We were rudely awakened at 6:40am this morning by a tin can being blown around under the van. I thought Guy said it was a cat and it took me a while to realise we were on top of a mountain – cats unlikely.
Thus awakened, it wasn’t long before the excitable one was making coffee and looking for the sunrise – I was looking for more sleep 😴
Stale bagels filled and rucksack packed we set off to finally do the walk up to the Pic du Midi (2877 metres). Having read online that the last section was closed due to essential works, I had no worries about the ‘difficult final section’! Of course, it was open! 😬
Has to be one of the most scenic walks ever though. Almost immediately, you’re looking out across the Pyrenees and the path for the most part, is a big wide track – suits me! After a while, we got to the beautiful Lac d’Oncet from where, things got a whole lot steeper.
The ‘boil in a bag’ jackets were off and on all morning. Alternately incredibly windy, cold then hot and sunny!
The last bit was a very steep gravel path – what joy! It was my idea to sit and wait for Guy to go up and pick me up on the way back, but somehow, with the promise of a cable car ride back down to La Mongie, I made it!!!
There’s a few professional looking hikers hanging around at the summit, and after a few questions, we realised that you can’t actually get in to the cable car bit, or the cafe, or the toilets! 😡Apparently, they closed it because people were climbing on the roof! 🙄
So….nothing for it, but to clamber back down! I thought it would take me forever, but I was actually ok with my sticks.
Wanted to cut the toes out of my boots by the time we rounded the last corner and I think Guy was ready for throwing his super zoom lens over the edge to lighten his load, but we did it!!
Now ensconced in a little town called Montréjeau in the Haute-Garonne region – uncharted territory for us. Well, there’s certainly no highlighter on the map in this region.
