George & Mostyn - Walking the GR10

Saturday, 21st June 2008

Mostyn:Borce had a strange clock, which chimed every hour and half hour. Then again 4 minutes afterwards. This went on all through the night. We were up by 6.00 am and on the road by 7.00 am. We walked down into Estaut and then up the road towards the Fort du Portalet on the side of the gorge. Just after the fort we took the Chemin de la Mature, which means the way of the masts. This 1 km track was cut into the side of the gorge by convicts to transport logs down from the high forest. The surface is well worn and partly washed away.

After the Chemin we entered a wooded area, which climbed steadily and where we could hear bells. Soon cattle came into sight on the same path as us. We stepped aside to let them pass through. A young man led the way, followed by about 20 cows, then another man, followed by 10 more cows. There was then a short gap of about 100 m before 30 more cows appeared, followed by a complete family of all ages, possible from 9 - 60 years. This was the Transhumance.

We eventually reached the Col de Ayous at 2185m, from which there was a fabulous view of all the snow capped mountains. After a long stop we descended through the snow at first and then on down past the lakes and the Refuge d'Ayous, which was closed. There were quite a lot of people around the lake and on the route down to the Lac de Bious-Artigues. There was a car park and a bar at the lake, so we bought a couple of Cokes before setting off down the steep 4 km of tarmac road to Gabas. The CAF Refuge was on the outskirts of Gabas and very easy to find. Although it had been a very long day it was very enjoyable. As it was the weekend the Refuge was almost full.