GR10 Day16

Our accommodation last night was in a place called a “holiday camp”.  There were a few big buildings and a few tents in the field.  Our bedroom had a couple of bunk beds, but no one else.  There was a shared kitchen and an enormous common room.  We had our dinner in another building, seven of us, but probably tables for fifty.  The evening meal was very good: beetroot and feta cheese salad, followed by macaroni cheese, shepherd’s pie, and stuffed leeks, and chocolate and banana cake to finish.  There was fresh bread for breakfast with ham and coffee, so not as good as the previous evening meal.  It looks like a couple have bought the place and are gradually doing it up.  The walk took us through the village and then climbed up through the forest.  On the next section we lost all the height as we dropped down into the next valley.  There was then a long road walk up to the Lac d’Estaing.  There were lots of people who had driven up to the lake and were now walking around it on the flat path.  We didn’t get that pleasure as the GR10 headed upwards through the trees.  This was a steep section as we climbed up to the hanging valley.  Once there, and out of the trees, we could see the col that we had to reach at the far end of the valley.  This was a big, long climb, and it was warm.  We had several breaks on the way up, but finally made it to the top.  As we started the descent we were amazed at the number of people coming towards us and wondered how many would make it to the top.  We later discovered many had taken the ski bubble lift from Cauterets and therefore only had a short distance to climb.  (Another walker told us later that she had heard someone with a megaphone shouting out the number of minutes to the last bubble back down.)  We reached the hut in its fantastic setting on the lake with mountains all around.  Dinner was vegetable soup, followed by sausage stew with pasta, and brownies to finish.  The dormitory had twenty beds in it; our lower bunk was a double, screened off from the next occupant.