Pyrenees HRP - 2004 - Day 30

 

Sue and Martin's Big Adventure

 

Day 30 - Tuesday 24 August 2004 - Rest Day in Luchon

Postcard Summary 

Luchon – all day

Half term holiday in poor weather
So we luxuriated here for a day and a half – half way across the Pyrenees.  Time to relate our daily routines:

HRP (Haute Randonnée Pyrénéenne) Days

6.45 – Sue’s alarm – ignore.

7.00 – Martin’s alarm – he gets up and puts a brew on.

Muesli for breakfast.

Sort gear, pack tent, leave 8.00 – 8.15.

After about an hour – stop for mountain mix (nuts/fruit)

~ 11.00 – brew stop (½ hour).

~ 13.00 – 13.45 – lunch – baguette and tinned fish and pâté.

~ 16.00 – 18.00 (well, sometimes as late as 19.30) destination reached – usually after ascending and descending around 1000 metres per day.

~ 19.30 – 20.00 – camp meal of soup, pasta, tuna, chorizo sausage, sauce, etc.

~ 21.00 – 21.30 – bed time (it’s dark).

REST DAY

6.45 – Sue’s alarm – ignore.

7.00 – Martin’s alarm – ignore.

8.00 – put brew on and by 9.00 have breakfast of yoghourt + banana + croissant (rest days are near shops).

Morning – wash and dry clothes and bodies so far as possible, between coffee breaks.

13.00 – 14.00 – lunch of baguettes, tomatoes, cheese, pâté, coke/orange.

Afternoon – shopping to re-stock supplies, coffee/beer/postcard writing/reading, etc

Evening – meal at nice restaurant.

22.30 – bedtime

 

 

Diary Entry (by Sue)

After rain during the night, a lie-in until 8.30 was very welcome. Breakfast was a civilised affair - banana, yoghurt and pain au raisin around the table - but in humid, cloudy conditions. (And with Julie's unsteady hand operating the camera - see top picture.)

 

The day was generally spent pottering - postcards, diary, cutting long fingernails (me) having showers. Later in the morning, we walked the High Street again, obtaining gas and socks, then sitting on a terrace for coffee.

 

Another nice lunch, again around the table on the campsite. During the afternoon, a trip to the two supermarkets to restock, plus more film and suntan cream. The low cloud lingers all day, threatening to rain at any time and not helping my socks to dry.

 

 

 

Around 6.30 pm, another trip into Luchon - we have plodded the main street several times now! A beer in a bar with a widescreen TV gives us the chance to see a tantalising glimpse of the Athens Olympics. The coverage is poor - we see the 200 metres sprint heats but a list of competitors is not provided.

 

Dinner is good - salads to start, then duck, then 'Champignon Glacé' ice cream, with Chantilly, a meringue on the top (giving the 'mushroom'), and warm chocolate sauce. Julie and I share some of Martin's as he doesn't feel 100%.

 

Bed about 10:30 p.m.

 

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Backpacking with Markus - A Few More Pictures

Allt an t-Sluic

I took over 100 pictures during my recent few days' backpacking with camera shy Markus. Here are just a few of them, starting on Day 1 - Dalwhinnie to Lubvan - blog entry is here.

 

You should be able to click on a picture to access a slideshow, though unfortunately the captions don't seem to appear there..

Following Markus into the narrow defile leading to Lochan na Doire-uaine

Following Markus to Lochan na Doire-uaine

Lochan na Doire-uaine - looking back to the defile

The path to Lochan na h-Earba

Lochan na h-Earba and Binnein Shuas

Markus's tarptent at Lubvan

Day 1: 32 km, 600 metres ascent, 9 hours

Day 2 - Lubvan to Lubnaclach via Corrour - was also undertaken in fair weather. The blog entry is here.

 

The path beside Allt Cam

Crossing Allt Cam

Strathossian

A good water supply in Strath Ossian

Fly agaric

Loch Ossian

Day 2: 25 km, 490 metres ascent, 8 hours

Day 3 - Lubnaclach to Bridge of Gaur, on a rainy morning. Blog entry here.

 

Early morning at Lubnaclach

Brewing up at Corrour Old Lodge

Looking back up Allt Eigheach

The River Gaur exiting the weir

River Gaur in spate

Day 3: 21 km, 470 metres ascent, 6 hours

Day 4 - Bridge of Gaur to Kinloch Rannoch on the quiet road on the south side of Loch Rannoch. Blog entry here.

 

The view from our room at Bridge of Gaur Guesthouse

With Heather and Eddie

Loch Rannoch

A 'project' beside Loch Rannoch

A completed 'project' beside Loch Rannoch

Loch Rannoch

The well surfaced start of a footpath to Glen Lyon

In Kinloch Rannoch at the end of the 97 km walk with 1810 metres ascent

Pitlochry Station - and the start of a long journey home

Day 4: 19 km, 250 metres ascent, 4 hours

This, That, and the Other

 

Is it really a week since we were enjoying the sound of the Spirit of New Orleans Jazz Band at Eagley Jazz Club?

 

It's a couple of kilometres down Park Road from our house to Timperley Village. The road is lined by a mixture of properties and many mature trees. As I walked down the road one day last week I noticed that one of the very healthy looking trees was being trimmed. At least, that's what I thought I saw. Two days later it was clear that 'trim' was something of an understatement. What a shame... The stump, visible on the far right of the following picture, must be at least two metres in diameter.

 

 

We've had some lovely weather over the past week, and I enjoyed a sunny walk in rural Cheshire on Friday morning, on which I reported here.

 

Meanwhile, walking down the canal towpath to the shops in Sale was an absolute delight.

 

 

Ken and Helen, who live in Ottawa - and who we visit each winter, arrived for a couple of nights. They are seasoned parkrunners, and joined us and 344 others on a delightfully sunny 5 km run on Saturday morning.

 

 

Jenn was Run Director for the day and she managed to conduct the formalities without falling from her pedestal! Well done, Jenn.

 

 

There was cake. Thanks go to those 'milestone' participants who provided it.

 

Coffees in the courtyard were consumed in a very jolly atmosphere, and we were delighted to receive a 'hello' message from our friends at Kanata parkrun near Ottawa - Ken and Helen's home run.

 

Full results are here.

 

 

Another courtyard, that at Tatton Park, was the venue for lunch, where Ken, Helen, Sue and I were joined by Kate, Jacob and Jessica. No group photo I'm afraid.

 

 

Jacob (8), decided to practice being a teenager...

 

 

… there was a 'phone under there somewhere.

 

Everyone else went to look around the gardens. Jacob was glad to discover that we hadn't enough tickets on our National Trust membership for him and me, so the two of us went into the park for a game of frisbee. There were quite a few folk about, so points were scored for 'Random Hits'. I won - 1:0 - scoring with a superb 'bum' hit.

 

Then we went back to the courtyard, playground, etc.

 

 

It's raining now...



Friday 20 September 2019 - Around Lindow Moss and Mobberley Brook

 

This Friday morning walk was based on Jen Darling's 'Around Mobberley Brook' route, adapted for my convenience to start and finish at the Lindow Moss car park opposite the Harvester Boddington Arms on Racecourse Road in Wilmslow (SJ 832 814).

 

Despite the lovely sunshine, I was on my own today, and I walked briskly as our Canadian friends, Ken and Helen, would be arriving in Timperley at lunchtime.

 

The walk started down Newgate Road, before taking a left towards Racecourse Farm at the gate shown above.

 

On the outskirts of Wilmslow there's a network of good bridleways under canopies of mixed woodland. Beyond the farm, Battery Lane is another example of such a bridleway.

 

 

Beyond Lindow, the paths varied from minor roads to deep grass, laden with dew. This next image illustrates something between those two extremes.

 

 

Many crops have now been harvested, leaving fields of neat stubble such as this one near the village named 'Row of Trees'.

 

 

Paths crossing the Alderley Edge by-pass are poorly signposted, but the old stiles/kissing gates are still in place either side of the road, so you just have to make your way to the road and cross it in line with the route of the old footpaths.

 

Having crossed that road, and skirted around Alderley Edge, I came across a huge tomato farm, Field's Farm, of which the following picture shows just a small fraction. I passed a number of mobile homes in which the workers are housed.

 

 

After the walk, I called in to Booths supermarket for some essential supplies and was dismayed to discover that their tomatoes are from the Netherlands. Why, when there are so many within walking distance?

 

There were plenty of reminders that this is 'horse country'. The horses were generally contained within electrically fenced areas, where they had closely cropped the grass, leaving walkers to thrash their way through the long wet grass the other side of the fence.

 

 

Having said that, a lovely path led from Warford Hall Farm to the pristine fairways of Wilmslow Golf Club, where after helping a golfer to locate his ball in the rough, I passed this weed filled pond. Ducks required!

 

 

A welcome pause near Springfield enabled me to lighten my load to the extent of a flask of tea and a banana.

 

Paths then led from Great Warford, along Noahs Ark Lane, crossing Mobberley Brook and some of its neighbouring small streams, heading eventually past Clayhouse Farm to Moss Lane, before which this stile at the boundary of another well cropped field led to a rather narrow path through sweetcorn.

 

 

A good track then led to Coppock House Farm, beyond which a right turn sent me through more wet grass, before the fishing lake of Rossmere was reached.

 

 

Newgate Road then delivered me swiftly back past Lindow Moss towards the car park, passing more fields of harvested crops on the rural edge of Wilmslow.

 

 

I returned via Black Lake, where there can be an interesting selection of birds. Today there were lots of gulls, as well as the usual ducks, grebes, cormorants, etc.

 

 

Here's the route - a shade under 16 km (10 miles), with very little ascent. Whilst it took me two and a half hours, you could add an hour to that for a more leisurely approach and a pleasantly rural amble.

 

 

Next week will be more leisurely - Around Hockenhull Platts - 12 km, from Guilden Sutton parish car park (SJ 448 680). Meet at 10.00am. Maybe somebody will join me?