update 29may - 5thjune

29th may
estang laparan - Merens
road walk to car park then up a soggy path. Lots of cars in carpark. could see refuge Rhulh from start. But of course it was closed. lots of others equipment in it, but no information on next section, so off we set. At col colmettes a lot of snow.  It was quite intimidating (as we both admitted later) but managed to plod through what should have been a boulder field. Up to crete de la llasse at 2439m. Descent of steep slippy grass to Merens at 1400m. The weather threaten to close in but it held and we had a coffee in the village waiting for the shop to open, which didn't. Lady in campsite gave us crisps and a fellow brit gave us some coucous :)
highs - boulder field covered in snow, free food, pass passable just
lows - wet grass - sore bum, river = path, shop shut
note - due to wet slippy decsent we both took a few nasty tumbles but i am pleased to report that the brown stains on our trousers are just mud..

30th
Merens - refuge de bones hores
long walk back to village before the pretty ascent, (passing the 'professor of english' we met yesterday fishing). Stopped at beautiful lochan where i found out i had packed some ants. On to col at 2430m through boulders and snow. Refuge des besines where we met other walkers but they were on different route. So on to the next col, but we had a huge walk through a lot of snow to col at 2470m coll de coma d'anyell. Interesting over snow bridges only to be greeted with a massive expanse of snow between us and the next col... So we slipped and slid, then negogiated a fast flowing river to refuge Rouzet. We were circled by a helicoptor for about 20mins and i took a picture of a frog in the snow. Up to Portella de grava and down a convex slope. Along the tet river that despite our fatigue it was still pretty, but also incredibly endless. Refuge de bones beckoned us and we had bath, cheese, bread, new walking pole for Lawr.
highs - achievement, weather storms stayed away, no-one dissappeared into snow
lows - long day, ran out of sweets, have lump on spine
notes - now so weak can't fight off the ants

31st
refuge de bones hores - refuge de orri
woke before alarms ready for a walk. Good tea and good sleep. Across dam then down D roads as GR awful. Into Mount Louis. Saw the commandos training at the citidel. Overdid the shopping at la cabanasse. Felt sick as we started to walk again as packing the extra food was not an option. Headed up in the hotest part of the day through Planes and chatted to other walkers, a group of dutchmen. We exchanged notes and headed off. At Orri it was lovely so we stopped for the night. We had tea with a helicopter display, then Lawr spent an hour killing flies in the cabin and we lit a fire, had coffee and reflected on the nearly snowless day.
highs - food shop open, helicopter, open fire
lows - another injury, need new body parts
notes - as the last peak of the pyrennes beckons Lawr considers a route change, so much for Banyuls in 5 days..

1st june
refuge de orri - col de jou
Easy morning on a 4x4 track. Col Mitja at 2367m was an orange stop before the steep descent to cabin de la caranca 1830m which had just opened so felt obliged to have hot choc stop. Chatted to guardian, then off through the thick woods only to meet the nutty proffessor with his fresh garlic tucked into his underpants. We made light conversation and headed to col de pal 2294m. We could see Manet but it never seemed to get closer. On reaching it eventually i spotted a cheese shop and we replenished diminished stocks. Lawr in the meantime tried to get a rather attractive collie pup called Peanut into his rucsack. It was a horrible walk to Py. And the shop was closed. Stopped for wee rest then as lack of places to camp headed to col to find a suitable stopping point.
highs - start of day, cheese, hot choco, bed
lows - long day!, poor c/spot, food shortage
notes - oranges are a much under rated food

2nd
 col de jou - refuge de pinatell
started with potential water shortage as streams very dry. Decided on alternative route which involved scrambling and rope work.  Back on the GR it was boulder hopping, scree, erodded paths, in and out of corries. We stopped for essential refuel and could hear the thunder storm brewing (good decision this morning not to do peak). Decided to go for it and made it to refuge des cortalets. Had choco and could have stayed for 3 euros. So a bit further down the valley we came across Pinatell. A refuge which had just been built/renovated and the stove was still hot from a previous occupier! Fantastic. Ate nearly all our spare food as the shops should be open in Arles sur tech - or so we are told.
highs - cushy cabin, washed fed, escaped thunderstorm, beautiful night
lows - steep alternative route, tripping up
notes - sometimes going the extra kilometre can be worth it i.e cabin

3rd
refuge de pinatell - eco gite de la palette
great rest and reluctant to get up. Clean up had b/fast then off. just an hour after Pinatell was another hut also lovely with a horse in the shelter next door, but it was too early to stop.  Path up to col cirere 1731m, very windy. Passed Auberge de Batere, which was a rundown accommodation from the mines from the 80's. Path also a VTT route and cables and gantrys all around. In Arles bought bread and strolled to supermarket, only to find lady putting shutter down. Lawr in his best french shouted - ' autres epiceres overt?' She opened back up for us and said - 'with speed', which we did. And in 6mins we were back out laden with lunch. On full tums we headed up the 700m to col de paracolls then began a massive thunderstorm right over head. No escape. So sodden we arrived at a gite no camping anywhere. However we realised an error and only had pounds left! Lovely couple accepted sterling and we had nice stay and played with Whiskey the dog.
highs - b/fast, supermarket dash, not geting fried by lightening
lows - complete soaking, no money, rocky descent
note - wish we had more notes (euros)

4th
eco gite de la palette - Les Perthus
cloudy start, soaked by grasses and bushes. Asked for directions, bloke turned out to be an irishman. Passed yurts in forest and up to col cereder. Passed roc de france and at col de puits de les neige crossed in to spain and back at port illas via the wartime escape route. Had lunch and spoke to kiwi who lived in Cornwall. Met GR-ist whom we tried to tell that our route was a varient but he ignored us and carried on the wrong way! 4x4 track to bellgarde then into perthus. Loads of shops and had to surrender smelly rucsack before geting into shop. The guy took them then went to wash his hands after touching them. After a meal with food bought in Spain we headed to the hills to a lovely c/spot but there was no water anywhere.
highs - food cheap in spain, c/spot
lows - feeling low today
note - can't walk with out poles and even we can't drink 5litres of water and 2litres of apricot juice in one sitting

5th
Les Perthus - Banyuls sur mer
had a 15min lie in then up as we remembered we had apricots for b/fast. Day heating up, over first col dl Ouillat 936m. Spotted a refuge and had choco urge, but they only gave us two sugar lumps. Refreshed we started to pic neulos dodging french and spanish cows. Took a variation through trees to reach Pic des pradets 1175m and onto pic de 4 therms 1156m. lunch stop and looked out over spain then on to pic sailfort 981m. It was along climb and at the top said it was 3.20hrs to Banyuls. Another steep descent and got very close to hot, sleepy cows, but nothing was stopping us now. Had broken road section and paths through vineyards for the next few hours. Could not decide which village we were heading to, but kept going. Into Banyuls some what relieved and campsite without grass only stones and gravel didn't dampen out spirits, we had made it. So on with the washing festival - everything including rucsacks. Across the road a supermarket!
It was a massive challenge but we made it :)
highs - made it, everything clean, fig bread, lardon bread, artisan cakes
lows - Banyuls seemed to get further away the closer we got it, no target for tomorrow,  may take months to recover
note - song for today - Nobody's gonna break my stride