Pyrenees National Park
Pyrenees France National Park (13-16 May 2021) – the start of my France National Parks exploration
How did I end up visiting Pyrenees France National Park? French government finally lifted the cross-district travel starting 1 May 2021. Finally, I didn’t have to confine my travels within the Paris region only. However, there was still a small problem there. Even with the ban lifted, most indoor museums and centers remained close, and travelling beyond France came with uncertainties in PCR test requirements. I started browsing travel ideas, and a visit to natural / national parks within France appeared as a safer choice. By chance, I landed in the 10adventures website , and that was when I came to learn about the beauty of the France National Parks. Pyrenees was chosen mainly because it has many trails that are amateur-friendly. Guessing that there were many more MBA friends who might be keen to join, I prepared a simple trip itinerary and floated it in the Wechat and Whatsapp groups. We ended up having 7 people from 5 countries joining the trip. Logistical arrangement was very challenging, mainly because of few last minutes request to join, but we made it!
The trip highlights
On the 13 May, I went alone to Orly airport in the early morning, taking a flight from Orly to Toulouse. Toulouse airport is not the closest airport to Pyrenees, but it offers more car rental choices and hence cheaper options. I decided to fly there to save some cost of car rental. Fortunately too, at very last minutes, we still managed to change our car to 7 seaters car to accommodate everyone. My other 6 friends flew from CDG to Pau instead. Once they arrived CDG, they sent me a photo, a photo of the luggage they brought, and here came the first challenge – how to fit in all passengers and luggage in a Renault Scenic 7 seaters.
My friends must be too busy doing their homework that they didn't have time to read the reminder, a clear reminder not to bring hard case big luggage >o< . Upon landing and picking up the car, I started a solo drive from Toulouse airport to Pau airport. The 2 hours drive offered some sneak preview of what was ahead for all of us. The south-western drive offered a great preview of the Pyrenees massif, which was elegantly capped with the white snow still. For such drive, 2 hours seemed too short. Upon arriving at Pau airport, we started our first problem solving – “How do we fit in all 7 of us, and 2 small luggage, 2 medium size luggage, and 5 backpacks”.
It took us a few minutes to figure out, which luggage to go to the back, which to be hold on the lap, who sits at the center row, who back. From Pau airport, we headed to Lourdes, an important Catholic pilgrimage site. A short stroll at the cathedral, and we continued our drive to Luz-Saint-Sauveur, where we stayed for 2 nights. With many restrictions still in place, we got our food from grocery store and a nearby oyster shop.
On the 14 May, we started our hike early. 2 of our members couldn’t make it, blaming it on the ultra-strong gravity of their bed and some early morning meetings they had to attend remotely. Our first hike was a 3 hours hike at Cirque de Gavarnie, a UNESCO Cultural and Natural site. The cirque is situated at central Pyrenees, in Southwestern France, close to the border of Spain. We did about 8.5 km of relatively easy hike, up until base of massif where snow still fell.
After the hike, we quickly returned to our accommodation to grab a quick lunch. While some of us were too tired to join the second hike of the day, the rest of us made it to Lac de Gaube. Before walking 2 hours to this high elevation lake, we stopped by at the Pont d’Espagne, the famous arch bridge at the start of the hike to the lake.
Continuing from the morning hike, the ascending got a bit challenging on my legs. After walking for about 1 hour uphill, I started to question myself, “why do I do this? Why the torture”. But I didn’t want to opt for Turning Back, especially when I saw all my friends were hyped up to reach the lake. I kept grinding, and finally, after a 2 hours hike, here we were at the most amazing view so far of the trip. The hike was amazing, crystal-clear water, gigantic massif with snow cap, and the fun people for the photos. The descending took a shorter time, but a harder hit to the knees.
The 2nd problem solving came right as we descended to the car park. Our friends in the accommodation overslept, and they have not got any food before the grocery shop closed. Google map came handy this time around. A click on the restaurant, followed by another click on “Open now”, we saw a few restaurants and shops still open – Smart isn’t it? However, as we clicked on the direction, a big sigh followed. Those shops are all shop in Spain. We must have forgotten that Pyrenees is a huge massif shared by France and Spain. It took us a while to finally locate a restaurant that was within driving distance. After 2 x 3 hours hike, we went to bed early after the dinner.
On the 15th May, after check out, we started our drive to La Mongie where we will put up a night there. It drive wasn’t as smooth as we thought. The Apple Drive of our co-pilot somehow led us to a difficult drive across the mountain peak with some snow by the road side still. But, Apple Drive is smart, it knew what we wanted. The view from the mountain peak was unreal.
After checking in, we took a quick trip to Lac d’Oo. Another lake at elevation, surrounded by massif. While we had a chance to get closer to the massif at Lac de Gaube, Lac d'Oo is actually a dike/ dam. However, the surrounding is equally impressive too. This was the only hike that the full team of us, the 7 of us made together. (Something for us to cheer)
Back in our accommodation, each of us got our individual room in this very affordable place After a long day, we thought we can finally have a good rest. But at 2am, the Siren hit us hard. It went off for 1 hour plus.
On the 16 May, it was time to go home. But, our evening flight allowed us plenty of time to go for another 1 or 2 more hikes. At least 3 of the members had exactly the same thought as I, “I don’t want to miss a thing”. So, we were up really early in the morning, and we made our way to Lac d Loudenvielle. Early stroll along the lake shore offered a lot of tranquility. The reflection of the mountain in the lake, the retiree fishing around the lake, and the short hike up to the high point, all made our visit worthwhile.
After checking out, we headed to Mont ne Hike for one final hike. It was very foggy and wet. 5 guys went on for the hike. As we got back to our car, we were all wet. And off we went, back to Toulouse to either stay one night in the town, or head back to Paris.
My transports, accommodation, and F&B
Transport – a 7-seater Renault Scenic (Automatic, hybrid) from Toulouse Airport. Despite the full load, this car worked perfectly well, and its fuel efficiency really amazed us.
Accommodation – trying best to cater for everyone's budget, we opted for Airbnb.
- 3 Rue de la Lanne, Luz-Saint-Sauveur, Occitanie 65120, France (managed by Val de Roland) : 2 nights, €432
- Oxygers Place, 50 Route de Jezeau, Arreau, Occitanie 65240, France (managed by Oxyger) : 1 night, €90
F&B – Most restaurants were still not open for dine-in. we opted for cooking in the Airbnb, getting most of our foods from nearby Carrefour.
My 3 Plus and 2 Minus:-
3 things I like about this trip:
- I must say, all the hikes were amazing. If there is 1 hike you must not miss, it must be Lac de Gaube.
- Many amateur level trails, all within 2-3 hours reach from any place within the Pyrenees massif.
- The weather was perfect for hike, a weather between Spring and Summer transition.
2 thing I would do differently if I can turn back the clock:
- Put a cut off time for Airbnb and Car booking, and remind my friends verbally not to bring hard case luggage ☹ .. Even though we had many luggage, I was truly thrilled by the fact that we still manage to load 7 persons and all luggage into the car.
- A longer trip and not just 3 nights in Pyrenees massif.
Surprise learnings of the trip
- In Asia, and specifically in Malaysia where I come from, people only know France as city of light, city of love or city of fashion. Eiffel Tour, Louvre, Louis Vuitton, Longchamp, Chanel are the names that most of my Malaysian friends will tell me if I tell them I am in France. Yet, France (exclude the oversea territories) has 8 amazing national parks, and many of them offer hiking trails as good as (if not better than) those in Switzerland. Now, this trip is going to start a new chapter in my life, the chapter where I will write the story for my visits to all these national parks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_parks_of_France
- Back at the trail to the Lac de Gaube, I nearly gave up and turned back. Even when I was just about 15 minutes away from the lake. In life, I guess we always do that, giving up when it is so close to the destination, so close to the success. I remember how I gave up the effort to summit Malaysia highest peak – Low’s Peak in Kota Kinabalu once. I regretted, and few years later I made it back there. ”Tiredness”, is a state of mind, just like “we are almost there”, another state of mind