Day 14 - Training in the Pyrénées

Everyone who knows me will know that I can be very squeamish at the best of times. Trying to clean my teeth whilst listening to someone having a poo is definitely one of those times. It happened not once, but twice to me this morning.

The 1st time I came out of the shower just after someone had entered a cubicle. As soon as I started cleaning my teeth I heard noises that I didn’t need to hear, immediately I started retching to the point of throwing up. I abandoned my teeth cleaning and ran back to our tent.

When the coast was clear and my queasiness had calmed I returned to the shower block and started cleaning my teeth again. No sooner than I had started, someone entered a cubicle and I could hear him lower his bottoms. Before I heard any disturbing noises I made my excuses and hastily exited.

A 3rd retching incident nearly occurred when Jackie informed me that she had picked up and tossed away a fat slug that had slivered it’s way into our washing up bowl with all my freshly washed crockery and cutlery.

As we were getting ready, Jackie checked her emails and informed me she had an email from Camping De La Dune Bleue on the coast just west of Bordeaux that we had tried to book the previous evening informing us that they were fully booked for the dates we wanted. This was a major disappointment, especially as it was the last allegedly available campsite anywhere along the French southwest coastline. We agreed that it was probably a sign and it wasn’t meant to be.

At 8.32am, we departed the campsite heading for Le Petit Train D’Artouste.

On our drive we made the big decision to look at Brittany as an alternative location for the remainder of our trip. I’ll have to change the title of this trip!

During this journey we also discussed which restaurant we thought had been booked and then came to the realisation that we weren’t actually sure whether Clara had made us a reservation for lunchtime or for the evening. I hate getting old!

We arrived in Laruns an hour later and established that Artouste was several hairpin miles further south through a deep gorge to the Col du Pourtalet.

At 10.15am we parked up, bought a couple of expensive and very hot coffees then proceeded to the cable car station for a ten minute ride up to Le Petit Train d’Artouste station.

We ascended in the cable car into thick cloud. It looked like we were going to have another atmospheric day.

At 11am we boarded the Petit Train d’Artouste which is the highest railway in Europe which initially took us through a very tight tunnel.

The train ride took 55 minutes as it covered its 10 km at an altitude of 2,000 m, on the side of a mountain on a truly astonishing excursion! The route takes in the breathtaking scenery along the Soussoueou valley, rich in flora and fauna.

Our destination was the very scenic Lac d’Artouste surrounded by mountains. It was a 25 minute quite gruelling uphill hike to the lake that was now bathed in sunshine.

We found a suitable scenic spot on some rocks and had a picnic of Cheesy Wotsits and biscuits. I took hundreds of photos so I won’t attempt to describe it any more.

An hour and 20 minutes later we boarded the train for the return journey. The sun was out and the roof of the train had been rolled up to maximise the views.

55 minutes and hundreds more photos and videos later we arrived back at the starting station. It looked like a complete different place, because now the clouds had lifted to reveal a crescent of mountains dwarfing us and the marine blue Lac de Fabrèges, where our car was parked.

We took a gentle scenic drive back the way we had come back down through the gorge to Laruns and on to Oloron-Saint-Marie, where we stopped at a Carrefours Market to buy ingredients for our evening meal. It was pretty awful, so we moved on to their big beautiful E.Leclerc supermarket. We bought 4 Toulouse sausages and 4 herb chipolatas from the in-store charcuterie. They were 50% more expensive than buying them in a packs from the chilled meat section!!

After returning to camp, I was given the embarrassing task of asking Clara at which restaurant she had made a booking for us AND when. It didn’t get off to a great start when she told me she had booked the restaurant in Laas until I reminded her that it was closed until Thursday. We finally agreed that she had booked us into Auberge Clavarie for midday on Tuesday. As I had said all along!

Back in camp and feeling vindicated, we commenced the research process for nice campsites in coastal locations in Brittany. A couple of hours and several wines later, we attempted to book 11 nights in a campsite south of Quimper in Brittany.

The request was submitted and Jackie made a delightful meal of sausages, mash, fried onions, peas and carrots. It was very good and due to Jackie’s non-existent appetite, we still have 3 Toulouse sausages to snack on in the next day or two.

After dinner Jackie checked her emails. It was good news and bad news. The Brittany campsite had confirmed our booking. Brilliant! Jackie also received an email from Camping De La Dune Bleue just west of Bordeaux to tell us that had also confirmed our booking request with them and taken a deposit of €99. Not so Brilliant!!

We are now booked into two campsites at the same time! At least Jackie can’t moan about my snoring if we are several hundred miles apart!!

The bottom-line is that Jackie didn’t read her emails correctly this morning, The fully booked email she thought she had received had come from a completely different campsite near Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

It had been a long day and when I accidentally posted my blog I knew it was time for bed.

Song of the Day - The Day We Caught The Train by Ocean Colour Scene.Baca lagi