Newsletter Part 2

...and after a couple stressful but in the end successful weeks searching, Marina and I returned to southern France in July/August to finish off our hike through the Pyrenees!

The first time around we were joined by our parents for the first leg, this time by our friend Amanda! What a treat. With a little bit of luck we were able to hitch a ride in to the last little village in the foot mountains where Marina and I ended our first hike two years ago. We'd be picking up just where we left off.

While the starting point was the same, the weather conditions were drastically different. Our first hike spoiled us with mildly warm, sunny yet shady days. This trip spat hot, cold, wet and dry at us like a sick body that can't regulate its own temperature. We had to struggle with extreme heat on stretchs with no shade or water, freezing cold nights and torrential storms that forced five additional rest days we had not planned for. All the same, we arrived in Hendaye on the Atlantic coast in good time and were received by Marina's brother Tobi and our friend Anja for a pleasant week at sea-level.

Yes, there is traffic in the mountains.

This was a lonngg hiking day. And then an even longer one because we sucked at reading maps or something and missed like five cabins we were hoping to find.

But we found a big tent! And set up our tent in it. It was a warm night.

Wild strawberries!

The great ascent.

A very deep, very clear lake.

Fishin' us some dinner. But not really. Those fish were way too smart for me.

Me at work in my professional field, trying to reconstruct the skeleton of a cow.

Our tent on the front lawn of a very kind half-retired micro-biology professor who let us chill at his place and lavishly fed us upon hearing that it was Amanda's birthday.

Soon thereafter Amanda went on her way and we continued on zu zweit. Ciao Amanda, thanks for the great hike!

We went on to enter a rockier landscape.

A very, very cold late afternoon. And stormy! We arrived at this hut after running through thunder and lightening and were so thrilled to be in safety. We got to bed around 9 with the storm relentlessly raging about us and were awoken from our half-sleep just before ten to the sound of voices roaring their way through the valley. What IDIOTS! or true adventurers. Scaling a mountain in a dark lightening storm. They did make it. Got everything nice and wet though. hm. I guess I wasn't really all that pleased.

Woodland tent grounds! Pretty, but depressing. This was the one time on our entire hike where we couldn't get a fire going. The defeat! What an awful feeling. Just so damn moist everything.

What can say one(person) the France have angry translation crafts.

At this passage we stayed at the highest refuge in the Pyrenees (2651m) and witnessed a rarity, a double-rainbow during a storm break. That night was one of the wildest storms of our trip (there were several of them). The gentlemen there you see tenting, he didn't make it. Through the night, I mean. The wind ripped his tent apart and he stormed into the refuge at about midnight, wetter than wet with rips and tears in his equipment. He served as comforting proof that it really is worth it to spend a little money for a bed if you can have one and there is a big storm coming.

The next morning began with an ascent to over 3000m...

and then a 2000m+ descent. So painful! Our poor knees.

We took two days rest after that in a very nice town, staying at a hiker commune with a well equipped kitchen that we took advantage of!

A couple days later, things got wet and stayed wet. Fortunately not really our things, we had good rain-gear, but just... the world. Those kind of things.

We were once again forced to spend an extra day in this town when a storm caused for river flooding higher than the inhabitants had ever seen. The most impressive part was the thunderous rumble caused by boulders being carried down the mountain and clashing against the rock of the river-bed.

The next pictures aren't idyllic. In fact, there are somewhat morbid.

This is a dead sheep and a dead cow. They are not the main attraction. Well, they are. But not for me. My main attraction was much more elusive and difficult to catch on camera. Where is it... where is it... ah! there!

Vultures. Very large, heavy birds that eat carcass. We saw them almost everywhere on this hike. We saw them circling in the sky and devouring big animals. They go for the easy gets first, open cavities. That's why that cow has no eyes, mouth, throat or udders anymore. But they hadn't yet broken through his skin. We heard a story of a hiking couple a few years back. The wife died in the mountains, the man went back to get help to carry her body back and returned two hours later to find merely her bones.

We watched as the vultures waited with what seemed to be very organized patience and hierarchy for their turn to feast. They sat in groups of 10-15 on this tree and feasted on a sheep about 15m away. One bird would fly away from the carcass, perch on the tree, and a different bird would fly to the food. It was a peaceful ritual among the birds.

To lighten the mood again, let's take another look at a translated sign in the kitchen of a hiker commune:

Now please continue reading my blog(post) by reading.

Ahoi! Ocean ahead! We thought we were closer than we were at this point, we still needed two days to get to the water, though we were moving at a vivacious tempo. Beach beach beach beach...

Beach!!

After 35 days of hiking, 42 days after departing, we arrived in Hendaye! And we saw that the beach was good. And also very touristy and expensive but what the hell we had a ball.

Our tent spot.

Stomach race with Anja and Tobi.

Out at the rocks at low-tide.

And after a week of sun-bathing, boogie-boarding, getting rained on sometimes and wishing it were warmer, eating paninis on the beach, day-trips to Spain, good baguettes and olives, catching shrimp, struggling to decide whether is was fun or not to swim in big waves and riding in boat ferries, Marina and I headed back home to get ready for new things come September.