Piedmont

2013 - Pyrenees

We shared our dining table with a couple who had already walked the length of the GR10 from Hendaye to Banyuls and were now doing a shorter stretch from east to west. They talked about their experiences with complete unanimity, referring to their combined weight loss on the long walk: 17 kilos, their combined pack weights ( I forget). Perhaps this was a tacit agreement between them to obfuscate the fact that the man had clearly lost the lion's share of the weight and was probably carrying the lion's share of the weight. They spoke with admiration of a 75 year old they had met on the path who was carrying 25 kilos in his pack - what a man! No fool like an old fool, I thought. They had tales of horror of the previous day's walk (which we were facing tomorrow). Flooding ("inondation"), snow patches ( "neves"), dangerous snow bridges, rain, hail ("grellions") - only fire and pestilence were missing. They reckoned the Pyrenees were a much harder hike than the Alps or Corsica. None of this gave me much confidence for the next day but the others were only encouraged.

And it turned out the next day was long but not particularly difficult. We skipped gaily across the neves, easily dodging the snow bridges. The flooding had largely dissipated and the scenery was spectacular.