... well, nearly! The weather today has been overcast and cooler, although still very humid. A stretch of the legs was in order. So we retraced the steps that we had taken on the skis from the Granges de Lasserre along a rough track up in the direction of Port d'Aula. We made much faster albeit much sweatier progress on foot than we did on skis and quickly reached the Col de Pause. The clouds swirled in and swirled out. Would the weather hold? We reached the Etang d'Areau...
...and heard the ominous rumble of thunder ahead of us over the higher hills. Hmm. After a quick butty break, we pressed on and reached a high point of around 2000m (a distance of just under 9kms from our starting point and 800m of ascent) which afforded great views of the peaks just along the chain from Mont Valier.
But the storm was just about on top of us, so we took the prudent decision not to press on for Port d'Aula (another 3-4kms and 200m of ascent) and instead turned tail and began the run back down. We followed the GR as much as possible which involved sections lower down through long, wet seeded grass which coated my legs with seeds. When we arrived back at the car my legs were showing signs of a severe allergic reaction to the grass seeds, erupting in a red itchy and very unsightly rash.
A visit to the pharmacy in Seix provided me with some strong antihistamines. Those, combined with a warm shower followed by a hydrocortisone cream application soon calmed my legs down. But it's something to watch out for and be aware of for future outings!
...and heard the ominous rumble of thunder ahead of us over the higher hills. Hmm. After a quick butty break, we pressed on and reached a high point of around 2000m (a distance of just under 9kms from our starting point and 800m of ascent) which afforded great views of the peaks just along the chain from Mont Valier. 
But the storm was just about on top of us, so we took the prudent decision not to press on for Port d'Aula (another 3-4kms and 200m of ascent) and instead turned tail and began the run back down. We followed the GR as much as possible which involved sections lower down through long, wet seeded grass which coated my legs with seeds. When we arrived back at the car my legs were showing signs of a severe allergic reaction to the grass seeds, erupting in a red itchy and very unsightly rash. 
A visit to the pharmacy in Seix provided me with some strong antihistamines. Those, combined with a warm shower followed by a hydrocortisone cream application soon calmed my legs down. But it's something to watch out for and be aware of for future outings!
No comments:
Post a Comment