Département des Hautes-Pyrénées

Chapter Two: Unspeakable beauty.
Finally we reached the hotel and the point where we could go no further, but the view opened up in all its glory. Still 2km away from the waterfall base but because of its size it seemed so close. The snow capped mountains rose high above feeding the waterfall higher than we could actually see. The upper ridge forms the Spanish-French border.
Darren took lots of pictures but honestly they just don’t capture the reality of this place. You have to be there to get a real perspective of the size, and even then it’s hard to take it all in. We stayed there for a couple of hours just looking at the natural wonders all around us.
Darren decided to phone home to show them how awesome it all is but nobody was answering. Then I reminded him that it was still early on a Sunday morning and nobody was going to be impressed with him calling them at this time!! He wasn’t going to give up though because he really wanted to share this moment with everyone. He was manically high on the whole experience. But he waited a little while before trying again. After speaking to a few bleary eyed people and sharing this magical place with them it started to get busier with tourists arriving and it was starting to get quite hot too which was strange because we were so close to the snow up here. We reluctantly agreed that it was time to leave, get down to somewhere Bliss could cool off in the water. We walked a short way down to a little side path that led to a fast running stream and a grassy rock covered bank where we had the picnic I had prepared the night before. Surrounded by the most beautiful scenery imaginable. With a bit of energy giving food in our bellies and Bliss cooled off in the stream we continued our way back down the mountain. There were lots of people on their way up so we were pleased that we had made the decision to go early in the morning before everyone else. I felt sorry for them as it was hot going down so going up in the heat would have been an unpleasant experience. We found a path on the other side of the river via a wooden bridge that took us away from the crowds of people on their way up and took it. It was a bit more difficult going but less busy. We were almost back to the area where the shops were when we saw two people walking along with backpacks and as we drew closer we realised that they each had a cat inside them! The cat’s didn’t look like they were having much fun to be honest. I’m sure they were lovely people who loved their cats but...really!!
We reached Ivy, tired, sore feet, hot and sweaty but so happy to have had the opportunity to see such a wonderful place together. We decided we would stay here the night and leave in the morning. Bliss had her dinner and took her place underneath Ivy in the shade. We didn’t hear a thing from her until we brought her in at bedtime. One tired happy husky. 😴
If ever you get the chance to come here, don’t hesitate for a moment!Meer informatie