The Road goes ever on and on; Down from the door where it began;
Now far ahead the Road has gone; And I must follow, if I can;
Pursuing it with eager feet; Until it joins some larger way;
Where many paths and errands met; And whither then? I cannot say.

[JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings]

Thursday 9 July 2015

It’s Pyrenees Time!

Our bags are packed:

20150709_130413

They both come in at 7.2kg without food, water or gas. With the food bags shown in the photo they come in at 9.5kg (six evening meals each; 3 days other food – taking it with us will save having to faff around in a supermarket on arrival).

The ‘to do’ list has been whittled down over the last couple of busy weeks. Just four items remain undone. They are items for which the timing is quite important, as follows:

  1. go to my sister’s wedding (tomorrow);
  2. haircuts (thought I’d delay that till after the wedding, so I don’t attend as quite such a skinhead);
  3. change Fitbit battery (may as well leave that until the last minute); and
  4. catch plane to Biarritz (there’s only one a week from Birmingham, which dictates a Saturday-morning departure).

We will then set out for our first ever foray into the Pyrenees, making our way east over the next few weeks. The GR10 is the plan, although being not slaves to a line marked on the map, we will no doubt stray from it every now and again; the aim is to walk coast-to-coast across the Pyrenees, not to be purists about the GR10 itself. I will probably post some blogs as I go, but probably not on a daily basis.

10 comments:

  1. You will love it! I see from our TimeHop that Sally and I started out on the last 25% of it, tomorrow a few years ago :-) I also see you have the new Osprey Exos 38 that I bought a few weeks ago :-)

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    1. Those bags are actually both the original model of Exos 46, each a few years old now. Mick has two, which are identical except that the original one is now very faded and a bit worn; he's taking his newer one on this trip, which hasn't been out of the cupboard since the PCT in 2012.

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  2. Nearly missed this post, very careless!
    The wedding! Legs out? Good hair decision. Hope you all have a lovely day.
    And the Pyrenees, I will await your occasional posts with as much patience as I can muster. Might be busy myself...
    Enjoy!

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    1. Yep, my legs were out today. They often are in summer, but it's not often it's because I'm wearing a frock. The slap and lippie were even more of a rarity.

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  3. Good luck. I sincerely hope you get to Biarritz more easily than I did - a long story I have dined out on many times since.

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    1. I recall the details of your journey to Biarritz and share your hope that ours goes rather more smoothly!

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  4. Have a great trip and i hope the weather stays good for you.

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  5. Have a safe trip - catch up for a walk when you get back!

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  6. Well
    With you two and Martin I am now spoilt for Pyrenean reading.
    Have a wonderful time.
    Write every day and post when you can, please!
    :-)
    x

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  7. Good luck. I'll be with you in spirit and not that far away in actual presence for a couple of weeks or so.

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