Ascent / descent: 320m (55082m) / 211m (54371m).
Altitude (start / end / highest): 936m / 1045m / 1256m.
Weather: Thunder, rain, fog, gusty, nice weather towards the afternoon and evening.
I wake up at 03:00 o'clock in the night; from outside I can still hear the party going on. At 03:30 o'clock I wake up again by the rain pouring down outside. When I again wake up at 04:00 o'clock the sky has exploded in anger, a severe thunderstorm has begun. When it was proper time to wake up it is still very bad weather outside, so I crawl back into my sleeping back and continue sleeping. That was supposed to be my last day on the walk got instead to be an eventful day of an altogether different kind.
Foggy and gusty weather on the walk up towards Pic Néoulous.
When in the end I get out of the bed the bad weather has passed, but it's still gusty outside and the surrounding world is covered in fog. I'm unsure of what I'll do. I wish to arrive in nice weather after such a long journey, especially after having walked in several days under a grey blanket and seen the sun shine at the coast. I know that one of the first things I will do when I arrive is just to sit down and enjoy the view of the sea again. The alternative is to stay another day here.
View down towards Tagnarède, grey weather in the horizon.
In the end I decide to go, there is another option as well. It's gusty and the wind is blowing so that you can see the clouds fly pass the trees on the way up through the forest towards Roc des Trois Termes. Where the border to Spain is marked by a worn fence I have to wrap myself well in my wind jacket, it's really sour mountain weather now. Even just below Pic Néoulous (1256m) I can just barely see the summit, and the mast next to it is a vague contour in the greyness. On the way down again I come down beneath the clouds, but the view isn't getting more cheerful by that.
I arrive at Refuge de Tagnarède (1045m); smoke is rising from the chimney. When I open the door a well-known face is appearing behind a tent hanging up to dry, Claire is sitting in front of the fireplace and warming herself. She'd been surprised by the bad weather on the ridge above the hut and had walked down to get shelter from the storm. A small dog with an annoying bell had followed after her and is now rummaging around in search of food. The wind blows fierce outside and we're both unsure if we want to stay or continue.
Refuge de Tagnarède. A small and sparse cabin, but where we had a nice evening in.
Anyway I'll have a longer break here, in the heat from the fireplace and in good company. Two walkers on a day trip are coming in for shelter while they're having lunch, they're throwing the dog out and we don't see it again afterwards. The weather is lifting a little bit after some time, but the wind is still blowing hard. In the direction of Banyuls sur Mer there are still dark clouds. We decide to stay put.
Below Pic Néoulous with a view in the direction of the coast after the weather has lifted.
Later in the day there is however clear weather and blue sky above Pic Néoulous, and better weather in the direction of Banyuls, but we're now feeling that it's a little bit too late to start walking. Instead I take my small packable backpack on my back and head back towards Chalet de l'Albere, a short distance, and I want some beer now for the evening, together with the need for more water. I don't trust the water source located nearby. There is another landscape that awaits me.
It's however not so nice going past Pic Néoulous again, there are two boys up there and one of them is throwing a rock down towards me. Which makes me quite furious, but I manage to control myself from becoming provoked to go up. And probably for the best, for it turned out not to be just two boys, but a gang of five boys. The now nice view in the direction of the coast is now not the first thing that is in my mind. Om the way down the last part to Col d'Ouillat is my imagination starting to run.
View back from Pic Néoulous, the Canigou massif to the right in the picture.
That is because the gang of boys may have seen me coming from the Refuge de Tagnarède and thought that I've left my gear behind there (which I have). But what is giving me a bad feeling is that Claire is alone there. What will happen if they decide to go down? I speed up my pace. At the Chalet de l'Albere they smile a little bit when they see me coming back. I fill up my water container and buy with me some beers for the evening (Kwak, Pietra and Pelforth Brune). Then I walk fast back towards Tagnarède.
Instead of going on the path where the GR10 is going I take the road up towards Pic Néoulous, the boys aren't to be seen at the summit now. I go up to the top, but can't see anything of them below either. What I however can see is a magnificent view towards the sea and back towards Canigou. At the coast there still are some dark clouds, but they are on their way south to Spain. Down by the cabin everything seems like before, but Claire isn't there.
From the top of Pic Néoulous, clear view towards the Mediterranean.
I find her up at the ridge sitting and reading with the sun shining above. I am somewhat relieved, but must acknowledge that my imagination probably ran a little away with me. It's now just fantastic outside and we sit down for a long time enjoying the weather on the ridge overlooking Spain. When the sun is disappearing behind the hill to the west we walk back to hut, where we make a fire in the fireplace again and start making dinner.
A miserably start of the day that lowered my mood thoroughly turned eventually in to a great day, with the exception of the episode with the gang of boys on Néoulous. I get to do the walk in both nice and bad weather, and with a nice evening in front of a fire in Refuge de Tagnarède. The beer tasted very good. And also, I got another additional day on the trail, perhaps I had a tiny wish not to finish yet. But tomorrow we go to Banyuls sur Mer, bad weather or not.
<- OuillatBanyuls sur Mer ->
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