Haute Route Pyrenees (HRP) Summer 24

800km – 52,000m ascent – 5½ weeks

Atlantic to Mediterranean backpack along the spine of the Pyrenees

I lost 5kg and took about 3 months to recover lost muscle mass

Sat 13 Jul: Jules took us to Northallerton in the Ravmobile – train to King’s Cross to stay in cheapo hotel after spending the evening in the sumptuous St Pancras Station Hotel bar.

Impossible to process the level of human endeavour in such architecture

Beginning to process the level of human endeavour in such a architecture

Sun 14 Jul: Eurostar St Pancras to Paris, tube to Montparnasse, lunch in street café then double decker TRV to Hendaye. Walked to camping and watched our team (Spain) ‘vamos’, ‘allez’, beat England in European cup final.

Day 1 Mon 15 Jul: 25km Atlantic Ocean (Hendaye) to Col de Lizuniaga. Not very inspiring, a lot of woods, farmland, bracken, route-finding faffy, rucksacks felt heavy (pondering frequently what i might post home), new shoes so tight my feet got pins and needles – apart from that it was ok. So when Jenny announced we were staying in the hostel instead of camping outside i obviously agreed begrudgingly.

This shows the bracken which i don’t like

Reflecting on the purgatorial and unnecessary ascent of La Rhune over a bottle of local vino tinto

Day 2 Tue 16 Jul: Col de Lizuniaga to Elizondo.

Same view next morning – standard for Basque country

3 things here: had 2 coffees in French café (right) €6 to find out sorry not open for food, followed by massive omelettes and coffees €9 in Spanish (left) then Nurse Jenny tends my battered feet that don’t look like lasting me 5 weeks

An actual earthworm 1.15m pole for scale

Arrived Aldudes, oh my life, my feet, ouchy

Arrived Elizondo pretty spent after long hike and descent in sandals (i had no words or useful contribution), Jenny checked us into Hostel Elizondo (basic but free really good breakfas). Went nuts in the supermarket then to street bar of Louis’ choice where literally the rudest twat on the planet served me the biggest wettest chese omelette and ignored that Jenny might like to dine; before securing un table pour deux in the best Basque restaurant in Elizondo, where we watched big mamma quietly produce superb cuisine.

Day 3 17 Jul: Heaved ourselves out after bountiful hostel breakfast (after we already ate our own in the room expecting the breakfast to be as kack as the room).

Summit camp with radge horse and sheep all wtih bells on

Day 4 18th Jul: Escaped from intrusive Dutch woman at Roncevaux col down to Roncevalles for an epic salad next to the monastery.

Another horsey camp after filling water at a trough and using the tin cabane as a shower cubicle (Louis’travel shower is a win after a day sweating suncream into your socks)

Moody evening next to the ancient burial chamber

Day 5 19th Jul: Finished at a free campground, with better free bathroom facilities than most paid campsites in uk. Wandered down to Chalet Pedro to be told ‘non’ for food.

Day 6 20th Jul: Really? Five weeks of blow-by-blow? Gonna try throwing up my pics with captions here and there, maybe do a main points summary and lessons learned, see how that feels.