During week 5 the weather began to relent so that we had really good weather interspersed with the low cloud and drizzle - was this the start of a significant change or merely a false dawn. We also began to leave the slightly miserible, second home dominated towns and villages of the Ariage (ferme) behind and replace them with up country scenery. At the end of the week we also had our first ridge walk. We climbed and then stayed up for a whole day with great views.
Week 6 was full of beautiful weather, warm days, brilliant scenery and good progress. Sarah's birthday was a special event and she proudly carried a selection of coloured balloons all day with a slogan Birthday Girl across each one. All were ignored by the few passers by we encountered perhaps we should have done a translation? Still good excuse for a lunch with a bottle of Champers!
Each wild camp that we pitched got it's own name so Branch camp, Dam camp, Sheep camp, Storm camp, Birthday camp and Crossed Tree camp are all now marked on our maps. Storm camp deserves an extra mention as apparently there was a very heavy hail storm that evening although we just received it as thunder, lightning and heavy raindrops on the tent whilst we prayed quietly inside. We also managed to camp within 4 feet of a ski restaurant. Not the most scenic site we picked but as the rain was awful and the visibility not much better we considered it appropriate. However we did manage to find one of those little huts that the lift operators use open, and as luck had it there was a heater inside so by morning we'd managed to dry out all the kit!
Finally as our days on the trail entered the forties we reached the Canigou massive. The weather had settled into the clear blue skies that we'd expected from day one and the scenery was majestic. On Day 42 we climbed Canigou from the difficult western side which meant a spot of real climbing, which is a bit of a challenge with 20kg on your back. However the effort was worthwhile and at 10 o'clock on Sunday morning we were sat at almost 2800m on top of Canigou. We spent an hour up there mostly thinking about the journey and why we'd attempted it. It was actually quite similar to the Black Cuillin in lots of ways. We scattered some of Matt's ashes and then left the lofty peak to the morning sunshine.
In some ways Matt's March ended there even though we still had 5 days to the coast.
Week 6 was full of beautiful weather, warm days, brilliant scenery and good progress. Sarah's birthday was a special event and she proudly carried a selection of coloured balloons all day with a slogan Birthday Girl across each one. All were ignored by the few passers by we encountered perhaps we should have done a translation? Still good excuse for a lunch with a bottle of Champers!
Each wild camp that we pitched got it's own name so Branch camp, Dam camp, Sheep camp, Storm camp, Birthday camp and Crossed Tree camp are all now marked on our maps. Storm camp deserves an extra mention as apparently there was a very heavy hail storm that evening although we just received it as thunder, lightning and heavy raindrops on the tent whilst we prayed quietly inside. We also managed to camp within 4 feet of a ski restaurant. Not the most scenic site we picked but as the rain was awful and the visibility not much better we considered it appropriate. However we did manage to find one of those little huts that the lift operators use open, and as luck had it there was a heater inside so by morning we'd managed to dry out all the kit!
Finally as our days on the trail entered the forties we reached the Canigou massive. The weather had settled into the clear blue skies that we'd expected from day one and the scenery was majestic. On Day 42 we climbed Canigou from the difficult western side which meant a spot of real climbing, which is a bit of a challenge with 20kg on your back. However the effort was worthwhile and at 10 o'clock on Sunday morning we were sat at almost 2800m on top of Canigou. We spent an hour up there mostly thinking about the journey and why we'd attempted it. It was actually quite similar to the Black Cuillin in lots of ways. We scattered some of Matt's ashes and then left the lofty peak to the morning sunshine.
In some ways Matt's March ended there even though we still had 5 days to the coast.
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