{"id":2014,"date":"2018-09-20T06:54:35","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T10:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/?p=2014"},"modified":"2025-08-10T19:38:36","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T23:38:36","slug":"the-gr10-and-nouvelle-aquitaine-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/the-gr10-and-nouvelle-aquitaine-region\/","title":{"rendered":"The GR10 and Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It all started with a conversation with some Brits while we were on our first multi-day trek in\u00a0Alpiglen, Switzerland\u00a0<\/a>in 2012.\u00a0 They\u00a0talked about the GR10 as a long distance hiking trail between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coast\u00a0paralleling\u00a0the Pyrenean\/Spanish border in France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s a GR?   France is virtually blanketed with long distance hiking trails – Grande Randonn\u00e9e<\/a> – with the GR10<\/a> stretching from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, covering a distance of roughly 540 miles and typically taking 50+days to traverse.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"france<\/a>
GR (Grande Randonn\u00e9e) trails in France<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Fast forward six years…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without the kind of time needed for the entire GR, we sought a section a section that would give us a good sense of the overall GR10 experience, that had some great views and challenging terrain, and that could be combined with some more traditional vacationing.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"itinerary\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As usual, after a bunch of research, a few maps and books later and we identified a section that would give us a great taste of what the GR had to offer.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan was to fly to Paris and then onward to Pau in the southwest of France.  Pau was to be our ‘home-base’, bookending our days in the Pyrenees, enabling us to leave a suitcase and not tote some extras through the mountains.  We expected four days in the mountains on the GR10 – beginning in Lescun, and following the GR10 to end in the ski resort of Gourette.   Returning to Pau for another day\/night, then grabbing a rental car to drive to Arcachon on the southwest coast for some relaxing days in the coastal resort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We settled on a section of the GR10 between Lescun and Gourette, spanning 4 days on the trail, roughly 40 miles, and a total elevation gain over 12,500ft (nearly 2.5 vertical miles!).   This section is close to Pau, a regional city with good air and ground transportation options. And it was a section that was near enough to the Nouvelle-Aquitaine<\/a> region of France, an area of France known for its farm produce, cheese, and wine (Bordeaux!).  Coincidentally, it was that same Switzerland trip where we learned about the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of France.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"GR10<\/a>
Our planned GR10 sections – Lescun to Gourette<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In total, our GR10 sections spanned roughly 50 miles, with about 15,000 feet of elevation gain.  The sections would leave is in villages each night, with only a single night in a mountain refuge (wow!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about each of the sections – and check out some of the breathtaking scenery – some of the best we’ve ever seen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lescun to Etsaut<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Etsaut to Refuge D’Ayous<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Refuge to Gabas<\/a><\/td><\/tr>
Gabas to Gourette

<\/a><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Also check out our chill time out the Nouvelle-Aquitaine<\/a> region, njoying the oysters (20 million pounds per year!) and, of course, the food (!), wine, and France (\u201cParis is not France\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00c0 bient\u00f4t!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It all started with a conversation with some Brits while we were on our first multi-day trek in\u00a0Alpiglen, Switzerland\u00a0in 2012.\u00a0 They\u00a0talked about the GR10 as a long distance hiking trail between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coast\u00a0paralleling\u00a0the Pyrenean\/Spanish border in France. What’s a GR?   France is virtually blanketed with long distance hiking trails – Grande Randonn\u00e9e – with the GR10 stretching from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, covering a distance of roughly 540 miles and typically taking 50+days to traverse. Fast forward six years…Read More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"category-hiking.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gr10"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2014"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4938,"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2014\/revisions\/4938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterdittman.com\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}