Very brief details from the past three days - mostly gleaned from texts received this morning, when they found a signal.
Day 24 - Wednesday 8th June
Having enjoyed a well deserved day off (if that's what you call washing your kit and drying your boots) our intrepid travellers set off once again into the rain. (I get the impression they're getting pretty fed up of rain!)
This district they're crossing at the moment is the Arriage. Remote, wild and steep.
The visibility in the rain & mist was so bad, they relied largely on GR10 way markers...until 3pm when the markers suddenly stopped! Daunted but not defeated, they navigated by zen for another couple of hours, then found a hut for the night and made camp.
Day 25 - Thursday 9th June
Thursday morning was actually dry and clear first thing - but soon deteriorated into rain again. They made their way down the mountain, where they found a hamlet & went looking for lunch. This was when they discovered the zen navigation had been a trifle off course. Sarah's enquiries in the local hostelry switched impressivly rapidly from "bonjour" to "hola" once they discovered they were unintentiontally in Spain! Oops!
Still, every cloud has a silver lining, and they enjoyed a lovely tapas lunch before setting off on up the next mountain (presumably navigating east and hoping for France next time). The afternoon's route was especially steep, rounded off with a night rough-campimg near the top somewhere in a storm. Nice!
Day 26 - Friday 10th June
Lots of overnight rain - which was pretty much the story of the rest of the day. The locals they come accross keep telling them this is "most unusual for the time of year". (Don't expect that's much consolation).
They found a nice lunch stop in a manned refuge somewhere up high. The guy who looks after it showed them some lovely pictures of a beautiful lake which was close enough to fall into apparently! Pity they couldn't see a thing!
Later in the day they met a lovely shepherd (with 2 collies and a pup with blue eyes - ahh) who helped them find their route - even walking quite a distance out of his way to make sure they didn't miss the trail.
The way down through an old lead mine was steep and slippy, and on one of Rick's slithers, his walking stick suffered a bit of a blow and is now rather shorter than ideal. But, as Sarah remarked - he's quite old now, so stooping down to use it should come naturally! (not sure Rick appreciated that).
The end of the day sounded better though - they found a good gite with an open fire, a hot meal and plenty of wine.
Saturday 11th
When I talked to them this morning, they had just managed to dry their boots out, and were peering into the rain, wondering how long they could delay the inevitable.
If the weather continues like this, I shall have to take a remedy for trench foot out there when I go to pick them up.
Day 24 - Wednesday 8th June
Having enjoyed a well deserved day off (if that's what you call washing your kit and drying your boots) our intrepid travellers set off once again into the rain. (I get the impression they're getting pretty fed up of rain!)
This district they're crossing at the moment is the Arriage. Remote, wild and steep.
The visibility in the rain & mist was so bad, they relied largely on GR10 way markers...until 3pm when the markers suddenly stopped! Daunted but not defeated, they navigated by zen for another couple of hours, then found a hut for the night and made camp.
Day 25 - Thursday 9th June
Thursday morning was actually dry and clear first thing - but soon deteriorated into rain again. They made their way down the mountain, where they found a hamlet & went looking for lunch. This was when they discovered the zen navigation had been a trifle off course. Sarah's enquiries in the local hostelry switched impressivly rapidly from "bonjour" to "hola" once they discovered they were unintentiontally in Spain! Oops!
Still, every cloud has a silver lining, and they enjoyed a lovely tapas lunch before setting off on up the next mountain (presumably navigating east and hoping for France next time). The afternoon's route was especially steep, rounded off with a night rough-campimg near the top somewhere in a storm. Nice!
Day 26 - Friday 10th June
Lots of overnight rain - which was pretty much the story of the rest of the day. The locals they come accross keep telling them this is "most unusual for the time of year". (Don't expect that's much consolation).
They found a nice lunch stop in a manned refuge somewhere up high. The guy who looks after it showed them some lovely pictures of a beautiful lake which was close enough to fall into apparently! Pity they couldn't see a thing!
Later in the day they met a lovely shepherd (with 2 collies and a pup with blue eyes - ahh) who helped them find their route - even walking quite a distance out of his way to make sure they didn't miss the trail.
The way down through an old lead mine was steep and slippy, and on one of Rick's slithers, his walking stick suffered a bit of a blow and is now rather shorter than ideal. But, as Sarah remarked - he's quite old now, so stooping down to use it should come naturally! (not sure Rick appreciated that).
The end of the day sounded better though - they found a good gite with an open fire, a hot meal and plenty of wine.
Saturday 11th
When I talked to them this morning, they had just managed to dry their boots out, and were peering into the rain, wondering how long they could delay the inevitable.
If the weather continues like this, I shall have to take a remedy for trench foot out there when I go to pick them up.
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