It was a wet start to a long stage, 34km (of which 1km was following wrong paths) with almost 1000m of elevation and a highest point today at 850m.
It had rained all night, and rained, albeit lightly, for a couple of hours after leaving the B&B. As La-Barthe-du-Neste isn’t on the official route, I had to plan a route of 11km to get back onto the Pyrenean Foothill path (GR78). After a few kilometers following the road out of town, I was soon on a wet but pleasant path through a forest following the Chemin du Castêret.
After Tilhouse, and back on another path, it was blocked by a bulldozer and even if I could get past it, it had cut up the path. Luckily there were alternatives, but the alternative had a final very steep and slippy descent where I had to go from tree to tree to not slip, before catching up with the official route again.
I was back on the road again towards Bonnemazon. I decided not to follow the route next to L’Arros river, but stuck to the road, with views of the imposing Chateau de Mauvezin in the distance.
However, it wasn’t long before the next venture off-road and another steep descent. 100m down, I slipped again and ended up on my back. It wasn’t drastic, I almost felt it was inevitable (probably why I slipped) and after checking my map, decided it wouldn’t continue down, turned back and took the road. It was a good choice the views over the countryside towards the higher Pyrenees were fabulous. The afternoon was primarily roads and the sun broke through, giving a pleasant walk.
After Uzes, it was back onto paths. As is becoming customary on the GR78, I lost the path at one point, battling through thicket to find it again and at another point I chose the wrong path, where two paths were going in parallel, one staying on the flat, the other going uphill, but never more than a few meters from each other on the GPS and therefore I didn’t realise before I’d gone uphill 3-400m, that I should have been on the flat.
It was up and down all day, culminating with a climb up to 850m to Col de Palomieres, with unbelievable views across the countryside.
That left 5km downhill to Bagneres-du-Brigore, where I also took the road down, instead of the official path. There were a few cyclists working hard to cycle up the relatively steep climb, or freewheeling downhill.
I had to wait a few minutes for the owner of the room I was staying. For the first time I have had a piano in my hotel room. Luckily the laundry was just around the corner from where I am staying, as was a busy restaurant, where I took a pizza.
A major rainstorm is again set to pass through this area tomorrow, which is very concerning given that I have another long day with almost 1.400m elevation and the paths are already a mess with all the rain that has fallen over the past couple of days.