Travel from Torla, Spain to Cauterets, France

Monday, August 12th:  Yesterday, we left Torla in the Spanish Pyrenees and traveled to Cauterets in the French Pyrenees.  Interestingly, the two towns are only about 18 miles apart, but there is a large wall of rock separating them.  Since we had a late check-in at our apartment in Cauterets, we drove up to the northern most point from Torla, in the Valle de Bujaruelo.  We parked at the campground and refuge of Bujaruelo and walked around along the river (Rio Ara).  It was Sunday and there were hordes of families, though many in the campground were packing up to leave.

The parking lot, camp ground and refuge at the end of the road.

Refuge Bujaruelo -  later in the morning the tables were full of people.

A stone bridge over the River Ara

Jan on the stone bridge.

Three hours to France on the GR 10.

The water is cold! And so clear!

The River Ara and two 8,000+ mountains behind.

We said goodbye to Leslie and Dennis who had a couple more days in Torla and then head off to other parts of Spain.  Our party of four (Jan, Ron, Betsy and I) drove south back to Torla, then up out of its valley, turned west, then north and went over a pass (Col du Pourtaiet) at the Spanish/French border. where the landscape opened up.  On the Spanish side, there were large ski slopes and resorts.  On the French side, there were a couple more ski areas, alongside green pastures filled with free-range sheep and cows (with cow bells on the sheep) and a few horses.  We also saw a hilltop with several Griffon vultures.  It looked like a conservation project since we later learned that vultures were nearly extinct in the recent past. 

The Spanish side (ski slopes).

Ditto.

Looking toward France.

The French side.

Griffon Vultures.

Cattle and horses.

We descended (steeply) driving north along a rushing river to the village of Arudy, then turned east to the big city of Lourdes, and finally turned south (toward the border again) arriving into Cauterets, France a little after 4 pm and 115 kilometers.  The host welcomed us to their home and offered a good local dark beer as refreshment, and showed us the house.  We are the only guests at Le Clot de la Hount B&B and the facilities are very modern.

The town of Cauterets, elevation 3,030 feet; view from our room the next day.

Today, after a very nice breakfast of ham, cheese, soft boiled eggs, fresh fruit, cereal, toast, croissants, peach juice and coffee (with warm milk), we drove about 8 miles up the valley to the end of the road to  a parking lot at the edge of a National Park.  The parking lot was enormous and probably filled by midday.  We started hiking on the GR 10 uphill about 1,000 feet of elevation to Lac de Gaube.  

We hiked to the far end of the lake and up to the base of a waterfall.  Jan and Ron went further up seeing a couple more waterfalls.  We hiked down along an access road to the top of a chair lift (carrying many people and even dogs up and down the mountain), then down the ski run to the bottom, passing a spectacular waterfall at the Pont d'Espagne.  We then returned to town.  Betsy and I hiked 6 miles and 1,100 feet of elevation gain/loss.  Jan and Ron did 3 more miles or so.  The weather was a little threatening, so we didn't want to linger.

The Park parking lot - cars as far as one can see.

A map of the "loop" walk - up the red dashed line on the left, back down on the yellow/red line and the wavy ski run in the middle.  No gondola or chair lift ride down for us.

Betsy climbing the rocky trail up. She is in the only gap between clumps of other hikers - the trail was extremely busy.

An example of some peculiar rock.

The outlet of the lake.

Panorama of the lake including the Hostellerie du Lac de Gaube and a few of the people who made the journey with us.  I estimate a couple thousand people made it to this point.

Further up the valley with a major waterfall in the middle and snow fields higher up.

The far end of the lake - great picnic sight and a few people were brave enough to swim.

Nearly to our turn-around point.

The first waterfall above the lake.  There was a thunderstorm the previous evening, so the rivers were gushing.

 

Not an easy photo to see the hordes of people.

Looking down the valley -- we are above the clouds.

The Pont d'Espagne waterfall.

We rested a bit and went to dinner at Pintxoak, a funky little place with good food but low tech.  The patron handwrote the dining orders and did not accept credit cards.  Fortunately we had enough cash to cover the bill.