September 28, 2000
Hike to St Etienne de Bagorry
We checked out of our hotel early, left our bikes behind, and set out with just a rucksack (*) to walk to St. Etienne, six hours away on the GR 10. This was the first half of an intended two day walk to Bidarray, from which we intended to return by train. the weather was mixed: mostly cloudy for much of the day, but with the cloud layer high and stable enough that we had good visability.
We started off the day poorly though, with a navigation error that added about two miles to the hike. We followed the wrong hiking path out of town - the GR 65, the Compostela trail - and then had difficulty working our way back to the west through small roads and equestrian trails to the pretty village of Lasse where we finally were back on the map.
The path climbs almost immediately out of Lasse, gradually working its way to the summit of a thousand meter peak, Munhoa, our high point of the day. The view from the high country was phenomenal - patchwork green fields, ridges, canyons, flocks of sheep, tiny white villages. It was extremely windy, almost difficult to stand up, and it threatened rain; so we didn’t stay at the top long. We felt fortunate to have arrived at a relative clearing period.
The rest of the walk gradually worked its way downhill toward St. Etienne, dropping steeply through a series of switchbacks into the center of town. Our hotel, on the outskirts at the far end, was beautiful - a lovely building in a countryside setting. A flock of sheep was being driven down the street across from our hotel, by a woman sheltered under a raincoat. We felt very snug as we waited around for dinner in our room, reading our books and enjoying a fine view of the fields and hills from our window. And dinner was wonderful, as usual.
* (In the journal there is also an equipment list for this hike, so I might as well preserve it:
- Hat
- Camera and film
- Sunblock
- Tickets, passports, etc.
- Hotel names
- Map
- Toiletries
- First aid kit
- Food and water
- Change of clothing.)
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