Day 58–Saturday, August 26. Siguer (8 miles)

Before we went to bed, Suzy asked us what time we would like breakfast. We chose a neutral time of 8. When we came down, she had coffee, toast, butter, jam, and cereal all waiting for us. She even offered to cook us eggs. After breakfast, she took us on a tour of the village.

A century ago, Goulier had a population of 1400 and was a thriving mountain community with plenty of jobs in the mining industry. Her father’s father died when he was just 3 years old. Her grandmother raised him in one of the lower rooms in the house. To make money, she had a cafe on the second floor of her home which was a popular gathering spot in town. She also sold meals to the miners. I meant to ask the time frame when her dad was young, but this had to be pre WWI when his dad died.

The house is a very nice 3 & 1/2 story home with a balcony that looks out to the ski area above. She has been refurbishing the home and adding modern conveniences. The third floor she has configured into a “mini-dorm” for when friends or her grandchildren come to visit.

In her living room was a picture of the church from the time frame we were talking about. It is on the edge of town and has no buildings or trees around it. Today, there is a large cemetery next to it, as well as a reproduction of an old stone shepherd’s hut which children can play in. Next to the church is the Mairie (town hall). The town has streets too narrow for cars, so there are car parks on the edge of town. In summertime, there are up to 400 people living here, but in winter, only 25 homes are occupied. The winters can be pretty brutal in the mountains.

We weren’t in a big hurry to leave Suzy, but it was getting late after our tour of town. We started packing up about 9:30 and hit the trail by…our usual 10. Suzy walked us out of town (presumably to make sure we actually left). Actually, she took us a shorter route out (since we had already hiked down from above, this wasn’t a shortcut, it was payback). She pointed our her gardens where she was growing raspberries and fresh vegetables. Her main house is about an hour and a half away in Toulouse.

What a difference a day makes. The trail today was ideal. We still climbed a bit (only 1500′ with a 2600′ decline) but it was mostly in a pine forest. A beautifully marked trail with not even a hint of a wrong turn. We only met one person on the trail today; a man from London who was “section hiking” the GR10 but was planning on skipping large sections of what we have just hiked the last 2 days (are we the only purists around?)

In an ideal world, I would put a day like today every 3-4 days of hiking in the Pyrenees. It helps to break up the routine of climb 4000′ (the first 2500′ possibly in the forest, then emerge into full, treeless sun) then descend 4000′ (mostly on lose scree or steep rocks) into the next village. The European hiking experience isn’t the quest for wilderness that Americans are looking for. They want a strenuous day of exercise followed by a a warm meal prepared for them and a soft bed to sleep in. It’s not a bad scenario, just out of my price range if I want to live this lifestyle for the next 8-10 years (maybe if I gradually extend the time period, Pam won’t notice–doh, I shouldn’t state it where she will edit it).

We got into Siguer a little before 4. I’ve got to give the stiff credit on this one. He said there were no services here other than a small gite. There is NOTHING here other than a small gite AND a free municipal gite. The municipal gite sleeps 6, has a shower and water closet, and, most importantly, is free. And, we got it all to ourselves. It may not seem like luxury to couch potatoes, but we have had showers 2 days in a row now. And porcelain!

We checked the register, and we are just a day behind Peter and Alaina so we might catch them if they take another day off. I think they might be staying at the yurt tomorrow night. Also, Fred was here on Monday. Even though we can’t keep up with the people we meet hiking, we can keep up with them.

I’m getting to be pretty good at attempting to wash my clothes in the shower with me–not effective at cleaning them. I notice a smell in my socks, but at least I get enough sweat out of them to make it to our next laundry day–only 5 days away. 2 pairs of socks should be more than sufficient for 10 days between washes–we’re living the life.

Last night, Suzy had a scales in her bathroom. It turns out I’ve lost over 38 pounds to Pam’s 15 so she has decided I need to be eating 500 calories a day more than her. She let me eat a candy bar on the trail today which was about 200 calories. After supper, I pointed out that I was still running shy of the caloric goal she has for me and that if she gave me her M&Ms, it would help close the gap. I did manage to keep my fingers and she let me have 1 of hers making 10 for me and 8 for her–I consider this a major win. Pam has been known to eat 1/2 of an M&M rather than let me have a number advantage.