Even drugs weren’t enough. It stormed several times–each short, but the lightening flashes were continuos until about 2 in the morning. I don’t know if Pam taught Nutiket (my dog that we killed last July) or Nutiket taught Pam–Pam hiding her eyes seemed to reduce the shock. Since Pam doesn’t sleep, by god, no one sleeps.
The storms and lightning were not the worst. The worst was the wind. All night long it felt like the tent was going to be blown away. Luckily, someone with a lot of insight who should be nominated for husband of the year, placed hundreds of pounds of rocks on all the tent stakes to keep them from pulling out. Had I been allowed, I would have slept soundly.
When I woke up at 7, we were still having rain and winds. I can read my wife’s mind and knew we were going to sleep in some more. At 9, the clouds were breaking up and we could see some blue skies, so I made her breakfast in bed (muesli bars and orange cakes with water to wash it down). This is where my trouble started–no coffee!
We were hiking before 10. The weather was schizophrenic at best. It kept alternating between heavy winds, light rain, blazing sun, and brief periods of pleasantness. It would rain, we’d drop the packs and put on rain gear to instantly have the blazing sun appear. I finally said to hell with it and just hiked with my normal dirty clothes daring the rain to wash me off.
There were lots of people out today, including large numbers of families who had rented donkey’s for four day outings. This is a great way to introduce kids to camping and cover large distances. We talked to a few families and they all were having great times.
After a couple of hours of whining, complaining, and arguing, we managed to cover the last 2 miles and 1500′ altitude gain to get to Col d’Ayous. The views were simply amazing in all directions. We are in the middle of the Pyrenees (and we walked here).
We dropped down a few hundred feet and went to the refuge d’Ayous to grab a warm meal. We were having the same “discussion” (aka argument) about not eating enough vs not getting enough rest. Granted, we didn’t get much sleep last night from the storms, but we also haven’t eaten more than 400 calories in the last 16 hours. Since the restaurant was willing to serve hot food, we indulged–this is the first hot food we have been able to find in mid-day.
We ordered 2 bowls of soup, 2 Cokes, an omelette, and a crepe plate–all for the bargain price of 34.5 Euros. This is where we really wish we could speak French. The crepe came served with a raw egg in the middle. Raw chicken abortion alert! Added to the dead horse out front of the restaurant and lack of sleep, this set us off in a bad direction for the day.
I haven’t had a rant for a while since I’ve quit harping on the time=distance BS. It wouldn’t take much to get me started on that one again, but instead I’m going on a food rant. All these villages along the GR10 rely on the hikers for monetary survival–you’d think that maybe they might choose to cater to hikers to keep the money flowing. A big, “Hell NO.” Even finding a shop selling food in these villages is a large problem. Not to mention the fact that most places don’t take credit cards, so why not get an ATM put in town?
We are almost out of cash and very few places take credit cards, so we’re getting in a hurting position again. I’m worried about our diet with the lack of protein. I was just in a general bad mood. For the first time ever, I considered quitting this trail. Pam is walking slow (mainly because of her diet, but she’ll never admit that, so this comment stays in no matter how much she objects in editing), and her hips are hurting. We were just in a bad place.
When we got into Gabas, we took the turn for the refuge, but somehow missed it. We ended up road walking into town looking for a restaurant that might make us some sandwiches for tomorrow. The first 3 places we came to were closed. I was getting more pissed. We finally found an open restaurant/hotel, but they wouldn’t take credit cards. I was giving up hope.
We had one last place. The price for a room was 44 Euros and they took credit cards. I was giving into the idea of staying in town with the threatening skies looming. When we walked in, we couldn’t believe our eyes, Axel and Heike were there. We knew they were done with the trail on Thursday and figured they were a day or two ahead of us. Just seeing them completely changed our mood instantly. We were definitely staying here tonight.
The hostess showed us to our room. We quickly got showered and cleaned up to meet Heike and Axel for supper. We had a pleasant 2+ hour meal with our friends on their last night on the trail. We really got to know more about each other. Axel acted as interpreter switching effortlessly between French, German, and English. It’s amazing to think of the amount of ability it takes to switch between languages. Heike was talking more English tonight, finally feeling comfortable enough with us to risk saying the wrong words. I’m still amazed at Europeans’ ability to switch between languages and am ashamed at my lack of language skills.
We stayed up late in the restaurant–until after 9. When we went out, it was pouring. There was even pea sized hail with the rain. I was ecstatic. If I’m going to pay for a room, I like to feel like I’m getting my money’s worth and crappy weather is the ticket. Our room was across the street from the restaurant so we borrowed umbrellas from the hostess. We still got soaked. I was completely happy.
A little laundry and then off to sleep in a much better mood. Thank you Heike and Axel for saving us in our darkest moment on the GR10.