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(Day 3) On leaving cabane du Mont Fort we chose to do the “short cut”
alternative day over col de la Chaux, to be confronted with the “if it was
easy it would be called the way”. The guide told us to follow the way
markers carefully to ensure we went around the glacier, but we suddenly
realised we were on it and climbing over loose boulders, morraine and
slippery ice patches with various crevices between them. Three cols, 885m
of ascent and 740m of descent, and wading through a thigh-deep glacial
meltwater torrent later, we made it to cabane de Prafleuri.

(Day 4) One of the guide books suggested a “safe” glacier traverse with
“virtually no crevasses” but we decided we’d had enough the previous day
so went over col des Roux, around lac des Dix and over col de Riedmatten
(the pass slightly further round, pas de Chevres, involved 3 vertical
ladders so we thought better of it). The long final descent (1289m of
height loss) led us into Arolla early evening in good time to catch the
supermarche to load up on fresh treats, then find the campsite which was a
proper one, full of tents!

(Day 5) A nice short day stroll down the valley to Les Hauderes (supposed
to go as far as La Sage but stopped short for the campsite). Wandered
along a “chemin difficile” with a couple of exposed sections with chains
bolted to the rocks, up to Lac Bleu (which really is blue!) then a gentle
descent into the village, via the shops and up to spend the afternoon
drinking beer in the sunshine in the camping at Molignon.

(Day 6) An early start to catch up with the hour we needed to make up from
the previous day (including a 200m climb), and to break the back of the
1617m of height gain for the day before the sun got too high. A long, hard
slog up to Col du Tsate (2868m), then steep descent down to Lac de la
Bayenna under the Moiry glacier and famous Moiry icefall (very
impressive). On setting off up to climb another 500m on the path towards
Cabane de Moiry we were confronted with a sign saying the cabane was
closed overnight from 24 Aout for renovation work. We called ahead to have
it confirmed, and since tomorrow’s route came back down the same way, it
was easy to turn around and walk down to Lac de Moiry. We found a
picturesque spot to pitch up with awesome views – one direction of the
Moiry icefall, and the other direction of the brilliant turquoise Lac de
Moiry.

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Several trains and buses later, including an overnight stop at the
campsite in Sambrancher, we finally made it to Champex to start the
Chamonix-Zermatt Haute Route.

The first day was supposed to be a leisurely stroll down the valley, but
losing 800m told its toll on everyone’s feet, and a lack of campsite, then
1.5hrs sitting outside the gite waiting for it to open (the sign said
17:30 but still nothing by 19:00) in Le Chable before getting the train
back to Sambrancher for another night (then finding the other “campsite”
didn’t allow tents) made for an unnecessarily long day.

An early start, swing by the supermarket for supplies, and 07:09 train
back up the valley gave us a fighting chance of conquering the day’s 1636m
of height gain before it got too hot. Spectacular views of Grand Combin as
well as the Mont Blanc Massive crept into view as we gained height. We saw
numerous paragliders soaring overhead, and passed apples, hazelnuts,
brazil nuts, blackberries, raspberries, alpine strawberries, plums,
elderberries, wimberries and chestnuts – you’d think it was late summer /
harvest time!

A long day for all, but good weather and good timing, we arrived by 5pm at
the Cabane du Mont Fort, pitched tents outside and enjoyed a good meal and
couple of bottles of wine.

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Spent a couple of days tearing round the streets of geneva too (the hire
bikes there are free for up to 4 hours a pop). We got soaked standing
under the Jet d’Eau and saw the city from the Roue de Geneva big wheel. We
also found an Irish themed pub (which didn’t atually claim to be but sold
decent beers). Several pints and a nasty hangover later, we met up with
Marky and Roz and headed for the Alps…

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Stopped off in Lyon for a couple of days on the way up to Geneva and
managed to break every road rule and terrorise the town on the 1eur/day
hire bikes. Lyon seems to be a very laid back and tolerant city with cars,
bikes and people, on rollerblades, skateboards and scooters, all managing
to share the same space without killing each other!

We’ve got to say a huge thank you to the guys in “Au Vieux Campeur” who
found Adie a free replacement bottom section for his snapped Leki trekking
pole. They salvaged it from an old one they had and even apologised for it
not being carbon fibre (as was the original part).

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We made it down to Banyuls-sur-Mer at about 13:30 today, barely ahead of
the 3 young French kids who’ve been with us for the last 3 days! I have
never seen so many vineyards as on the hills on the way down.

After pizza and celebratory beers we found a hotel, bought beachwear, had
ice cream and were just in time to welcome in the large French group with
their water. It appeared quite a few had turned up to see the end of it’s
journey so it was quite a cool thing to see.

We then promply did the obligatory go swimming in the sea thing, and
eventually pretty much everyone (both groups) joined us! I feel sorry for
those who were trying to quietly sunbathe in the vicinity.

So that’s the Haute Randonnee Pyreneene. It’s a tough one, so unless you
really are hardcarl (sic) you should probably try something shorter, like
2 weeks in the Alps or so. If you fancy attempting to traverse the
Pyrenees in one shot, you’d find the GR10 (French side) or GR11 (Spain)
avoid the technical high points, and the navigational requirements, which
just leaves you a spectacular walking challenge. If you really think you
are up to it all, though, good luck, and I can highly recommend this
route.

If anyone is planning to walk the GR10 or HRP and are passing through
Hendaye, please try to get me a photo of the grafitti on the ramp in the
skate park as you head out: “THEY CARL US HARDCORE”, and let me have it!

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We’re out wildcamping (with a couple of Pietras) for the last time this
trip having walked a couple of hours on past the gite at Col l’Ouillant to
shorten our 8.5hr last day a bit. We have a great view of the coast here
and are up just over 1000m so it’s a little cooler. Tomorrow we hit
Banyuls!

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Wow, it’s hot at 200m above sea level (32degC) and we don’t go above 2000m
again now (until the Alps) we are in Amelies sur Bains with 3 days
left! <24 hours of walking left before we can go swimming!

Did a crazy 10 hours (of walking) day yesterday, including going over Pic
Canigou via the cheminee (natural staircase, aka climb), where we randomly
encountered some Scots out on a day walk. We then arrived at the gite in
Batiere at 8pm along with the big french group we’ve been seeing every day
who’re walking this section (their hiking club as a whole are transporting
a bottle of atlantic water to the med between them this summer, each group
of them doing one section!)

Also met the Jacksons, a British family who have walked the whole of the
HRP over the last 5/6 years and are on their final section! We left them
yesterday to take the GR10 up to Ref Cortelats then today they will have
done a day walk over Canigou – hope you guys enjoyed the climb!

Our other new friend worth a quick mention is Pia, a German girl who we
met at Refuge d’Ull de Ter. She had walked part of the GR11 and we nearly
convinced her to join us – maybe for the next trip?

Marky / Roz – hope you are mostly ready for the Alps. Looking forward to
seeing you!

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For those confused that i suggested we had 9 days left (5th section), when
my original itinerary said 10, this is because the English guide book
(Cicerone, written by the Dutch guy Ton Joosten) had a mad 3h day followed
by a convoluted 2nd day so we consolidated them into 1 day (more in line
with the French guide book, written by the inventor of the HRP, Georges
Veron). So 3 days later we have just finished “day 36″ by Dutch standards.
Either way we have 6 days left!

We have had a couple of bad days of rain and thunderstorms but managed to
keep mostly dry (even with a wildcamp last night) and are now resting up
at refugi d’Ull de Ter (on the GR11 motorway!), drinking beer and awaiting
dinner which includes the sausages we just saw them making! The weather
seems to be improving slightly (hopefully).

Good luck to Maria who we met yesterday walking the GR10 but who couldn’t
come with us cos she had no tent and we needed a couple of wildcamps.
Might see you in Banyuls!

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Greetings from Andorra! This place is just one huge ski resort – so much
for the mountain wilderness! We have finished stage 4 and so only have 9
days left down to the coast

The last update should have been “day 28″ although we did walk into day 29
that afternoon and finished it by 11 the following morning and so walked
the whole of day 30 (8pm finish ) mostly to coincide nights with bars.

We are currently in El Pas de la Casa on wifi since 3G is 7.50gbp/MB
outside the EU and doesn’t seem to exist anywhere round here anyway. This
place is a bit mad and the beer is slightly cheaper than the average
mountain refuge I can’t work out whether to greet people in French,
Spanish or Catalan, although in this crazy town most of the natives seem
to speak French.

We are assessing options for the next bit of the route since we are
supposed to go over Pic Carlit (2921m), the highest pic in the eastern
Pyrenees, but are advised against it in bad weather, which is looking
likely. We have been out high in a few too many electrical storms already!

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Done first 3 days of 4th section and it is indeed a mountain wilderness
with no paths or way markings and a really struggle to navigate through.
It’s also the kind of terrain that mis-navigating becomes a bit of a
problem when you miss the col which is the only way down off a very craggy
ridge! Made it out to Tavascan last night to stock up on treats and have 5
days left of this section to Pas de la Casa (ask Google why we are
choosing to detour via there and spend an extra night in Andorra!)