Day 8, Jun 21, 2024
From Chalet Pedro to Larrau
21.3 km hiked, 15.9% complete

We set out this morning in good spirits. For a brief time, the clouds had parted to show some patches of blue sky. We had delayed our departure until 8 am at the request of our hosts, who needed to check the state of our room before refunding our deposit. As a parting gift, they brought us 6 hot chocolate pastries, which added to the light mood.

It wasn’t long into the steep climb before the rain started,  at first light but steadily persistent. We made our way up to the chalets that marked the end of section 7 and the beginning of section 8. The new path took us steeply up to the top of a ski lift and on further up grassy slopes.  Now the wind had picked up and blew the rain into our faces making the trudge through muddy tracks hard going.

Eventually, we came to an intersection of roads and hiking tracks. Marked were GR12,  GR19 and GRT10. But not GR10! We found that we had been following the route for the GR 12 and were heading towards the Spanish border! With heavy hearts and tired feet, we turned and retraced our steps and then followed the road down to the picturesque village of Larrau, the end of today’s journey.

We have set up our tents in the private campground and had lovely hot showers. A tiny shop in a van onsite here had enough supplies to set us up with food for the next couple of days.