Short Walk in the Pyrenees

Arrival at the 1st Night's Bivouac after a hot climb.

From August 19th until Saturday August 22nd the Droad and the LWof F walked in the Pyrenees, specifically in the region of lakes and nature reserve called the Neouvielle adjacent to the Vallee d'Aure. We had left Our Lady of the Fermentations at Souilliac station where her train to Paris was 50 minutes late and motored off to the Pyrenees passing through the awful inert out of season ski resort of La Mongie just before five. The temperatures on the journey were notable in rising to 38c as we passed beyond Toulouse. By the time we set off, although high in the mountains at 17:30 hrs the temperature was a humid 26c. The first two hour stretch was unpleasantly hot as we laboured under our 17kg packs. The Droad was especially hard hit going bright red and with red eyes was in a foul temper by the time we reached the first lake, me saying the problem was the heat and she that the pack was too heavy. (Probably a combination of the two. Ed.) We spent three nights bivouacking as the weather forcast steadily improved with wonderful clear nights to lie under the stars and a cooling trend.

Stepping out having crossed the pass at about 11:00 hrs into the Neouvielle Nature Reserve with the lakes below. Unfortunately there is a car park by the lake which brings in large numbers of day walkers so the walk lacked solitude.

Swimming in the lake after a hot descent, not so cold you could not get your head under water, wonderfully refreshing after a difficult first immersion.

Ancient woodland on the descent after the second night bivouac. We were too tired to walk out of the nature reserve where camping is forbidden - not sure if bivouac counts as camping - so had to find a discreet place to sleep on a rare level on a hillside amongst the pine trees. Many of the pines are very old and some are dead and others barely in leaf. We started off in mist generated by the lake below and the lichen on the some of the trees suggest the woodlands are damp for most of the year. There were also flowers and butterflies.

Above is the view from the third night bivouac site. We walked from there soon after dawn, after just a cup of tea, to get the the pass at 2600m before the sun got to us. It was a tough scramble with our packs but the view from the top looking back southwards was spectacular.

The Droad celebrates reaching the pass by placing a pebble on the cairn at the top. This is the view looking north with yet more lakes.

The Gavarnie ringlet butterfly, named after the village to the west with the spectacular mountain arena. This is one of Europe's more local butterflies but it was seen frequently on our walk. There a a large number of different ringlets in Europe which are differentiated by the number, size and clarity of the rings on the fore and hind wings. Since the butterfly specialises in hills and mountains its populations tend to become separated and speciation has resulted. We also saw the grizzled skipper, a species now extinct in the UK.

We found the walk tiring and we had a siesta here for an hour before walking off the mountain. The chef of the two refuges we passed looked at us both with concern, clearly too ancient and unfit to make it back. The chef at the last refuge said we must be sure to take frequent rests - and we did!

Finally we had to a lift back to the car. We had some difficulty with the lift as it was 20:00 hrs on a Saturday night but finally 4 males of a Chilean family jammed the LWofF into their car whilst the Droad waited in La Mongie with the backpacks. Two lived in Sweden, one in Barcelona and the father was visiting from Chile. Full car? No problem! I must remember to immitate.