More Croissants, Please!

Having some trouble with the internet… more pictures to come as I am able to upload them!

I just got back from an epic weekend of trekking in the Pyrenees.  If I talked to you at all before this trip, you know that I was really excited to go on a trail running weekend in the Swiss Alps.  It took about 500 different iterations of planning for me to get from the Swiss Alps the the Pyrenees, but my main limitations were travel time, ease of website use, and accurate trail directions.  Much like the Alps, the Pyrenees has a really nice set-up for multi-day journeys.  There are huts, cabins, and refuges through the mountains that you can connect to make a multi-day trip. They all provide basic shelter (a wall and roof) and a place to sleep (usually a bunk), but the refuges are also equipped with kitchens, bathrooms, running water, and showers!  My camera was (unknowingly) on a weird setting for at least half of the hike in (Saturday), so most of the pictures are from Sunday’s hike out (and yes, my eyes are closed in the above photo).

I convinced a guy from my class to tag along for the journey – he was pretty sore today so we’ll see if he still thinks it was a good idea tomorrow!

We started off our Saturday morning in Agde, took the first bus to the train station (7:56am), then took a train to Perpignan, which is the last city on the French side of the Mediterranean before you get to Spain.  From there, we hopped on a local train headed West (towards the mountains) to the tiny village of Prades.  We weren’t sure exactly how far the hike was going to be – these were the instructions from the guardian of the Refuge des Cortalets:

“Head for the village of Taurinya by the GRT83 (red and white markings). The trail passes the Abbey of Saint Michel de Cuxa (90 min walk). From Taurinya, you need to pass Llasseras, the rock Mosquit, the Soucarrade, the Ras des Cortalets and then the refuge des Cortalets. It is a 5 hour walk approximately (1780 metres of ascent).

From Prades to the refuge, it is about 61⁄2 hours, and it takes about 4 hrs 45 minutes to return to Prades on foot.”

We ran through the village of Taurinya, where we reached the real trail and continued running for a bit.  After about 3.5 miles, the trail became so steep that we couldn’t run anymore.  We spent some time in steep, rocky sections with heavy deciduous tree cover.  Then, we emerged to some amazing views of fall foliage, not very much tree cover, but still very rocky.  The whole trail was incredibly well-marked, which I’d say is pretty different from the hiking I’ve done in Colorado!

From there, we wound through “the enchanted forest”, this dank, mossy, tall pine forest with very little sunlight.  We eventually passed the rock Mosquit and ended up on a rocky section near the top of the treeline.  Remember that cow festival I was at last weekend?  It seems not all of the French cows have descended yet – we passed a few groups of them on our way up!  So cute.

After 5 hours total (from the train station), we reached the Refuge – it was cold at the top and our clothes were wet from sweating earlier on, so the shelter was much needed.  We had to pay 2.50 Euro for a shower – it was warm and totally worth it, until I got out and remembered that I didn’t have a towel.  The shelter is all run on solar power from panels on the roof, so there is limited electricity and no heat.  There is just one fireplace in the main room where the meals are served.  We were fed a four course dinner – I would call it French country cooking.  We had some sort of mushroom soup (yes, warmth!), rice and squid in some tasty sauce – only my third time eating squid for the week – some cheese, and a slice of chocolate pound cake.  We also treated ourselves to a few beers (the refuge has a well-stocked bar), including a beer that the refuge keepers brew themselves, which ended up being the best beer I’ve had since coming to France (the competition is not tough).  There were probably about 20 other hikers up there – most of them speaking another language, but I still felt at home.  This is a side of France I could get used to!  I snuggled into my bunk under multiple layers of blankets for an early night’s sleep.

In the morning, it was a quick breakfast with hot coffee, layering up my clothes, and heading out to descend the ten miles we covered the previous day.  The descent was much easier, but much of it still too steep and/or rocky to run until the last 3-4 miles.  We picked up a pizza and fries at one of the only open restaurants in Prades, jumped on the train, and made our way back to Agde.  What an amazing weekend!  Now I am really wishing I had endless days here, it was a little earlier in the season, and I could do some multi-day treks across the ridge lines of the Alps, where I could spend more time running.  I’ll definitely be back for more of this at some point in my life.  Don’t you think it’d make a great honeymoon, Andrew?  No?  Why not?