It was another good night and it makes a huge difference. There is a lady at the reception who speaks decent English. She tells me that if I’m going down to the valley, the weather won’t be too bad. Be wise and guess what that means – not too bad. To start with, it’s raining, but very lightly in comparison to last night. It must have been shortly after I arrived yesterday afternoon when the heavens opened. There was a group older French walkers who stayed in Bachimaña the night before, but they came a different way and much later than me. They were absolutely soaked. Well, I definitely count my blessings!

When I was no more than a half-way down to Pont d’Espagne, the sun came out and I took off all my waterproofs. All the way through this valley is wide and gentle. When you walk up, there is nothing to prepare you for Mordor on du Marcadau, but to be fair, it was equally shocking walking from the Spanish side.

When I pass Refuge du Clot, I see the signposts for chair lift to Gaube Lake. Even before I saw it, I was considering changing the plan and walking up Valley de Gaube. When I was in the Pyrenees seven years ago, I was walking down this valley in the rain like yesterday, so I didn’t see much. When I saw that for €13, I could cut the most boring part of the valley, I didn’t think twice. I made peace with taking a taxi, so I can jump on a chair lift, too. That wouldn’t be unthinkable anyway. I looked at the map and was hoping that maybe I could get to the Refuge de Gaube (I had a really good impression of that place) and then walk over to the Valley de Lutour that would take me straight to Cauterets. I felt so good. I was carrying all the gear, but I was running like I used to when I was sixteen. I had to put suncream on, but the temperature was just perfect to warm me up before winter. Spanish and French maps are not timed and the signposts on the French side notoriously underestimate the distances, to the point that people brutally correct those timings. Even running, I didn’t have a chance to make it to Cauterets in time for the last bus. Valley de Gaube lies between two beautiful mountain ridges and takes you along a gorgeous stream and waterfalls, so technically it is a valley, but it’s not flat at all. It climbs constantly and is pretty steep at times. Vignemale in front of me looks very tempting. I could possibly cancel my meeting with Agnes tonight, but it would be madness and I’ve got a feeling that I’m just getting to the end of good weather. That’s fine. I don’t think that it’s my last trip to the Pyrenees.

I remember from my previous visit that it’s an hour walk down from Pont d’Espagne to Cauterets, so I walked up till 3 o’clock leaving myself a couple of hours to get back down to Pont d’Espagne and then an hour to the bus. I bump into Synna and Kristin on the way down and I speed up. On the last section before Pond d’Espagne I have a quick chat with a couple who lets me pass as she seems to be injured. I’m not sure, but I think that they are Irish. They offered me a lift to Argeles which is about 15 km before Lourdes. I thank them and carry on simply thinking that I would still need to get to Lourdes. However, I didn’t think straight… A few minutes later Filip phoned. As we chatted, I asked him what time it was – I was just passing that sign saying that Caurterets -1h. I had exactly an hour to catch the bus. One thing that I didn’t remember from my previous visit was that then I had plenty of time before the bus, so I stopped on the way to take photos and didn’t even look at the time. Did I say that earlier that French signposts underestimate distances? I was literally running almost for an hour, but it was no more than two thirds of the way. I knew I wasn’t going to make it and I was wondering how I would get a lift to Lourdes. Then there was a young couple in front of me. She really struggled with walking and I was going to offer her one of my trekking poles. They didn’t look prepared at all and she was terrified, but there was little encouragement or help that I could offer as they didn’t speak English at all. Through Google translate I managed to ask them where they were going from Caurterets and agreed to take me to Lourdes. After that run, this is a very slow walk, but I’m not in a hurry now. I follow them keeping some distance, so they don’t feel rushed. The half an hour in the car is a bit awkward, but take me directly to the hotel. They refused to take any money from me. God bless them abundantly!

On the mountain the Lord will provide