GR10 Day23

Germ was a small village and we had a lovely room (up two flights of stairs again!) in the auberge and an excellent evening meal and breakfast.  (The gin and tonic with lemon and peppercorns was excellent, very refreshing).  The day’s walk started with a very steep track, before levelling off as it wound round the mountainside.  The gradient started to increase as we went up the valley, finally reaching a small area of pasture where three tents were surrounded by cows.  Then it was on to one of the usual zig-zagging tracks as we climbed up towards the col, with several rests on the way as we were now in full sunshine.  The descent down the valley was pleasant, until we reached another steep descent through the trees.  This time the path was wide, and had plenty of decaying leaves under foot so was not too bad.  I’ve included a photo of my legs to show the amount of dust that gets kicked up.  The temperature climbed as we descended, finally reaching the car park at the start of the walk up to Lac d’Oo.  We went to the café and had a litre of water between us, a fizzy drink, and an icecream each, and a rest, before starting on the climb up.  This was on a broad track, and there were dozens of people returning from their day trip up to the lake.  About three quarters of the way up there was a police car (mountain unit) parked, but we never saw any sign of anyone.  The track deteriorated after this point, but we made it to the hut after about 1.25 hours of walking.  The refuge was in a stunning location on the edge of the lake, looking across to the massive waterfall (275m drop).  The good news was that we had a room to ourselves.  The evening meal was very tasty, but breakfast comprised stale bread, butter, marmalade, and instant coffee.  The bathroom facilities comprised one toilet (no seat), one wash basin, and one shower for twenty people, and were also used by the guardian, his wife, and little daughter, and an assistant.  At least there were only ten of us staying.  Definitely the worst refuge of the trip so far.