For 2024 Pilgrims: €50,- donation = 1 year with no ads on the forum + 90% off any 2024 Guide. More here. (Discount code sent to you by Private Message after your donation) |
---|
The view of the Pyrenees from the Boulevard des Pyrénées in Pau was both spectacular and a little daunting
Buen camino!I'm sitting in the very comfortable new albergue in Lescar, having walked the few dull km from lovely Pau in surprising heat this afternoon. This will be my 10th compostela, sqd, and the first time I've started from France. The view of the Pyrenees from the Boulevard des Pyrénées in Pau was both spectacular and a little daunting. Lamartine said "Pau est la plus belle vue de terre" and for a few hours I thought he was right, until I got to Lescar and saw an even more impressive version of the same panorama centred on the majestic grandeur of Midi d'Ossau.
I'm a little nervous about the next few days, but more than a little excited about doing the Camino Aragonés for the first time.
View attachment 65289
That is an metaphor I haven't heard before. However, my guess is that it is what happened to me at one point on my last Camino! I'm not sure any onlooker would have immediately compared me with Garbo, though.to bring out my inner Garbo
I had heard it, but never used it. Here is the first reference I found when I looked it up.That is an metaphor I haven't heard before. However, my guess is that it is what happened to me at one point on my last Camino! I'm not sure any onlooker would have immediately compared me with Garbo, though.
Duh!!! I read the post and wondered what rubbish collection had to do with anything. I should have expected there was a much more literary meaning.That is an metaphor I haven't heard before. However, my guess is that it is what happened to me at one point on my last Camino! I'm not sure any onlooker would have immediately compared me with Garbo, though.
Well I confess I knew nothing of the apparently iconic Garbo trash can. Off-topic,I know but I am always happy to learn.Duh!!! I read the post and wondered what rubbish collection had to do with anything. I should have expected there was a much more literary meaning.
Duh!!! I read the post and wondered what rubbish collection had to do with anything. I should have expected there was a much more literary meaning.
This is quite funny. I assumed that @dougfitz was thinking about "garbo" as being Australian for garbage (Canadian for trash). Then @peregrina2000 found a connection between Garbo and garbo.the apparently iconic Garbo trash can.
I had heard it, but never used it. Here is the first reference I found when I looked it up.
Ha! some obstacle course. It sounds like yesterday was already pretty taxing - if you were knackered, God help the rest of us.very useful training for the obstacle course getting ever closer
All too true. Thankfully your company has been good; the opposite would be no fun squared.sadly the inside of a cloud is not much different wherever you are.
This is suddenly on my list. No. Seriously.It is bloody scary even if you don't have vertigo, as a slip or stumble could easily launch you into oblivion.
Vow, these are spectacular views! I had just walked from Oloron couple weeks ago, now I wished I had the courage to walk the GR10 high route like you have done! I took the low route (my research said the GR10 high route is for professional mountaineers and not for a 71 years old pilgrim walking alone!). I was looking up to the "sinister Fort du Portalet" view from the road and I was wondering how beautiful it is, looking at your pictures I know I missed a very good walk! Somport is easy in comparison!Borce to a shepherd's hut somewhere on the GR10
The few people I've told recently that I was thinking of avoiding Somport and going into Spain by the Col des Moines all tried to discourage me, some with unexpected vehemence. One said "mais il faut être Alpiniste pour faire ça" and another, who told me he knew everything about the Camino, said that I had to start it at St Jean Pied de Port. Sigh. Even when you're convinced that you're, if not right then at least reasonable, such negativity can be demoralising so it was a huge relief when the two friendly people in Borce who were doing the GR10 confirmed that, far from needing mountaineering equipment or skills, I probably wouldn't even have to use my hands. And so it proved.
A hour's easy walk on the GR10 (the west-east route on the French side of the Pyrenees) takes you to the start of the Chemin de la Mâture, looking down on the slightly sinister Fort du Portalet, where Daladier, Mandel and other deView attachment 65498mocrats were imprisoned in 1940 and, with a pleasing circularity, Pétain found himself banged up in 45.
The Chemin de la Mâture is a path 2-3m wide and 3-4km long cut into a sheer cliff, and used to drag tree trunks down from the higher woods to make masts for the battleships of Louis XV's navy. It is bloody scary even if you don't have vertigo, as a slip or stumble could easily launch you into oblivion. At least it isn't particularly steep, and eventually you reach some beautiful woods, at which point you start going up seriously. If the previous day's resumé was wet wet wet, Thursday's was up up up.
After about five hours of continuous up, including a stretch of 70m up in 210m forward, I wondered briefly if I had possibly fallen off the cliff, and my purgatory was a Sisyphean eternal walk through never ending woods with a heavy backpack. At least there was no water shortage.
Eventually the woods did end and I found myself on a gloriously beautiful upland pasture, 1500m of accumulated ascent since breakfast. And, an hour or so later, and about three hours before I'd planned to stop, a tiny hut appeared with a sign saying that, after 15 September, when the shepherd stopped using it, the National Park made it available to anyone. A single room, a table, and a loft with two mattresses. And a delicious source by the nearby stream. Although it was relatively early in the afternoon, it seemed too good to miss, so I had a late lunch/early supper, and settled down. A few vultures circled around, some cows with their musical bells joined me, night fell and I had one of the best views ever, completely clear of light pollution, of "la splendide forêt des constellations". It was a magical ending to a very special, if rather energetic, day - and then lulled to sleep by my two favourite sounds: animal bells and a busy mountain stream.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?