Monday July 24, 26.0km/16.2mi

Pla d’Espélunguère (205.9km/1460m) (France) to Refuge de Pombie (231.9km/2030m) (France)

I woke up to the sound of dripping water on my tent and assumed it was raining. But I finally looked outside, and I realized it was just a nearby tree dripping on us. I packed up and I hiked uphill in the morning fog. Adam took a little longer to wake up and he said he would catch me at lunchtime.

It was a nice steady climb and not too difficult, and despite hiking uphill it was still a little chilly because of the dense fog. Sometimes I see these little locked cabins and I wonder what mysteries are inside.

When I got to the top of the climb I went over a pass, which also meant I crossed the border into Spain. When I looked behind me back down into France I could see the fog I had just hiked through.

Looking ahead, it was sunny in Spain! The lake Ibón de Astanés was a nice surprise.

I hiked around the lake and then descended the other side of the hill, into the rising sun.

Once I got partway down the hill, I crossed back into France and immediately was immersed in the fog. Bummer.

Hiking through the forest was a little less cold and windy, but I had to watch my step on all the slippery leaves and roots.

It was a chilly but relaxing morning hike.

When I came to a little ski resort I noticed all the signs were in Spanish, and soon after I saw a Spain border sign. And of course the fog cleared away.

I hiked through the little ski town of Candanchu, a lovely little Spanish village that was also full of sheep.

I love seeing ski lifts in summertime, it feels so bizarre.

Candanchu was only a few blocks long but it had a few cafes and a little general store. I ordered a bagel and tea at the cafe, and then I had dessert at the general store.

As I was about to leave the little town, Adam caught up and we hiked out of town together. It was just before noon, so after hiking for a couple kilometers we stopped at a little waterfall to have lunch.

It was a warm day in the sun and we had an uphill climb to do.

Looking back downhill from the top of the climb, it’s nice when you are rewarded with a view after all of the hard uphill hiking.

We passed the lovely little lake Ibon de Escalar, where there were dozens of people and families relaxing by the shore.

We climbed up to Col Des Moines, where we could see ahead into the French side of the Pyrenees. The tallest mountain in the distance is called Pic du Midi d’Ossau.

Predictably, as soon as we descended off the pass and into the French side, the fog returned.

At one point we descended low enough, to be under the layer of fog and actually get somewhat of a view of the valley we were traveling through.

Looking ahead to our next upcoming climb…

We passed by a shepherd’s hut, and of course they were selling cheese. Every single day on this trail I pass a sign that says “Fromage” !

When we got partway up the next climb, we were back in the fog.

Occasionally the wind would pick up and break up some of the fog and we had a view of the impressive Pic du Midi d’Ossau.

At this elevation it was quite rocky, and the marmots were everywhere.

Huge mountain!

The climb up over the final pass for the day was full of scree and talus.

I always have lots of fun climbing up talus. It’s slow going, but a nice challenge.

I saw this hoofed animal in the distance, and I was told it’s called an Isard.

Yup, this was a pretty high pass.

We descended to the Refuge de Pombie, and the fog was getting pretty thick.

Yup, marmots were everywhere.

The refuge was a welcome site in the cold fog.

I went inside to talk to the caretaker and ask if it was still possible to have dinner. After some confusing exchanges in French, I was able to get my name on the list for dinner which was €17. There is also a bunkroom, which was full, but he said I could sleep in the overflow tent. Perfect! Adam caught up a few minutes later, and dinner was served at 7pm. It was some sort of pasta dish with vegetables and there was even a dessert, amazing! There’s a very nice atmosphere in these mountain huts and I see why they are so popular.

Hopefully tomorrow the fog disappears so we can get some views of the high Pyrenees again!

Sunday July 23, 28.1km/17.5mi

Lescun Village (177.8km/950m) (France) to Pla d’Espélunguère (205.9km/1460m) (France)

After a long breakfast at the gîte, we finally left town at 8am. It was a little bit of a maze to weave through all the narrow streets and buildings.

It was a beautiful day for hiking, I was hopeful we finally left the fog behind.

It was a long steady climb up to the ridgeline, and we saw quite a few people hiking along the way.

This area is part of the extensive Pyrenees National Park in France so it is quite popular. Halfway up the climb there was a nice water source, so Adam stopped to refill his bottles. I don’t drink as much water so I didn’t need any.

Once we were up on the ridgeline it was just an amazing walk all afternoon.

At the first col, we could see down into Spain, since it sits on the border.

Yup, just insanely beautiful hiking through the high Pyrenees.

Even way up here, there were some “semi-wild” horses.

And there were some sheep too, which were being herded by these lovely dogs.

I had noticed the rock in this area had changed character and now it looked like a bunch of conglomerate.

The hiking today was bliss.

Around lunchtime, I started looking for the hut that we were expected to pass. This was a small farm in a little valley below us.

Finally at 2pm we arrived at the Refuge d’Arlet. It was a nice place to sit down and have a break.

The nearby Lac d’Arlet added to this amazing mountain setting, although the water was too cold to swim.

After lunch we got to enjoy another hour of blissful sunny ridgetop hiking.

Towards the end of the day, the trail left the ridge and started to drop down into a valley.

We descended down through some meadows….

…. And then a forest.

When we got to the bottom of the valley, we set up camp. It was well protected from thunderstorms and wind and it seemed like the perfect little spot. The name was a little hard to pronounce though….Pla d’Espélunguère.

We had a pretty amazing view to the West, and the sun setting behind the big mountains.

It was a pretty amazing first day in the High Pyrenees region!

Saturday July 22, 5.9km/3.7mi

Cabanes Anaye (171.9km/1530m) (France) to Lescun Village (177.8/950m) (France)

We woke up to thick fog and wet tents, and even a pack of mules surrounding us. Their loud chewing and braying in the middle of the night didn’t help a good night’s sleep, either.

We headed out at 8am and pretty soon the fog started to burn off. It seems like the French side of the Pyrenees is always foggy!

After a kilometer we entered a very damp and green forest. It smelled like a fresh rainstorm and there were slugs and mud everywhere.

Upon exiting the forest, we had a grand view of the valley, a few hundred meters below us.

The trail descended on many really old switchbacks built with ancient stonework, which was neat to see. The valley was also surrounded by some extremely tall peaks, which was a little surprising because the fog had hidden them from view until the last minute.

We stopped at a stream, to rinse off our shoes and legs, which were covered in what was probably a mixture of mud and sheep poop.

The last part of the walk into Lescun village was relaxing on a deserted dirt road.

We could see the tiny village up ahead.

Walking thru the village was entertaining, as all the buildings looked to be hundreds of years old, and the streets were extremely narrow.

We dropped our bags off at our accommodation, called a gîte. I think it’s like a hostel but with meals, and maybe a little fancier.

After leaving Maison de la Montagne, we went food shopping, and spent a couple hours on a bench in the park, just eating and relaxing in the warm sun. I checked out their little free library z which had a surprising amount of mountain themed books.

I spent the rest of the afternoon at a cafe eating ice cream and pizza, and pretty soon it was 4pm and we could check-in to the gîte. We walked over and met the owner, and we got a nice tour of the place in French, while I would occasionally ask questions in Spanish. After a nice shower and washing some clothes, it was dinner time. It was a fun group dinner with a very lovely three course meal! There were like 15 people , so it took awhile to talk with everyone. By the time that ended it was 9pm and we all went to bed.

Friday July 21, 28.8km/17.9mi

Cabane d’Ardané (146.3km/1310m) (France) to Cabanes Anaye (171.9km/1530m) (France) +0.8km to cabin, +1.2km backtrack

We left the cabin at 8am and the daily pattern of fog continued.

We were up on a ridge all morning, and it was a little windy and kinda cold. When I was hiking I was reasonably warm, but at one point we had to stop and wait for a horse for 5 minutes. It would not leave the trail!

For three hours we hiked a cold windy ridgeline. The wind was blowing the fog and mist so hard we even got a little wet.

Finally, just before noon, the fog started to lift.

We stopped for lunch at a warm sunny spot and took a long break. It was a very productive break as I was able to make reservations at a gîte (like a fancy hostel) for tomorrow night in Lescun village, and both of us were able to dry out our tents.

After lunch we hiked by a refuge which had been closed for renovations for years, and had just reopened.

Not needing anything from there, we bypassed it and went straight back to the trail.

After a little while in a forest, we entered a huge valley full of limestone cliffs and rocks. It was amazing!

The scenery was simply jaw-dropping, and it reminded me of a smaller version of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

For two hours we walked through a rocky limestone paradise. And in full sunshine!

Since we were slowly climbing this valley, eventually we came to the pass. I could see the fog from the French side trying to spill over.

All day the trail was marked with these red and white “paint splashes”. Navigation was easy!

As soon as we crossed over the pass, the fog started to thicken, and the sun was getting harder to see.

And after a few more minutes of descending into the next valley, the fog was extremely thick.

Everything seemed gray and muted except for these bright purple flowers.

We stopped briefly at a spot called “Source of Manitou” and refilled our water bottles.

Our original plan was to camp at this spot, then we saw on the map that there may be a cabin nearby, and another potential one 30 minutes ahead. After searching for the cabin nearby and concluding that it no longer existed, we hiked downhill for half an hour to look for the next cabin. We were minorly delayed by a few stubborn mules who would not move off the trail.

Even though we saw a sign for the cabin, and multiple websites confirmed its existence, once we arrived there we found that two shepherds had taken up residence at the cabin. Darn.

So we camped nearby, simply ready to be done with the wetness of the day. At least tomorrow is a town day!

Thursday July 20, 35.0km/21.8mi

Shoulder of Urkulu Peak (112.2km/990m) (France) to Cabane d’Ardané (146.3km/1310m) (France) +0.9km to cabin

We packed up our wet tents at 8am and hiked up the rest of the climb. The fog had lowered overnight and now we were walking in it completely.

After a couple of kilometers we got to the top of the climb, and had a nice ridge walk in the fog. Soon afterwards though, the Sun started to burn off the fog and break through with patches of light.

When we left the meadow and entered a forest, the filtered sunlight looked amazing.

And then all of a sudden, the fog started to burn off rapidly and we could see for many miles.

We could even see all the way to the mountain we would climb later this afternoon, Pic d’Orhy.

It was really cool to watch the process of fog burning off. The warmer winds from Spain were blowing over the ridges into France and erasing the fog.

We had a pretty long descent through a beautiful forest, which was really enjoyable and felt warm with the sunlight coming through the leaves.

Once we were at the bottom of the descent, we turned onto a road briefly where there was a trail junction sign to decipher. And cows, lots of cows.

I love that somebody had taped a little cardboard sign here, “Fromage”. I hardly know any French words but I do love cheese.

A few minutes later we encountered a small roadblock of sheep which was pretty hilarious. Maybe they were protesting the cheese if it was made from sheep’s milk? Ha!

We left the road and had another climb, up through forest and meadows. Eventually we climbed high enough where the fog found us again.

When we got to the top of the climb it was noon, and we decided to stop at the Iraty tourist complex to have lunch. I bought a can of tuna with beans and rice, some fruit, and a Basque seltzer drink. And it felt so civilized eating on a picnic table.

After lunch we continued uphill through patchy fog to a nice ridge walk.

Since there weren’t really any views in the distance, I didn’t mind walking in the forest. Not having views meant I paid more attention to the flora and fauna at my feet.

And then came the big event of the day, the final part of the climb to the summit of Pic d’Orhy.

It’s the first time on this trail we will be over 2000 meters in elevation. Once we got up to about 1600 meters, we were above the fog!

It was a pretty rocky ridge, and slow going, but totally worth the effort.

The summit slowly got closer.

There was one little technical section where we had to drop off the ridge to avoid a cliff. It involved walking down some loose scree and back up a steep slope.

These little high altitude flowers were everywhere on the ridge.

It was so cool looking back to where we had come from, and seeing it buried in fog.

The summit!

There was a little metal monument on the summit which was written in Basque.

We spent 20 minutes hanging out on the summit, and then got moving again since we had awhile to hike before we got to a reasonable camping spot.

The trail slowly descended the ridge and I enjoyed every minute of the views.

Pretty soon though, we dropped back below the fog line and then it was quite a bit colder and even a little wet. It was a pretty cold and miserable 6km walk to our planned camping spot at Cabane d’Ardané. The cabin was a welcome refuge from the blowing fog and mist.

The inside was dark but very nice and clean and had bunk space for 8 people.

When we arrived, there was one other person there, a French guy who was about to go to sleep. We chatted for a few minutes using my very poor French while I made dinner. He went to bed, and then another couple showed up and spent the night as well, so there were five of us in the cabin. I was cozy and dry on the top bunk and had a great night’s sleep.

Wednesday July 19, 29.9km/18.6mi

Roncesvalles Village (87.4km/945m) (España) to Shoulder of Urkulu Peak (112.2km/990m) (France)

I woke up late, since my room had one tiny window and it was very dark inside. After taking a hot shower and organizing my stuff, I left at 9am. It was a very late start time for me but this trail seems to encourage that. I spent another 30 minutes poking around the village seeing all the old buildings.

I hiked the 20 minutes back up to the trail, and as soon as I was back up high it was foggy again.

I caught up with two guys from Belgium, and they are also hiking the HRP. We spent all morning walking together and talking about various things, and their English was surprisingly good. I don’t speak any French. For a few minutes though fog broke apart and we actually had a view.

We saw tons of other people walking up here, as one of the Camino routes also crosses this ridge. The were these little emergency shelters in a few places as well.

The infrastructure for the Camino routes seems very well built, as they are very popular routes. The trail junction signs also seemed rather complicated & busy given all of the different trails that pass through here.

As usual, it was foggy up high.

Maxim, one of the Belgian guys, pointed out this neat Alpine flower.

We had some views, but for some reason the fog today refused to lift.

After lunch we scoped out another emergency shelter.

Nearby there was a sign with some posts, and we had 10 minutes of entertainment watching the horses scratch their butts and necks on the posts. Haha!

From that point there was a nice walk on a road for an hour.

But as soon as we left the road, we descended steeply on an overgrown grassy trail, and had to crawl under a barbed wire fence.

Then we climbed up steeply to another pass, up a narrow grassy trail that seemed to have a lot of exposure. Definitely not a good trail for anyone with a fear of heights!

Once at the top of the pass, there was another monument stone. There are hundreds of these along the trail as they mark the border of Spain & France. Maxim decided to get a photo with half of him in each country!

From there we hiked downhill for an hour, at first along a stream and then on a road. We passed hundreds of sheep.

Given my later start, I ended up at an awkward section of trail where there is no optimal camping. I did not want to camp at the bottom of the valley and have a wet tent, so I hiked partway up the next climb to find a spot to camp. I was joined by a guy from Ireland who had the same idea.

The views from this campsite were amazing, but is also quite windy up here. Hopefully the fog lifts, and does not continue to get worse overnight.

Tuesday July 18, 29.9km/18.6mi

Hill above Elizondo (54.4km/310m) (España) to Roncesvalles Village (87.4km/945m) (España)

We were camped in a grassy field, so everything was soaked with dew when we woke up. I finally left at 8:30am, which gave my tent a little time to dry. I backtracked back to town, and went to the hardware store to buy some stove fuel. They actually had some in stock! It was a happy moment.

After that I walked down the street to a phone store and bought another SIM card, since my current one does not work in the Spain.

And finally, I stopped at a bakery to grab a fresh baguette. They are surprisingly great for hiking.

As I walked out of town I passed by a cool ancient church, with lots of old stonework and stained glass windows.

I walked back up to the hill, up the same steep road I had come down an hour earlier.

Since I had taken a detour, it took me a couple of hours on local trails to rejoin the HRP. Once I was on top I had the usual grand views through Basque country farmland.

I really like the trail junction signs out here, they’re very informative.

I could see down into the deep valley where the town of Aldudes was located, and where I would be passing through very soon.

It was a very steep but easy descent down a dirt road to the town. Aldudes was tiny, with not much more than one main street with a general store and a restaurant.

I grabbed a mid afternoon meal at the restaurant, and finally left town at 4pm to make the steep climb. It started with stairs!

It quickly turned into a rocky traverse of the steep hillside.

As I climbed higher, it seemed like the cloud level was lowering.

I hiked by a herd of cows on a hilltop, they did not seem to care that I was there.

And 20 minutes later, I had traversed around the ridge and I could see the cows from a distance in silhouette against the sky. Cool.

And then the fog really moved in! It was neat at first, but then it got cold and felt very damp.

For an hour I hiked through meadows of ferns, where I had no views in the fog.

Visibility was so low, that a herd of sheep and I surprised each other.

It was easy hiking and as long as I was moving I was comfortable. If I stopped for a longer break, I would get cold in the damp fog.

The foggy forests do look really cool though.

And I suspect it is damp up here frequently, given the size of the slugs.

I hiked downhill on a small dirt road, and then came to a pass where a highway crossed over.

There was another cool old church on the pass, which was kind of random since there were no other buildings nearby.

Given the miserably wet weather up here on the pass, and it was also very windy, I decided to hike the 20 minutes down to the village of Roncesvalles.

This village is on one of the Camino routes, so there is a big hostel building for the “pilgrims”, as walkers of the camino are called.

I grabbed dinner at the local inn/restaurant, it’s a good thing restaurants are open late here in Spain as it was almost 9pm when I had dinner!

After dinner I grabbed a room, as I didn’t feel like setting up my tent in the blowing mist and fog.

Monday July 17, 29.9km/18.6mi

Col de Lizuniaga (24.5km/225m) (España) to Hill above Elizondo (54.4km/310m) (España)

There were six of us camped at the restaurant last night, and the other four left earlier than me and Lea. The restaurant opened at 8am and we wanted to get a cup of hot tea and a croissant. After our relaxing breakfast, we hit the trail which was a dirt road most of the morning.

There were plenty of views of the Basque country farmland along the way.

These horses here are not afraid of anybody and don’t run away, it’s very strange.

Today’s goal was to make it to the little Mountain village of Elizondo.

Yup, the horses here definitely look like cows. From a conversation last night, I’ve also learned that they are likely being raised for meat.

There were a couple of small wrong turns along the way with all the criss-crossing farm roads, but we were both enjoying the scenery of the farmland.

We caught up with the two Dans, and had a short break near this tree, which I called The yoga tree, because it looked like some sort of inverted yoga pose.

The afternoon went by quickly, and I was equally distracted by the nice scenery and trying to remember how to properly conjugate various verbs in Spanish.

Later in the afternoon, the clouds started to move in a little bit and the weather cooled down.

At the end of the day we descended toward Elizondo and left the bare hilltops, and entered a denser forest.

It’s so cool randomly seeing these old historic buildings that are like 400 years old.

Yep definitely a damp climate here, there was tons of moss everywhere.

Lea and I took a short little side trip to a cascade, which was pretty neat but not as big or deep as we had hoped. We were both looking forward to taking a swim.

While walking towards and away from the Cascade, we heard gunshots from far above on the hilltop. And then suddenly very small pieces of ceramic were raining down on us through the trees, which was quite alarming. We quickly figured out somebody was clay target shooting above us and the pieces were falling here on this popular tourist trail. We got out of there as quickly as we could, it was only another kilometer to Elizondo.

When we got to town we took a quick swim in the river, and then walked over to the main village center.

We met the police in a little village square and gave a report about the shooting incident. They took down all the information, which took a little while with me since I had to figure out how to say some very specialized words in Spanish that I would never use normally (i.e. “bala”). We met up with one of Lea’s friends, Luca, who would be joining her for the next few days. We had dinner and a beer at the outdoor dining area, and then hiked a kilometer out of town to camp. Another full day!

Sunday July 16, 24.5km/15.2mi

Hendaye (0.0km/3m) to Col de Lizuniaga (24.5km/225m) (España) +2.7km looking for gas

I left late from my campsite at Camping Alturon, since I know the store didn’t open until 10am. I walked the 1 km back to town and enjoyed the view of the Atlantic ocean. There were tons of surfers out today!

Unfortunately when I got to the outdoor store they were sold out of gas canisters.

I walked over to the official start of the HRP, which is also the start of the GR10.

The little seaside village of Hendaye was full of tourists and little shops.

After I left the main commercial district, I enjoyed a walk along the bay for a while.

Most of the houses here were similar in style with the red clay roofs!

After 3km I finally left the pavement and was hiking on a little trail. It started to climb up and I got a better view of the ocean behind me.

Because this section is also the GR10 it is very well-signed. There are these bright yellow markers at junctions along with the elevation stamped into the post.

Looking ahead, toward a huge mountain that I would pass by at the end of the day:

For most of the afternoon the trail passed through farmlands. The cows here definitely look different.

I also met a couple that was hiking the HRP. They both spoke English as their first language so it was easy to converse with them.

As I climbed higher and higher I could see down into the little villages and farms.

For an hour I traversed a bare hilltop, which was full of horses. From a distance I thought they were cows because I could hear all the cowbells… But it was actually horses wearing bells. Which I guess makes them horse-bells?

The hill was 500m in elevation so I had pretty good views all around me.

I thought this sign was funny, requiring you to keep a 20m distance from cows. Ha!

Most of the signs in this part of Spain are written in two languages, Basque and Spanish. I understand a single word of Basque. After I hiked around the hilltop and dropped down into a forest, I emerged at a surprising site. A tourist village!

There were even cows lying around the parking lot, haha.

It was actually a pretty big mountain village.

I checked a few stores for a camping gas canister…no luck.

My plan B is to just eat other food for dinner until I can find a gas canister. I will be passing through a couple more towns in the next couple of days so hopefully I can find something soon. At the end of the village, the sidewalk ended and I took the elevator down to the road level.

I’ve never hiked a trail that had an elevator on it! Cool. After I left the village I passed over the next hilltop which was full of old historic bunkers from World War II.

It also seemed like a wet area as it was full of these massive slugs.

Halfway through the day I had met a French girl named Lea, and we had separated near the village. At the end of the day she caught up to me, and we talked in Spanish for a little while using my limited vocabulary. Pretty soon we also caught up to another group of guys from London, both named Dan.

There is a little bar/restaurant at Col de Lizuniaga, which allows hikers to camp on their lawn. We also ordered a beer and a snack.

We also needed water, so Lea and I went down to the little fountain. Getting water is so easy on this trail!

The sun sets pretty late here around 10pm, and we stayed up talking until then, not realizing how late it was. I was pretty tired from walking in the hot weather and also from using my language brain. A pretty great first day!

Tuesday July 11 to Saturday July 15, 0.0mi/0.0km

I arrived to Paris Tuesday afternoon, and