front of us, we decided to hitch hike. The first try was unsuccessful and we ended up walking on a national road for longer than I liked.
On the second try, we got picked up by an older gentleman. He used to hike and was happy to drive us to the trailhead.
Side note: Every time I've hitch-hiked, the people who stopped were all hikers.
After an hour of hiking, we stopped for snacks. I'd been hauling around two giant tomatoes and a cucumber and was very happy to eat them and make room in my bag.
As we were eating, Saad caught up to us! He'd done a massive walk from Bouillouse that morning and must have passed us when we were off the GR10. We then would have passed him during our hitch hiking ride.
Seeing him again was so nice, I really liked him.
We continued the journey together, crossed a little river to gain some time and made our way towards the Mitja Pass. The last ascension of the day was very steep, with few trees and shade. We got there around 3 pm, under the beating sun. Imagine doing a very tough leg workout in smoldering heat, lovely.
As I climbed up the hill with sweat dripping everywhere I thought about all those times I'd gotten rained on.... It didn't seem so bad now.
Saad pitched his tent a bit before ours, he had done a huge day and couldn't keep walking.
We descended towards the Raz De La Carenza. At the refuge, we had a Mountain Cola: the local equivalent of a coke.
The bivouac area was free and beside a river. We pitched our tents, cleaned ourselves in the river, made our usual pasta dinner and dozed off.
Day 41: Carenza - Py
17.15km, 5h15
Our tents were completely dry in the morning, with no dew on them and thus there was no need to stop and dry them during the day. That was a pleasant surprise.
We were out of coffee much to my chagrin.
The elevation was nowhere close to what we'd gone through in Ariege and the High Pyrenees. We made our way up to the Pass Del Pall. There was a dry thunderstorm up there but no lightning. Being exposed on the ridge we didn't linger around to see them.
We meandered down to Mantet where we had a coffee at the Cazenove inn. The coffee was delicious and it started to rain just as we entered.
We sheltered there until the rain passed. Saad caught up to us, drenched.
This place was gorgeous, with gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains. We chose to push on to Py which was only an hour and a half away. This was going to get us close to the Canigou which we wanted to summit in the next couple of days.
The rain stopped and the sun shone again very quickly. The way to Py was easy. We stayed at the Casa San Pau gite.
I had time to stroll through Py and relax. An older couple at the gite were completely enamoured and acted as if there were no one else in the gite. They continued this behaviour all night and it was the only time I regretted sleeping in a dorm.
Day 42: Py - Arago shelter
13km, 4h
We all woke up, ate breakfast quickly, and left the older lovers in the gite.
Our goal was to summit the Canigou either today or tomorrow. This is the tallest mountain in this section of the Pyrenees and we wanted to check out the views. The GR10 goes around the Canigou, but you can take a variation that takes you to the top.
As we approached the Arago shelter, heavy clouds were forming around the summits and the weather forecast announced risks of thunderstorms.
The Arago hut had enough beds for the three of us, a stove, and a stream right beside it. We happily stayed there and decided to do our summit hike in the morning.
Spirits were very high that night. Tomorrow we were doing our last big mountain ascension, but more importantly, we would be able to see the Mediterranean for the first time.
Day 43: Arago - Arles Sur Tech
29km, 11h
This day deserves to be in the top three toughest of the whole GR10.
We woke up at 5 am and reached the summit around 7:30 am. We dropped off our bags 200 metres away from the top of the mountain and climbed the rest unencumbered. There is a path that goes down the other side, but we had another itinerary in mind.
The views from up there are spectacular. The three of us stared in awe eastward. The Mediterranean was right there. We could more or less see the path we were going to take on the next few days.
Along with this sight came the nagging realization that the adventure was almost over. In less than five days, we were all going home.
This thought was ephemeral as clouds started to climb up the mountain. We made our way down and rejoined the GR10 path by an old running race trail. It was pretty much bushwacking, I twisted my knee, but we saw some izards again so all in all, well worth it.
We saw the Pinatell hut which was a bit in shambles and had a warning sign about bed bugs. A few kilometres later was the Estanyol hut which was much better.
the further away we got from the Canigou, the fewer clouds were in the sky and the hotter it became. It was all downhill to Arles and there was a lot of shade from small trees.
We passed an old caravan campsite, straight out of the 70s or 80s in the middle of the bush.
We reached Arles in the late after noon, checked in at the campground and made our way to the grocery store. We ate out at a restaurant that night and over ate. I had a pizza and a pasta dish which earned my the nickname of "the ogre" from the cute old lady that ran the place.
My body was banged up at this stage, the back of my knee hurt and I had a blister behind each heel since my shoes didn't lace properly.
Just a few more days to go.
Day 44: Arles - Las Illas
Arles I a cute and quaint little town. There's a nice old cathedral and there's a good sized river running beside the village. Unlike the other parts of these Eastern Pyrenees, it is very green and not as arid.
This day was quite uneventful and very, very hot. We were now in July, in the south of France with temperatures reaching 30 degrees.
We had a drink at the Mas de la Fargassa which I highly recommend staying. It's an old farmstead owned by a very nice lady, there's a small stream right beside it and it just look like a very nice place to stay in.
The trail veered left to go around a small mountain, we opted to veer right as that path looked shorter. It was indeed shorter but at some cost. We ended up going through someone's private property, had to hack our way through some poison ivy and advanced really slowly.
Quite honestly, it wasn't worth it.
Close to Las Illas, as we were resting by a lonely house beside the trail, it's owner invited us for a drink. We had the typical Ricard with Jacque, an older gentlemen living in his farmstead. We exchanged hiking stories for a full hour before going on our way.
The two glasses of Ricard made the blister pain go away for a bit.
The campsite at Las Illas is free and has a working bathroom and shower. At this point in the hike though, I felt comfortable pitching my tent anywhere.
Day 45: Las Illas - Ullat pass
25km, 6h20
The second last day! We set out early in the morning in an unshakable good mood.
You could tell the GR10 was almost over. We weren't really hiking on trails anymore but going from one dirt road to another. There is barely any elevation at this stage. We passed a nudist camp (no we didn't see anyone) and saw old Roman ruins close to the Bellegarde Fort.
We reached the town of the Perthus and got a big slap in the face of civilization. After spending all these weeks in the mountain, seeing only other hikers, herders and small towns, it was jolting to see a massive three lane highway carving it's way across the hills.
The Perthus is a border town with Spain and has lots of cheap shopping. Something to do with tax regulations, they can sell stuff for cheaper. We stopped for a kebab, which we'd been dreaming about for the last six days.
We reached the Ullat pass a few hours later and found a nice place to pitch our tents.
We were all excited about tomorrow but there was a feeling of sorrow in the back of everyone's mind. Francois declared he could keep going for weeks, Saad had to go back to work but would rather stay on the trail. For myself I wanted my body to rest and recover and get new shoes, but I had gotten used to this transient hiking life.
Day 46: Ullat - Banyuls
23.8km, 6h30
It was a beautiful last day. It was sunny the whole time and the hike follows the last ridgelines of the Pyrenees until you reach the final descent towards Banyuls. Most of the hike is right on the French-Spanish border, it was really cool to see both countries at the same time.
Three hours after leaving Ullat we saw Banyuls for the first time. The end point of an amazing 46 days adventure. Without saying a word we all sat down, took in the sight and reflected.
I knew we were all thinking about what we had lived in the past few weeks. For myself, being 33 years old and being able to take a sabbatical year to do this kind of stuff, seemed like a dream come true.
What's weird is that I haven't had the urge to do this. It was my then-gf-now-fiance who really wanted to move to Europe and spurred this idea in my head. Without that, I would still be in Vancouver doing what I love.
I reflected on all the things I saw and experienced, all my friends who weren't here, and all my clients that I missed. It all seemed confusing at a point. If anything, this hike showed me a lot of things I'd been missing out.
At the end of the day, many things in life can make us happy. Stability and community are big ones for me, and this hiking trip gave me a new appreciation for adventure.
We continued down towards Banyuls and here the trail was steep and dry, not really the most enjoyable. It was getting very hot again.
We reached Banyuls in the early afternoon, went for a swim and checked into a hotel.
And that's the end of the adventure! The following day Saad and Francois took the train to go home. I chilled in Banyuls for another day, did some wine tasting and lots of reading and went back to my grandma's house the following day.
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