France 2004

Pyrénées

July 3rd, 2004


Saturday - Logibar to Sainte-Engrâce

Auberge Logibar. Beautiful day. Sculpted round hill. The striking green and mountains beyond. Unusually blue pond. The 11th century church, Sainte-Engrâce. An arch withing Sainte-Engrâce. Dinner at the gîte.

We were ready for the petit-déjuner as advertised at 7:30 a.m. but no one was stirring in the entire gîte except Josef. Finally the host arrived about fifteen minutes later and we had café-au-lait and bread and a baguette for the trail.

We were off at 8:35 a.m. (the latest so far) on what looked like a great day. We trailed everyone but soon overtook Josef on the steep climb through the woods. This mounted to open views back over the Larrau Valley. Then more steep climbing in the woods to a perfectly round grazed field which overlooked the valley and the gorges. We walked around and admired the view.

We climbed steeply above Josef looking back at the round hill. At the top it we entered a woods but we lost the trail in spite of a friendly black dog who offered assistance. After some delay, we walked around a lone house at the top and found the trail along a dirt road. This was a gradual climb on a woods road exiting the woods above a farmhouse in a field below and wound around a hill to the left. The road meandered uphill with striking green views down into a gorge and to green hills above. We were overtaken by Josef at this point and he left us in the dust as we admired the views below and the tops of the mountains Otchogorrigagna and Chardekagagna and an occasional view of Pic d'Orhy. This view to the south continued for miles. At a place on the map called Igueloua next to some of farm buildings, the trail left the road and went straight uphill. Josef had stopped for lunch, but we decided we wanted the climb behind us before eating. Again we lost the trail where it entered the woods even though we'd seen a pole above - we wasted too much time looking for it. It climbed steeply up a grassy hill to the Col d’Anhaou.

Here we saw a marker for Sainte-Engrâce but a new road had wiped out all the trail markers and we were uncertain of the trail until we met a French couple hiking up who confirmed we were on the right track. This was reaffirmed by Josef following us. At a new farmhouse, the trail left the road and turned to the left. Here we stopped on a grassy hill in the sun for a pleasant lunch at about 1:30 p.m. Afterwards the trail joined wide dirt and gravel road that descended gradually and gave us a glimpse of the Gorges d'Olhadubhi - white cliffs below the cloud covered peak Lakhoura. There was a grassy hill above on the left and many flowers on either side.

The road continued for a stretch but after a switchback or two the trail cut straight down a grassy slope crossing several switchbacks of the road. At the last, there was a herd of the Pyrenees cows through which we had to assert our way.

As it leveled out, the trail turned north and went down an ancient path which was five or six feet deep along the side of the trail we walked. It came out on a road switchback which climbed a little and it soon left the road to the left. After about twenty-five minutes of switchbacks on a road by farms and chestnut trees, the trail cut right on a new track that had just been bulldozed and graveled. We walked along side of it in the field until it entered another ancient path that was dark and damp (and slippery) due to its depth.

The muddy dirt path crossed another road and then a stream but continued on down and down until it came out at the Port d'Enfer. This bridge crossed a river flowing into a large azure pond - a darker blue than the sky. There a steep cement road joined a busy main road which was crowded with people parking their cars to swim and congregating around an ice cream snack bar.

Then - as Alan said later - there was a long hot drag for one hour up the road passing some old farmhouses (one dated 1771) but otherwise uninteresting walking until we reached an eleventh century church and the gîte d'étape Sainte-Engrâce. We arrived at 5:05 p.m. - a long walk. As we were the last to arrive and our companions were all sitting around tables outside the gîte enjoying a beer, we got a round of applause and a cheer as we slogged in.

We found that we were in the upper deck of bunks on the second floor (a penalty for being the last to arrive) in a room which slept about 15 people – it looked like an interesting night.

We went across the road to see the church which was Romanesque with unusual almost Celtic designs on the pillars and above the arches. The nave was grilled with iron. The capitals of the pillars had carvings one of which Bon noticed was a Christian with his head in a lion’s mouth.

I went back and took a shower in the bath house (separate from the sleeping quarters), drying with my old clothes and putting on the new. Then I washed everything I wore and hung it up on a line in the sun in back of the gîte. Then to the patio to join the crowd to write up the day and enjoy a beer.

We had a delightful evening with everyone. Dinner at eight came before we knew it and we all moved into an upstairs room with a long table. The crowd included Josef, Alan, George, Tom, Jane, Claire, the two Oxford students, and two young Spanish men who had hiked from Café Pedro all the way to Logibar the day before - one wearing a turban on his head. It was a jovial crowd as we all had gotten to know each other and the new Spaniards gave Josef company with whom he could easily chat. We had a carrot salad with eggs (comment: un oeuf is un oeuf), pickled beets, followed by sliced pork and delightful spicy tomato, followed by fromage and dessert (gateau Basque).

Conversation ranged from the trail to the various animal sounds in English, French and Spanish - this topic arose because Josef had not been able to ask Alan for an alarm so he navigated this by saying co-co-ri-co which is both the French and Spanish for cock-a-doodle-doo. We also learned the British expression, “easy peezy lemon squeezey.” Finally, Josef gave a speech in Spanish which was translated by his young friend, saying how much he enjoyed the company and he bought a round of Berria - a Basque liquor made from some sort of small purple apple and coffee to absorb the acidity. It was served in a small brandy glass with one ice cube.

Later the young Spanish man addressed me down the table saying that he'd learned from Alan that I wanted the recipe for gateau Basque. He said that this was a secret recipe that was passed from generation to generation and that they could think of no condition upon which they would want the recipe released in Chicago to show up at McDonalds! We also talked about easing our travails on the trail by having wine in the backpack integrated water systems with mouth pieces and perhaps having two mouth pieces - one rouge and the other blanc.

It was a lovely evening and we capped it with a stroll down to the trail head with Josef, Alan and George. We then climbed up to the second level of bunks where we were accompanied by a gentleman who snored. I slept lightly but well enough and woke exactly at 6:00 a.m.

Copyright 2005 Donald R. Chauncey - All rights reserved