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22.07.08 Tuesday
Ayzac-Ost to Cauterets.
Cauterets is a spa/ski town well up the valley du Gave de Pau, walking today includes another 4-5 miles on the flat up the cycle path, converted railway track and then another 6 miles or so up a track in the narrowing valley with a climb of about 400 metres.
This track is the path of the old electric tramway from Pierrefitte to Cauterets. This started service in 1901 and ran until its closure in 1949. 50 years later the route was brought back into life as a footpath and cycleway to reopen in 2005. It is a superb route, using the century old engineering (there is a 400 metre long tunnel) to provide a well graded route right into the centre of Cauterets.
Yesterday evening we were surprised when a pair of rabbits appeared on the area opposite our tents, they were quite obviously tame (keepers not eaters) but seemed to belong to no one. They hopped about doing rabbity things for an hour or so and then shot back through the hedge in the direction of some chalets when the campsite dog arrived. Whether they were just running or this was the signal for home we don’t know but they were back the following morning as we started off at 07:00 so we think they had been somewhere safe for the night.
We are now in the mountains proper and plan to do some day walks without our enormous weighty rucksacks up a few 2-3000 metre peaks, Cauterets is at 914 m and the help of the ski lift is planned for tomorrow; no further forward progress will be made until we meet Ralph and others on Saturday.