George & Mostyn - Walking the GR10

Thursday, 12th June 2008

George:I didn't sleep well at all, partly due to the pain from my ribs. We had breakfast at the gîte then started out. The humidity was very high again but at least it didn't rain. We walked up through the old town but found the waymarking for the GR10 very poor. We took a wrong turning which took us up to the citadel and had to retrace our steps. We reached Caro and once again took a wrong turning due to the poor signage. We ended up several kilometres off our route in Aincille. We eventually reached Esterençuby by road which meant that we had spent the whole morning road walking.

We had a beer and a sandwich at Esterençuby. Shortly before we left, another English couple arrived at the inn. We chatted and compared notes and experiences. We were to meet John and Glenys several time over the next few days.

We walked on up the lane to Phagalcette in fine weather with good views and sunshine. The Kaskoleta gîte is very nice and has lovely views over the surrounding hills. We saw lots of vultures including my first ever sighting of an Egyptian Vulture. John and Glenys were staying at the same gîte and arrived shortly after us. We had a good meal and I wrote this diary entry sitting out on the terrace in the evening light.

Mostyn:After breakfast the weather looked promising, so I rang ahead to book the Kaskoleta Gite d'Etape, which is about 5k outside Esterencuby. It was very humid when we started walking and in no time at all we were both soaked in perspiration. We lost our way twice, the first time only slightly, but the second time we had a detour of about 4 km, which meant that we didn't go over Col d'Handiague, but kept to the road.

On arrival at Esterencuby we had a beer and a sandwich and met John and Glenys, fellow walkers who were doing a few stages of the GR10. John was from Blackwood, which is very near to my home town of Pontypool - quite a coincidence. As they were travelling in the same direction as us and staying at the same gite, they joined us on the 5 km steep and difficult climb to our accommodation.

The gite was in an idyllic remote setting. The sun for the first time since we had arrived in the region, which meant that drying our kit was easy. Dinner was very good and wholesome and set us up for the next day. The Czech Republic had beaten Germany at football and this pleased the French walker and the Gite owner.

The highlight of the day was seeing dozens of Griffon Vultures and an Egyptian Vulture. The weather forecast for the next few days seems mixed. We went to bed at 9 pm.