Getting high

A wonderfully stable high pressure system has brought us fantastic autumn weather for the past few days, with more to come through until mid week.... clear blue skies, chill, crisp mornings but warm sun during the day. Perfect! We have made an effort to get up high and enjoy running and walking in the mountains before the snows which are forecast for the coming weekend arrive.

Today, we had a fantastic outing up to the Etang d'Ayers from the Col de la Core, then on and up  and over to the Col de Laziès. It was a somewhat 'undulating', there and back route with steep ascents/descents and a distinct lack of snow below 2200m.

The environment and scenery were, of course, truely stunning. Below, our starting point, the Col de la Core, already way in the distance, taken from the Col d'Auèdole...

...on up to the Etang d'Ayers (the Col d'Auedole is in the distance - top left corner of the photo)...

... up the steep GR10 to the top and a spot of lunch with a fantastic vista in front of us;

...looking to the right to the tiny Etang de l'Estagnat...

... and straight ahead to the Tuc de Lazies and Tuc de Baumagne and the Col de Lazies to the left that we were aiming for...

From the Col, Mont Valier revealed itself. There is a covering of snow up there, but very little for this time of year;

From there, we retraced our steps and arrived back after 3h 30m on our feet - 13.5kms/1000m+ covered and the legs were feeling great! What a cracking outing!

Back-tracking somewhat, we had a couple of days away in Sadie further west along the chain at the end of last week and enjoyed another great outing up in the mountains, this time above Luchon. From the Hospice de France at 1400m we headed up the Vallée de la Frèche to the Etangs de la Frèche at 2100m where we just touched the snow line. It was another steep ascent but well worth the effort as we didn't see another sole while we were out! The view up the valley from the Hospice de France (excuse the quality of the images but they were taken with my smartphone, as my camera battery had died!)....

... looking back down the valley from just below the Etangs at 2000m...

... looking back down to the little tarn from the Etang de la Freche...

... Pic de la Freche and Pic de la Mine up behind, to give an idea of the snow level...

We were delighted to see a herd of around a dozen Isards (Pyrenean Chamois) up there which the dog got the scent of before we saw them. No photo unfortunately as my smartphone camera zoom isn't strong enough! Back at the van, Andy spotted a couple of birds of prey up on the ridgeline which he identified with his binoculars as juvenile golden eagles - a great spot! So another 9kms/900m_ in the bag in a simply stunning location.

Backtracking just a little bit more to last Sunday when, again, we got up into the hills, but this time for what turned out to be a rather more challenging outing. We dropped a car off down the road below Eycherboul which was to be our finishing point and then headed up in the direction of the Etang de Lhers in the other car, parking at the start of the track up to the Cabane des roses. We ran a fair bit of that track and encountered three beautiful Merens horses at the top....

From there, on up to the Col at 1600m and then onto the GR du Pays du Tour des Trois Seigneurs which started off OK ....

... but soon turned into a meandering, narrow, rocky, tricky path which contoured the hillside below the Pic des Trois Seigneurs. It was slow going as running was impossible. We could see the old pastoral community of Goutets in the green clearing up ahead. We were aiming for that, before heading up onto the far hillside, over the other side and then down the valley....

Goutets is a settlement that dates back to the 18th century - you can find details on this site if you understand French. Many of the barns/stables/houses have been painstakingly restored over the years (since 1994) - I find it a really atmospheric place as I contemplate the lives of those who used to live there.

From there, up and over to the Cabane de Goulur before the long run down to Liers, ahead of us on the valley flank up ahead...

This was the worst bit of the whole outing. The waymarked 'path' took us through approx. 2kms of running water and bog which was downright unpleasant. I was thankful for my Inov8 shoes with their mesh upper which allowed much of the wet to escape! Fortunately, the final section was on a runnable woodland path. All in all, an outing of 18kms with 620m of ascent and over 1000m of descent, much of which was disappointingly unrunnable! Still, it was more time in the hills and more time on my feet, all of which is good training.

During the coming week and before poor weather arrives, we are hoping to get in some time on the bikes, both the roadies and the mountain bikes, which have been sadly neglected recently. Should be fun!