The boys (and girl) are back in town
At the end of the first stage I arrived in Lescun and the first people I met were the American couple, Ryan and Felice, looking for an internet outside the post office. Yesterday I popped into the Office de Tourisme in Gavarnie to find somewhere to stay, and they’d finally found the internet, courtesy of Gavarnie’s single networked PC. They immediately accused me of being Klaas’s friend and told me he was waiting for me at the campsite, which made me feel a bit bad as I’d already decided to stay in a hostel, due to the weather forecast.
I felt even worse about 10 minutes later when, having had no luck with the hostels, I checked into a hotel, but it’s sooo nice to have a bed, sheets, soap, a towel… I’ll never take these things for granted again! After weeks of washing my clothes in streams I’ve also taken advantage of the clothes-washing service - once I’d showered, my clothes felt so dirty I wanted to wash my hands after just touching them! Although I promised I wouldn’t blame them, it’s actually Ryan and Felice’s fault - their idea is to have a hotel for the rest days, which seems like pretty sound planning to me. I’m sure it’ll help the body recover better ready for the next stage.
What won’t help is what happened next. Having finally picked up the iPhone charger from the post office (thanks Mum and Dad!) and sent the useless solar chargers home (no thanks to Powertraveller) I joined Ryan, Felice and Klaas to watch the Dutch beat Brazil. We had a few Leffe during the match then Klaas was overcome with the emotion of watching his team beat the favourites and ended up buying the booze for our meal. The restaurant owner added some complimentary génépi into the mix and we followed that with more beer as we watched the second match of the day on the world’s smallest TV. So much for a recovery…
Today is a rest day, which means food shopping, checking the route for the next stage, and maybe even using the internet if I can somehow get there before Ryan and Felice. It turns out that the reason they’re so keen on it is also a blog, but they don’t have the luxury of an iPhone to post endless updates from the mountains.
Another person making good use of the internet is Mark, the Welsh guy I met a couple of days ago. He’s kindly posted some photos he took of me from Col des Mulets.
Wow! Have just spent over an hour reading from the Count down to now (great distraction from work)! I can't work out whether I'm horribly envious or really grateful that I'm on terra firma with a bed, shower and washing machine! Were we just really niave and lucky 14 years ago or is it coz you're doing the High Route that it sounds so much more scary than the GR10? Glad to hear the cows are still there & thrilled to see that one can still buy leather walking boots as mine are beginning to truly die - going to take them to a good cobblers but if not, fear I'm going to have to invest (they are now 19 years old!). I fear you're going to be far too fit for me to come and join you at any stage but I will definitely now keep up with the Blog & send you motivational words of encouragement whenever needed! So until anon, H
xx
Lovely to read your blog.
The old dutch man you've met is my dad.
Good to hear he's doing well.
Keep it up, you'll get there!
Mark, thank you for the photos of Jon. Hope your own trip goes well.
Ma! Loving the fact that your new friend Klaus looks almost identical to the other Klaus - Brucie!!!
Your facial hair is disappointing :-( But glad to here it's all going so well, snow fields sound a bit scary though.
Will you be getting a hair cut in Col des Mullets?!
CO.
H - partly it's the weather that's different - there's way more snow than usual, so I even bits of the GR11 and possibly GR10 would be harder than when we were here. Glad you've been able to distract yourself anyway!
Marijn - your Dad's doing great! He says hi.
Si - this Klaas prefers mountains to being underwater! Some snowfields have been a bit scary, but recent ones less so - feeling a bit more confident now. Not enough hair for a mullet I'm afraid!
You are doing very well and over half way. The updates are very interesting and have given me some inspiration.
regards IanD.
Thanks Ian!