SUMMARY & STATISTICS

ALONGSIDE THE LACS D'ARRIËL NEAR ARRÉMOULIT

You can never be sure how an adventure, however carefully planned, is going to work out. What I had intended to do in 2014 didn't happen because of snow conditions, so I completed only about half the route at that time. However, I did learn a few things, and my return to the Pyrenees this year to hike the other half went much more smoothly.

Apart from the places I visited on the walking route itself, on both occasions I was also given the opportunity to explore many other parts of southern France - Pau, Lourdes, Cauterets, Luchon, Carcassonne, Foix, Toulouse and the many small towns on the Mediterranean coast. And then there was Spain - Santander, Donostia/San Sebastian and of course Barcelona.

My walking route between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean generally followed that prescribed by Ton Joosten's book, but there were many deviations from it, several of which Mr Joosten himself suggested as alternatives. The HRP is really a concept rather than a precise path anyway, so the fact that I made good use of the GR10 and GR11 routes, and also made a few ad-hoc modifications of my own, is entirely in keeping with Mr Joosten's intentions.

I don't know precisely how long my walking route was, but it would be about 800km or 500miles. In 2014 I spent 22 days walking it, and then another 21 days in 2018, so 43 days in total. Thus, I did an average of around 12 miles a day, which isn't bad considering the terrain and the weight of my rucksack.

I have ignored the short (10km) taxi ride between the Refugio de Belagua and Pierre-St-Martin which enabled me and my three Spanish friends to escape the thunderstorm on the border ridge. Equally, I have ignored the extra walking days I did between Cauterets and Gavarnie, Luchon and Superbagneres, Hospice de France and the Refuge de Venasque, and the Andorran foray from Hospitalet to Juclar and back.

After my John o'Groats to Land's End hike in 2009, the Pyrenean trek seemed like an appropriate step up in the level of  challenge. It was certainly tough and demanded a lot of resolve to complete. How does it compare to other challenging treks? Well, they say that the Corsican GR20 is the toughest long distance trail in Europe, but having now done both, I can assure readers that the HRP is much tougher because of the terrain, the amount of ascent and descent required, potential routefinding difficulties, the duration, accommodation opportunities and the resupply difficulties.

Do I have any other walking challenges in mind? Not really, but you never know......

TOULOUSE LA TREK

MY HOSTEL

PONT NEUF

VIKING ENGINE AT CITE DE L'ESPACE

SOYUZ CAPSULE

MIR SPACE STATION

SOYUZ SPACECRAFT WITH ARIANE 5 LAUNCHER IN BACKGROUND

DONJON DU CAPITALE

CAPITOLE

AVENUE NEAR THE GARONNE

TOULOUSE CITY CENTRE

I was pleased that I had some spare days left over from my Pyrenean trek because it would give me time to get to know Toulouse a little better. Capital of the Occitanie region and with a population of over 450,000, it is also known as The Pink City (Le Ville Rose) because of the terra-cotta bricks used in many of its buildings.

So, it is the morning of Wednesday 26th of September and it took only an hour and ten minutes for the train to take me from Foix to Toulouse's Matabiau station, the same place from which I had departed for Pau. The cheapest place to stay was La Petite Auberge de Saint-Sernin, at only €47 for two nights. It is located close to the University, so there are plenty of young people about.

Toulouse is, of course, a big city and very cosmopolitan. I took a walk down to the River Garonne and found an exhibition of photographic art called 'ManiFesto' by the Pont St-Pierre. I then followed the river bank down to the famous Pont Neuf which was completed in 1632 following 88 years in construction, and has survived the many floods that Toulouse has experienced, the most recent in 2004.

Naturally I did a bit of shopping and hanging about in squares like Place du Capital. There is more than enough here to keep me amused until it's time to go home.

On Thursday I spent the whole day at Cité de l'espace, which is an exhibition of space, space flight, satellites and all sorts of related things. It is located in the eastern suburbs of Toulouse and it took me over an hour to walk there. They had full size models of an Ariane 5 launcher and a Mir Space Station. I even got to sit in a genuine Soyuz space capsule. There was so much to see that I struggled to get around everything before kicking out time at 5.00pm.

On the walk back I popped into the Cathédrale Saint-Étienne, where the organ was being played. The design of the cathedral is a bit unusual because it is the result of two separate churches being grafted together.

On Friday I had to vacate my dormitory bed in the hostel, but they were happy to let me keep my rucksack there while I spent the day mosying about town.

First, I walked to Place du Capitole to look around the markets. There was also some kind of exhibition there for senior citizens, but of course security wouldn't let me in because I looked too young (not). Next, EDF (the French electricity company) have a hydroelectric generating plant called EDF Bazacle on the Garonne, which also serves as an information centre on hydro power and an art gallery, so I went to take a look at that. It was well worth the hour I spent there.

After that it was time for a late lunch, and a bit more aimless wandering. All too soon it was time to collect my rucksack from the Hostel and catch the bus to the airport. Once there, I made the short walk to the Ibis Styles Hotel where I had stayed when I first landed in Toulouse, and reclaimed the holdall that they had been keeping for me. It was good to have some fresh clothes to wear.

Saturday's flight wasn't until the afternoon so I took a walk to the nearby Blagnac shopping complex in the morning. The LeClerc Hypermarket must be the biggest shop I've ever seen. The wine, beers and spirits section alone was bigger than many supermarkets.

By 2.30pm I was in the airport for my 5.15pm easyJet flight back to Gatwick, although it didn't actually leave until 6.40pm in the end. However, the flight was short, as was the train journey to Portsmouth. I was happy to see Rubi waiting for me at the railway station. The adventure had been fun, but it was great to be home again.