We couldn’t leave the campground until 9a because we had to pay and that’s when the office opened. I woke up a little before 8 and took care of my necessities while Pam slept blissfully on. At 8:15, I woke her up. We were all packed and ready to go when the office opened.
Since we were still in a town, we decided to save the food we had bought yesterday and find a cafe to have a cup of coffee. Since the restaurant in town doesn’t sell food (don’t ask me why they call themselves a restaurant), he didn’t mind that I bought a few pastries and yogurt from the tobacco store (restaurants don’t sell food, but tobacco stores do–it’s a different world in France). We sat and wrote the blog entry for yesterday.
We decided to stop back by the tourist office to finish the entry for Friday since I had already uploaded the pictures and make the picture selection for yesterday. I started having technology issues right away which only compounded my anxiety for running late after such a good start. After I got some new software installed and rebooted the iPad while Pam kept me abreast of the eclipse back home (which we slept through–no one reminded us!) it was already noon. We decided, screw it, might as well have lunch if we can maybe find a doctors office that sells food since the restaurant was now closed for lunch.
There was a sign in front of the tourist information mentioning a snack bar. I asked the helpful woman from yesterday about it. She said it was good, but that it had closed two days ago. I asked why the sign was still up and she said a new owner was going to reopen it soon. We had found a another miniature golf/snack bar near the park yesterday, but it was closed being a Monday. We thought we’d throw caution to the wind and see if a place that is supposed to sell food might actually be open at lunch time–jackpot.
We were the first customers for the day since it was only noon. One of the owners came out and chatted with us for a bit and then the head chef came out and explained what she couldn’t. They were very friendly and accommodating. We managed to overeat in the name of carbing up for the next 6-8 day portion without towns. As long as we hit a gite or refuge once within that period, we’ll be fine with all we have. Bottom line, (Pete, keep pressure on your head to keep it from exploding) we hit the trail at 2:30.
The nice thing about carrying a lot of food is the daily progress you make when you leave a town. The first day, you are dragging and feel like you a mild case of the flu. You walk a few steps, feel kind of dizzy, take a sip of water and wipe the sweat off of your face. Day two, you lose a little a little pack weight and start feeling a little better. You can walk twice as far between breaks. You start to feel like you may eventually recover. Day three is even better. By day 7, you’ve almost used all the food but you come to another town and catch the flu again–hiking is a vicious cycle between vomiting and feeling great.
Since we have such a long stretch without shops this time, I let Pam enjoy carrying some of the load. She had a terrible case of the flu today. Add in the fact that we only have 4 ibuprofen left and she starts having sweats in anticipation of VI withdrawals.
The trail wasn’t that bad, but when both of you have flu symptoms, a 4000′ climb becomes daunting. Add in the late start, we were ready to quit after climbing only 1700′. We stopped to cool off and get a drink of fresh water. We both decided we had had enough and started looking for a spot to camp by the stream. There weren’t any. This is where I screwed up. We should have filled everything that could hold water so the next level spot we could stop and be fine for the night. I was tired and not thinking straight.
We started climbing again and found great camping spots, but no water nearby. After climbing another 800′ (and kicking myself all the way–doing double duty hiking) we found another source of running water. We dropped packs, filtered 6 liters. And filled 2.5 liters of dirty water into the squeeze bags. We now had enough to safely cook dinner and breakfast and make it to the next “known” water source.
With 8.5 liters of water combined with our flu symptoms, I knew we didn’t want to travel much further. Before we put on our packs, we decided to scout for campsites in both directions. Less than 100 yards ahead (and only gaining another 50′ of altitude), I found two great possibilities. We loaded up our packs and took the closest site in the woods.
Someone had obviously used this spot before because there was a fire ring and a nice little shelf made out of limbs. We set up the tent to dry while Pam went to wash up and I sat down to write this entry. All we had left to do was cook supper and inflate our bed and it was a complete day. 5 miles, all 2600′ uphill with limited ibuprofen–let the complaining begin!