Day 42: Aulus Les Bains (Camping Coulédous) to Aire de Bivouac at Refuge des Étangs de Bassiès

I was up nice and early with excited anticipation of being back on the GR10 in my usual fully packed format. This had been a lovely little pause with no stinking thinking, for which I was really relieved and grateful. I had chatted yesterday with my Swedish friend and she was more than likely going to carry on her journey tomorrow as her ankle had made good progress in terms of pain and ease of walking. This was great news for her, but we made no plans to trek together.

As I set off 'Superpack' was nearly splitting at the seams with snacks and food supplies stuffed into every nook and cranny possible! Well, we won't talk about splitting seams .. I'm still not ready after the 'Megapack' experience. That was well over a month ago now, wow!

It was a lovely morning after the rain yesterday and after a rushed trip to the public loos, I had a nice café au lait on an outside table to start the appreciation of my day. Once ready, I trekked out of town and back onto the GR10 where I had left it yesterday.

The path started it's ascent immediately up some old village tracks that crossed the road to enter forest on the lower slopes of La Pique ou Mont Béas (1903m). This path then climbed gradually and peacefully up the valley, with nice shade provided by trees that occasionally gave way to stunning views.

The peace and tranquility seemed to seep into my veins, it was lovely. Any increase in weight of 'Superpack' was now inconsequential. The knowledge of the upcoming stretch of wild camping felt great with the knowledge I was so well stocked!

The windows to the vistas that the forest occasionally gave were magnificent.

As the trees of the forest thinned out, the path eventually arrived at a car park where day trekkers drive to for access to surrounding trails. It wasn't particularly busy which was a relief, but it is always such a strange thing to come across several people after times of peaceful solo trekking!

The open area of Plateau de Coumebière (1440m) provided panoramic views both down and across the direction I'd come from over the last few days, and up towards the new mountains to trek. The weather was glorious, and as an added bonus the day trekkers were peeling off in another direction than the GR10! Excellent!

The view back from the Plateau de Coumebière (1440m).

After refilling the water bottle at a welcome natural spring it was time to start the climb to Port de Saleix (1794m). The path wasn't too clear at points but I could see people up high so headed along the narrow track I was on lower down safe in the knowledge I would end up where they were! However, despite the beautifully clear weather and the vision of the people higher up, my day dreaming happiness made me lose the trail not once .. but twice! This resulted in some steep off piste recovery efforts!

Port de Saleix (1794m) is a small pass with amazing views over both sides of its narrow grassy area. The view from where I had come was on one side and then an equally spectacular view down the valley of the Russieau de Saleix. Once I reached the pass I was roused from my view appreciation with a voice I recognised .. my Swedish friend was up there having what looked like a very tasty lunch, with an awesome view! It was really good to see she was happy and trekking relatively pain free again. One tough trekking lady!

I stopped for my lunch, a cereal bar was or two was all I could be bothered with! As we chatted we realised that there wasn't actually very far to go to reach the Refuge des Étangs de Bassies which was the planned camp for the night. What we were looking at whilst having lunch was a very steep start to the next steps on the GR10 which was a climb up the North ridge of Mont Garias (2006m). We both concluded it looked short and sharp, and a quick effort up it wouldn't be too bad!

Indeed the climb wasn't too bad at all in such gorgeous weather. What came after was a peaceful and relatively flat traverse past the Étang d'Alate (1880m). It looked like a great spot for a swim, but I didn't need the screeches of a few people entering the water to remind me that water in these mountains isn't always at a comfortable swimming temperature!

The short traverse continued after the lake and took us across heather clad rocky terrain towards Port de Bassiès where the descent to camp would start. It was looking like the refuge was in a remote valley which was exciting to me. It wasn't particularly warm but it was dry and there was no Brouillard! Clear blue skies, with lots of changing cloud scenery.

View from Port de Bassiès (1933m) to the Etangs de Bassiès (1600)m.

About a decade ago, in one of my attempts to rectify the very sad and barborous implosion that my GCSE but mainly A Level education became, I embarked on a self-funded Bsc Honours in Environmental Science with the Open University. Very sadly, two modules away from the hopefully obtaining the degree, there was confusion between myself and the booking office which resulted in me loosing the entitlement to what were called transition fees. The large University tuition fee increases happened after I had started studying with the Open University, so I could therefore use the original module fees for the entire degree which was great! However! I was a few weeks too late to enrol on the final two modules, and I had been unaware of this clause in the tiny terms and conditions, so very sadly, I lost the transition fee entitlement and hence the modules jumped from about £800 each to over £5000 each! I was devastated to never get my degree, my Bsc Honours in Environmental Science. I converted my credits into some randomly named qualification and reacted as Craig back then would react as a default .. I tossed it all away and went on a drive of self-punishment!

Now, I can hear the voices asking 'Why has Craig gone off on this irrelevant tangent'?! Well, trust me it has my own random relevance! It was obvious to me that the view was stunning, but it was also amazing in the sense that it was such a great view of a valley where I'm sure used to lie a huge glacier?! It fascinated my tiny mind and made me think in geological time back to what used to be in the valley where I was going to camp for the night! A huge mass of ice creaking down the slopes, scraping and carving this valley over a timescale I couldn't fathom! I stuck a Woolly Mammoth or two into my tiny mind's picture as well for effect! I know, I hear you .. I'm very strange! Try living in this mind!

Right, let's get back to much more interesting things! .. My Swedish friend on her trek down to camp. Incredible to think this lady had trekked the GR5 before this as well! Awesome!

The trio of lakes in the valley came into view as the descent progressed.

The remoteness was silent and powerful. I was loving it. I was even loving it despite the screams from a fierce sounding Berger from the Refuges des Bassiès to some walkers behind us who had two dogs off their leads in territory where signs explicitly warn dog owners not to - this is Patou dog territory and they would rip domestic dogs to shreds in their instinct to protect their sheep. So ignorant and irresponsible. They rapidly put their dogs on their leads and looked nervous to proceed to the refuge and the irate Berger!

The Refuge des Étangs de Bassiès (1665m) has a dedicated Aire de Bivouac area for a small charge which included a hot shower! There was one problem with the hot shower though .. the water supply was not working! So, I didn't wait for the fix, I decided it was a stream wash of the body, my pants and my socks! No glacier left in the valley, but certainly and bracing wash! No screeching though as there were people nearby!

There was a wooden walkway that had been constructed down to the lakes over what was marsh ground. After my bracing wash I took a solo stroll to have a look at them, as well as a general meditative appreciation of life and where I was .. both in life and in my present reality! I was feeling so privileged yet again that I was in such an amazing place, doing such an amazing thing. I had a deep sense of belonging in the moment I was in, the place I was in, doing the thing I was doing. I wanted to be no-where else doing nothing else but this. As some incredible cloud formations rolled off from where we had trekked down from today, I had an appreciation that feeling like this is definitely not normal for me. Indeed I realised that these emotions of being content in the moment, of belonging somewhere, and of wanting to do nothing else in my days, was something I had searched for in all the adventures I've embarked on in my life, but also for my whole life in general. I had found it in some places, for fleeting moments, but I realised that only here, doing this, have I ever had the fortune to experience true and prolonged contentment. Sat there in that stunning place I was so grateful to this GR10 trek, whose concept I stumbled upon about 5 years ago, and I was so grateful for the knowledge that developed in me that I MUST do in one self-supported effort. If it's the only true contentment I get in life, then it'll be a pretty good memory bank of true contentment to live on!

Right, sorry about that emotional interlude. Yawning time over and back to valley scenery! The lakes were lovely, absolutely still, flat and crystal clear to provide mirror like surfaces to the surrounding terrain.

The rolling cloud feature (official Craig name!) was mesmorising. It just rolled off the high cliffs, hugged them on the way down to the point where they dissipated. I watched the scene for quite a while perched on a small rock. The refuge can be seen bottom right of the picture, and if you squint you'll see a few tents further to the bottom right .. mine is out of view, as far to the cliffs as I could get, all on my lonesome! Not a bad view from where I put it, I assure you!

Mesmorising!

It was eventually the right time to return to the Aire de Bivouac and stuff my face with my burgeoning supplies!