Friday May 13th Mantet to Refuge de Mariailles

Guest blog by Peter
This is the second day of my walk with John through some country I know - or thought I did till yesterday! Picking up with John's fiendish high level of fitness was hard so was pleased that both legs were functioning this morning.

Gite d'Etape in Mantet

We left Mantet after a good breakfast (turned out building his wonderful little gite had cost our belgian host two wives, though current post holder very nice and a great cook).
John bought some locally produced and high priced sheep's cheese and we walked 300 metres up to the Col de Mantet, really good views back the way we had come yesterday.

Up from Mantet

and then down to Py at 700 metres.

The Golden Nugget of Py had a sign saying "ouvert" but we were unconvinced. Pressed on and climbed gently up to Col de Jou through beech woods.

Through the Beech trees

Weather closing in but some good glimpses if the west face of Canigou which is the last big mountain in the range before the Mediterranean. At 2780 metres it is the sacred mountain of the Catalans visible from Narbonne to Girona. Tomorrow we'll go over early before the clouds and storms build up.

Today they certainly built up. We were just feet away from a lightning bolt and the rain poured down steadily (stair rods says John) but our day today was pretty short and half an hour later we checked into the Refuge. John overjoyed to try out again his dormitory anti-snoring technique.

The Refuge de Marialles

Grim Weather

Thursday May 12th Planes to Mantet

First full day in France, really tough day's walking but satisfying made all the more so by some wonderful accommodation in Mantet.

Left Planes at nine and walking with Peter Williams. Weather was excellent, sunny and fresh but the forecast for the rest of the day was poor. First little freshener was a gentle 400 metre climb up through the trees and then down into the valley on the other side of a ridge. The river in the valley was in full flow and we had to walk a long up the valley before we could cross it and then come back down again on the other side.

You then start climbing up to the biggest pass of the day, the Col Mitja, and at 2367 metres the highest point I've got to on the E4 so far. Took nearly two hours to climb to the top and just as we going over the top it started to rain, not heavily but enough to make you wet. There is a refuge at the bottom of the valley on the other side which, in a couple of weeks time is open, and would have been a good place to stop but not yet an option.

Serrat de la Xemeneis

Instead we have to climb another pass and make for Mantet. The signs at the refuge at 3. 30 tell us we still have 4 hours walking to go and it's still raining on and off and snowing at the top. Climbing up we saw a couple of isards a sort of wild mountain goat, running up the wide of the mountain. At about 5.30 we make it to Col de Pal at 2294 metres and the cloud is now so dense that finding the trail is a real problem. Walking across open ground, across snow and then through trees we suddenly find ourselves in a full blown storm, thunder and lightening with snow mixed in with the driving rain. We lose the trail and just for a few minutes it's really unpleasant. Both of us have waterproofs on but not a lot in terms of insulation and we were quickly starting to get cold. We manage the figure out where the trail should be from the GPS, not where we thought it was and head in that direction. After about 10 minutes see the white and red waymarks and almost at the same time the storm dies down and we can see Mantet.

Col du Pal

A long way down

Takes 90 minutes to work our way down the valley and by the time we arrived the Gite d'Etape we had walked 28 kilometres and climbed over 1800 metres. Big day, particularly a big first day for Peter.

Belgian couple running the Gite, great food and great accommodation. Just what was needed after such a walk.