Pyrenees 6 to 20-Sept-2007

13-Sept-2007

And here we go again, down the hill this time to the Refuge de l'Orry. At the river a short stop to have a wash in the cold water. We hadn't had one for three days. And than up and up to the Col Mitja at 2367m. This for some reason nearly killed me, but we had to push on because as on the day before we didn't have enough water for the night's camp. Only near the top did we come across a water point. Somebody had actually put a pipe into the ground and lovely clear water was coming out of it.
To find a flat spot was the next problem, it was eventually found right on top of the col. Not my preferred camping spot, but it had to do. A passing shepherd (girl) warned us of a herd of her cows coming through. There were dozenths of beautiful brown cows with bells passing our camp. Only the bull showed a bit of interest in us, at which stage we were hiding behind the tent hoping he wouldn't see us. Well he did, but seemed to be happy that we were no competition. Had a good night.

14-Sept-2007

Descending down the mountain at great speed we got to the Refuge du Ras de la Carança. Spent R67 (€6.65) on two coffees and one coke, a total waste of money since we can always make our own coffee. But it was so nice to sit in civilised surroundings sipping away at our coffee.
And now we had to slog up to the Col del Pal at 2294m. Jim's GPS actually measured 2298m which proves the upliftment of the Pyrenees mountains. They are said to lift by an average of 5mm a year, thus the measurement of 2294m was taken 80 years ago. I think they should resurvey the mountains.
And then it was down and down on a very steep path, very strenuous on our legs. Just up from the town of Mantet we found a flat piece of ground for the tent and that was that for the night. Unfortunately I had a bump under my back which made sleeping not easy.

15-Sept-2007

And my back was sore, so much so that in the middle of the night I tried a different position, turning 180°. That helped somewhat but was not perfect.
Down into the town of Mantet. A nice little place, very dense, they live on top of each other. It looks like it is a mostly holiday town with most houses shut.
According to a notice there was intense agriculture in the area in the 17th century, potatoes and wheat on terraces was the major crop. We had passed those terraces, all of them unused. I suppose more efficient large scale agriculture has put a stop to this method.
From beyond Mantet it was a short sharp up and than over and down and down. The highlight was finding lots of young berries. And than Jim disappeared and I kept on marching down the mountain for a long time, not knowing where Jim was, in front or behind? Eventually he caught up, he had taken a wrong turn me passing him at that moment, unknown to me.
All is well that ends well and we are now sitting in the local hotel of Py having coffee and cake. Marched down further, setting up camp in a side valley where we most likely were not supposed to camp. Had the usual half comfortable night.

16-Sept-2007

Started hiking fairly early to get over the Col de Jou, only 1125m. We had descended a fair amount the previous day. Something was wrong today, I found it very hard going, out of breath at the slightest up. It occurred to me that it could be the anti-cholesterol pills. Checking the write up and the side affects it contained words like fatigue, headache, muscle cramps and others. I stopped taking them immediately.
Once over the top live became much easier and down we went to Mariaillesand further on. We wanted to reach the rail line, which we did at Ille de France, an old fort on the route between France and Spain. Noticing people traffic in and out we decided to follow, hoping entrance would be free. Yes it was and behind the walls we found a proper town full of shops and restaurants. Whilst in there we had something to drink and also had dinner. It was nice and set us back by €5 each. I had some ham and chips and Jim some platter which I thought was the better choice (envy!).
It was now time to find a camping spot, the problem was solved not far out of town when we noticed an old road tunnel. We had to climb up to it and found the accommodation to our satisfaction and didn't have to put up a tent.

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