From Somport (border) to Lac du Peyreguet

^22-07-05

After an okay night’s sleep on the night train I arrive at Pau, from where I can’t see any mountains just yet – maybe I was a bit optimistic 😉

I get some coffee at the station cafe and then hop on the cutest/shortest train ever, which takes me to Bedous.

There I change to a bus and a short hour later I get out at the border station of Somport (1630m asl), and walk into Spain – and thick fog.

But literally 10minutes’ walk later the sun breaks through and I finally get to see the mountains: they’re gorgeous!

Not so nice: the ski resort of Astun…

But they do have even a proper sized ski jump; looking forward to eventually see Spanish skijumpers in the worldcup! 😉

I make my way up and up and up past a nice lake and then across Col de Moines at 2168m, where I cross back into France.

I take my chances to greet the people I meet with alternatively ‘¡Hola!’ or ‘Bonjour!’, and get it wrong more than 50% of the time.

I stop by another lake, Lac Castérau, for lunch, before I’m heading lower down into the next valley of the river Gave de Biou, which I cross by bridge.

From there it’s upwards again, past some lovely huge flowers, and the fog is slowly coming back.

Eventually I pass Cabane de Peyreguet, but I don’t buy any cheese, just say ‘hi’ to the mules(?). A little further I meet the berger/shepherd with another pack-mule coming up from the valley. He tells me – in French only – that just half an hour on there is a great spot for bivouacing by Lac du Peyreguet (2080m asl).

And he is right… once I’ve found the lake in the fog and escaped about a million sheep stampede-ing.

Then it got too foggy to take more pictures, but I met a danish-english couple that also camped near me. Had a chat and then went to sleep.

approx. 5,5h incl. breaks;

11,6km, 1000m ascent, 550m descent

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