UKC

Sometimes things don't go as planned.

https://howlingmist.blogspot.com/2024/07/a-return-to-pyrenees-june-2024.htm...

Thanks for the link, and great to read about your trip.  I think you achieved a lot, and in retrospect I bet you feel you did well.  I too have been ill, staying in the Gaube hut.  In future I will carry my tent and also stay in unmanned huts like the Russell etc.  Are you concerned about bears in the Pyrenees?  It's been many years since I've been to Lescun and Cauterets.  I'd love to go back there, but I don't want to be worried about bears.  I've been solo in Winter a couple of times, and I'd be looking at February/March in the next few years.  

It's a beautiful area, thanks for the link.

I loved walking through the breche de roland and into the wilderness and tranquility above the Odessa Gorge. We did that as part of a circuit from Valle de Pineta.

I would like to go back to that area but head further west towards vignemal and beyond.

Hey Jamie. Thanks for the kind words. Overall I am happy with the trip. As for bears they really don't worry me. I think they are pretty timid creatures and tend to stay well away from humans. Still I suppose it is possible to run into one in quieter times and areas. To be honest I'd be more concerned about boars. They are much more common and a big male is a fairly ferocious beastie. Last year while walking through the woods in the Basque country I heard deep growling below and not too far from me. Whatever it was stayed with me for perhaps a hundred metres. I never saw what it was but lets just say I was very happy to keep it that way. I have travelled in the Pyrenees in the off season and everything tends to close down. You would need to carry for or five days food in those times. You would also have serious snow in February or March.

Nice writeup!

It's a fantastic area. I'm always surprised that the Pyrenees don't seem to be more popular with Brits, given that they seem like a very natural step up from UK hillwalking and scrambling.

We've done a few trips to the Pyrenees now and never thought of bears as a big issue - my understanding is that they generally avoid humans like the plague, so the only serious risk is if you accidentally get close up to one before it notices you and catch it by surprise. Apparently local children are taught that it's important to be polite to bears and to say "good day Mr Bear" loudly and clearly as they see them, the idea being that a cheery greeting actually gives the bear a warning that people are coming so they have time to scarper.

Thank you. That brought back some lovely memories of trips to the western Pyrenees with a friend in the late 1990s and early noughties. What a beautiful mountain range.

"Friendly guardian at r. Wallon" ?

That must have been a bigger reconstruction than I thought

I was there before the new 2019 hut, and they didn't strike me as particularly friendly at all – I guess possibly due to having to deal with way more people than other refuges higher up, I'd be grumpy as well.

did they keep the nice donkey they had? Used to hang around the bistro staff door begging for sugar...

As for bears, I'd be more afraid of the sheep. Got my bivvy nearly eaten by those cute fluffy buggers on the Grande Fache col when I was away a bit to take some pictures

Anyway, thanks for bringing up some nice memories.

Why do you think they need such massive dogs to keep them in line?

There are enough bears now in the Pyrenees that people very occasionally see them. Here's a typical encounter (not mine):

youtube.com/watch?v=iMAh2NzPZFE&

Things to worry about depending on where you are and time of year for me are, 1. Lightning, 2. Hunters, 3. Patous, 4. Boars in the forest, 5. Bores in huts, 6. Stepping on a viper, 7. Bears. They mostly tend to stick to thick forest and are very timid so your chances of meeting one is extremely low. I have however over the past 5 or so years encountered people carrying pepper spray, make of that what you will.