Day 22, Jul 5, 2024
From Lac de l’Oule to Bourisp
19 km hiked, 40.6% complete

The sun went down behind the mountaintop at around 7.30 last night, but the sky remained light for some hours. Even after 9 o’clock,  there was a strange mist, and the air felt cool but wet. We both slept well and were ready and packed up by 7 in the morning to start hiking.

The mist had cleared to a fine day, and it was good to get started in the cool of the early morning. The initial climb was not too difficult, and we reached the Col after less than 2 hours. On the way up, we walked across a meadow that was home to a number of marmots. Alarmed at us passing, they raced across the field and disappeared down into their holes.

We both feel that the last few days of fine weather + high altitude have given us the most spectacular scenery so far. The highest point for today’s hike was the Col de Portet which is a ski station in the winter.

Down from there we seemed to have moved out of the well maintained and popular trail and were heading once again through farmland on a downwards trajectory to finally reach the town of Vielle-Aure and the adjacent town of Bourisp where we have accommodation booked for the night.

We reached the town by midday and headed straight for the supermarket to resupply for the next stage. It was a relief to get inside as the hiking was hot work, with the maximum temperature today reaching 30 degrees. After ice creams and a good lunch (with milkshakes!), we found the room we had booked and had hot showers before doing our laundry at a nearby laundromat.