Pyrenees : Part 22 - Day 9 Mid-Afternoon : Trek from Lake Artoutse (pass Lake Lurien) to Fabreges

Day 9 (Mid-Afternoon) of Pyrenees Drive

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 9.

Route: Lake Artoutse (Lunch stop) -- Trek (pass 2 cabins and Lake Lurien) -- Fabreges -- Lourdes (spend the night)

Must-Incur Costs :

None incurred.

The Story

090915 : We finished our sandwich salami and was prepared to start our trek to Cabin Lurien. That was our initial intention. Reach the cabin and spend the night there, and descend the next day passing Lake Lurien to Fabreges Village. We changed the plan mid-walk as you can read below. We started our walk at 1pm. I am pretty accurate on recording my time because I want to keep track on how long I have been walking and if we walked too long. 

What better way to appreciate Pyrenees nature than walking in the National Park.

Gung-ho, we followed the trail that led us around Lake Artoutse. But Prof Sweet Tooth (with his amazing sense of direction) suspected that we were on the wrong route. Based on what he remembered, we are not suppose to walk around Lake Artoutse. We asked other tourists who were doing casual walks (who walked past us) and none of them knew of which route we were talking about. We decided to make a turn back to our lunch spot to ask the locals, and as we were approaching the crowded lunch spot, we saw an elderly group that looked like they may know the way. Luck has it our way that the group had a map with them, and Prof Sweet Tooth had a look and noticed we were supposed to take another route but we just could not see where the route is. Suddenly, he saw it. The narrow path that was barely visible just opposite us (across a small pond that has no name - you can see the small pond in the below photo) had a small faded signboard. I took a photo of the map but the owner who was an elderly French man insisted we have it. The price - my smile for him. I gave him the biggest smile ever for being such a kind soul. At 2pm, we were finally on the right route. Unfortunately, there were no other signage after that. We were walking based on our instinct, guessing that this looks like a trail. Some trails were visible and some was not because of all the rocks. Some trails could be seen clearly from afar and we noticed our wrong route then. Haha! We did encounter an elderly man who was walking with a light backpack. He was a local and had never walked to Lake Lurien. According to him, it will take 1 hour to Lake Lurien. He was pretty fast and we never saw him after that. What he claimed as 1 hour took us 3 hours.

But the view, as always, never fail to impress me. Despite the arduous 3 hour uphill walk, I could still appreciate the grand view of Pyrenees mountains. I stop and got wow. Wherever I stop, I cannot resist the temptation to snap photos of any angle regardless of how similar they look. 

 

While walking uphill, my hiking shoes failed on me. The right soles flapped open. I was having a difficult time walking, and I use the elastic band that held the sleeping mat to tie around my shoes. I thought I was pretty smart. Haha! But that got Prof Sweet Tooth to not be pleased as he reminded me to wash the elastic band. Sheesh.

 

Along the way, I asked Prof Sweet Tooth if we were on the right trail. He said yes as he saw the piled up rocks that indicate the correct direction. Prior trekkers would have known how difficult it is to identify which trail is the right one, and they put up the universal sign of direction. The National Park ought to put up signage or some sort of indication of the route to Lake Lurien. It would have been very helpful especially for lonesome trekkers. Well, we were soon accompanied by a few cows as we started our descend.

After 3 hours, we see Lake Lurien! Yay. We were definitely on the right trail. But there was no sign of Cabin Lurien yet because it was another 30 minutes walk across some sharp rocks on an uneven trail.

I was so happy to finally see Cabin Lurien! We opened the door, and there were a few rooms inside. A place to sleep with a huge mattress. A dining hall. A place to cook but Prof Sweet Tooth decided to not cook inside. There was a guestbook too. There were some notices on the board but it was in French. As per the information we found on the Internet, the place is unmanned. However, I was not comfortable in staying there for the night. I just did not feel safe although it was just 2 of us. I was afraid of what my thoughts will conjure up at night. I felt bad for Prof Sweet Tooth who carried the sleeping mat and the food provisions for 2 days. Sorry, Prof Sweet Tooth! I shall gather more courage in future.

 

 

Oddly enough, Prof Sweet Tooth who did not show signs of fear, decided to cook outside. I did not question why but welcomed the idea of being out in the open. I prefer to be staring at the nature which is more comforting. For our reward after the tiring walk, Prof Sweet Tooth cooked vegetable and cheese soup from our Knorr pre-packed sachet. Just add water (we took the spring water from Lourdes) to the ingredients and boil them. It did not come across my mind before we started the walk, that we may want to eat something more than vegetable soup. I realised that I needed more than vegetable soup when I reached the car and was extremely hungry. The upside of walking in cold air is one do not feel as tired as walking in humid air. Hence, having vegetable soup was sufficient then. In Malaysia (the one with the humid air), one cannot just have soup. The stomach cannot feel anything.

 

We continued our walk at 7pm. The best part about walking at 7pm is it is still bright because of the long day! But we had to hurry because total darkness falls by 8.30pm. The walk became easier and faster as we were descending now. We saw a sheepdog that went inside another cabin. There were 2 cabins that we passed. I am unsure of the name of the 2nd cabin.

 

At 8pm, we reached the trail that goes inside the jungle. It was not a jungle per se. There were trees along the route, and one has limited sight of the mountains. Unfortunately, there were signs of a logging session going on, and there were many fallen trees. Or I could make another guess that there was a heavy thunderstorm that there every step has fallen trees. Once we got past the fallen trees route, night has set in. I used my headlamp while Prof Sweet Tooth declared on using his night eye-vision (his eyes were gradually adjusting to the lack of light) where he walked ahead leaving me fumbling my way. I was not comfortable walking alone and told him to wait a bit. I may have to reconsider my walking partner in future. Hmm. Many frogs started to make an appearance in the dark.

At 9pm, after 8 hour of walk, we finally reached the foothill and crossed the road to where the car was parked. We washed up at the public toilet in Fabreges Village. Because we had time to spare (since we did not stay the night in Cabin Lurien), Prof Sweet Tooth has suggested to drive back to Lourdes to get me a new pair of shoes. So, off we go to Lourdes again, where we slept in the car by the roadside.