 |
| MAPS, ROUTE PLAN & GUIDEBOOK |
The past few months have been busy what with guiding guests on walking holidays for HF Holidays in Snowdonia, Eire and the Lake District, then walking Hadrian's Wall with Rubi, after which we took a slow drive back home, visiting interesting places and old friends on the way.
Fortunately, I did most of my planning for my return to the Pyrenees at the beginning of the year, so it was just a matter of sorting out a few refinements and pre-departure details before I fly to Toulouse this coming Sunday. From there, I will use trains and buses to get to get myself back to Lac d'Artouste where, in 2014, I temporarily abandoned my traverse of the Pyrenees due to snow conditions. Now, four years on and two months later in the season, I hope to be able to complete the missing section of my walk from here to l'Hospitalet-pres-l'Andorre.
The walk plan is essentially as described in Ton Joosten's book 'Pyrenean Haute Route', but I have researched some lower-level alternative routes just in case weather or snow conditions are poor. For the same reasons, and also to avoid putting myself under undue time pressure, I have given myself lots of rest days. If I end up completing the route early then I'm sure I will find something interesting to do until my homeward flight is due.
Equipment wise, it will be much as before except that I will leave out the ice axe and crampons this time, and trim weight further wherever I can. Less weight = less pain = more enjoyment.
So, there it is. Wish me good luck and I will report on my adventures through this blog whenever I have electrical power and can get WiFi or a 4G signal.