Our first real day of section hiking the GR10,  was a fairly big day.  The Cicerone guide we’d been using as the basis for the trip had listed the section as Etsaut to Gabas – a 14-15 mile, 5,000 feet of elevation gain, monster of a hike.  Daunting on any day, more so because we’d be with full packs.

Fortunately, we discovered and were able to secure beds at the Refuge D’Ayous – a mountain hut staffed by (what seemed to be a family).  More on that later.   This GR10 section is also famed for passing through Chemin de la Mature – a trail section carved into the rock, used in the late 1700’s to move tree timbers from the forest to the coast to be used as ship masts.

Read more about some of the places of interest along the way today:

Chemin de la Mature
Fort du Portalet
L’Espiatet

It was set to be a big day all around… We were up early and after a relatively quick petit dejeuner said our goodbyes to Celine and L’Espiatet and headed out to retrace our path to Etsaut and the valley floor.

Rather than try to describe the day in words, we’ll just let the pictures do the talking…

Read more: GR10 Refuge D’Ayous to Gabas