Ascent / descent: 223m (19470m) / 1174m (17787m).
Altitude (start / end / highest): 2651m / 1610m / 2651m.
Weather: Sunny, rain and thunder in the evening and night.
This was a nice day where I went to Saugue. I awoke early to a nice view over the mountains. During the night the wind had blown quite hard at times, but my tent had survived the siege of the wind. As opposed to usual I doesn't start todays walk with an ascent, instead I have to negotiate a long and steep descent from Refuge de Bayssellance.
Morning at Refuge de Bayssellance.
Steep down from the Refuge de Bayssellance to the Oulettes d'Ossoue, where I had to cross the river on the ice.
Carved out of the mountain are the Grottes de Bellevue, a set of caves made by the eccentric count Henry Russell to be used as overnight accommodation and entertainment. How much entertainment I would've got there I don't know, but I would have liked to have spent one night in one of the caves.
Down by the Oulettes d'Ossoue the bridge over the river is broken in two, but the remaining glacier at the start of the valley is working fine as a bridge as well. It's sunny and nice weather so I had a nice view over the valley on the way down. A small lake, Barrage d'Ossoue (1834m), is located behind a dam above the Gave d'Ossoue. After crossing the dam the trail goes up to the verdant pastures above the Ossoue valley.
Barrage d'Ossoue.
The verdant Gave d'Ossoue that goes down towards Gavarnie.
Towards Gavarnie the trail goes over the meadows in a fertile and lovely valley frequently used as pasture. Looking back you can see up towards the mighty Vignemale massif, and in between you can discern Refuge de Bayssellance high up among the peaks. The trail passes by three cabanes on the way, Cabane pastorale de Lourdes, Cabane de Sausse-Dessus and Cabane Toussaous. I'm in the middle of marmot land; the place is teeming with the small rodents that are running all around the fields and across the trail.
It really is a verdant valley and it's a long way down to the bottom of it. I walk past a group where one of the trekkers is belonging to the curious breed that hikes with an umbrella (read Clear Waters Rising by Nicholas Crane for an even better hike with an umbrella). Even though the trail isn't going all the way down to Gavarnie, I walk down to it. This is a tourist place with a lot of people and I quickly decide that I doesn't want to spend the evening here, Cirque de Gavarnie or not.
View back towards the Vignemale-massif on the way down the Ossoue valley.
It is much nicer up at the Saugue plateau, a tranquil and pleasant culture landscape with small farms scattered around the green fields. A pleasant walk, but there are dark clouds brewing from Cirque de Gavarnie that are coming my way. The rain is arriving just before I arrive at Gîte d'Etape de Saugue. Later in the evening it is pouring down from the sky and deep thunderclaps can almost be seen over the mountains.
The Saugue plateau.
During the afternoon and evening more wet wanderers seeking shelter are arriving at the nice gîte, but after a while the aren't any more places available so some have to spend the night outside in their tent. While the weather is ravaging outside I enjoy myself inside with a good dinner and nice company. I play yam, which is a French variant of yatzy, with some of the other walkers. At the end of the evening I withdraw to my own room where I relax while the rain is hammering down onto the roof above.
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