Lac d'Aubert - Refuge de l’Oule - Col de Portet - Saint-Lary Soulan / Vignec
- Distance: 27km
- Duration: (with breaks): 9h 15min
- Elevation gain/loss: 870m/2200m
After a surprisingly chilly night at Lac d’Aubert, I woke up early and left the busy bivouac place hoping to enjoy some solitude on the trail. No wonder it felt a bit cold tonight – the ground was covered in a thin layer of frost! Although the sun was warming up the valley, the “leftovers” of the cold night lingered around me as I walked past Lac d’Aumar, which didn’t even look like a lake, it was a still mirror.
It felt kind of hard to say goodbye to this valley, sooooo beautiful. Anyway, today is a long day, with 27km waiting for me. The good news is that I only need to go up during the first half of the day and then it’s mostly down. 2200m down 😀 Besides keeping up the hiking speed, I had the challenge of scoring lunch somewhere as I was very low on supplies. Refuge de l’Oule was my only option, so I hiked towards it eager and hopeful.
The path between Lac d’Aubert and Refuge de l’Oule could be best described as Peruvian flat – constant ups and downs. It is a pleasant walk though, not too tiring, and still beautiful views around me. The only tiring section was the descent to Lac de l’Oule as it was pretty steep and full of loose gravel, so my advice would be to not rush that part. Once at the lake, I had to take a detour to the Refuge de l’Oule, which made me walk almost a whole circle around the lake, but I didn’t mind as Lac de l’Oule is actually a dam and my detour meant walking across it.
As I made it to Refuge de l’Oule quite early (~10:30), their kitchen was still closed. Nooooooo…! Luckily, I was offered to buy a cold lunch pack instead, of which I was super happy: a sandwich, a boiled egg, an apple, some cookies, cheese, and even a little pack of juice. Great value for the money. So after a coffee and a successfully hunted lunch, I left the refuge in full energy. One more pass to climb.
From Lac de l’Oule the crowds became bigger and I was hiking among many other Frenchies (or at least that’s all I heard). While the ascent above the lake was not too rough, the sun was in full swing, thus slowing everyone down.
The rest of the hike to the pass (Col de Portet, 2215m) was not that memorable as I entered a ski area and the nature looked quite bare. Few people walked the same way and the path was wide, so I could speed up.
Col de Portet is one of those passes, where you can drive up, so reaching it on foot did not really feel like an “achievement” 😀 While the views of the nearby mountains and the valley below were great, it was busy and so I decided to enjoy them somewhere below, on my way to Vielle-Aure/Vignec, today’s destination.
This is also where I contacted Nikolai to check where he was with Romana (Nikolai left his contact details in case I wanted to catch up with him and Romana during the day). We’re hiking the same way after all, and I was feeling a bit lonely after days of solitude.
Apparently, he made great progress and was already enjoying a celebratory after-hike beer down at the town, while I estimated another ~2 hours left for me. The awesome news was that he promised to get me a spot at a campsite where he’ll stay. Oh, how nice it is to be taken care of!
While descending, I mostly met gangs of huge cows, this section was very quiet otherwise. All I had to do is walk down. And I walked. Then I walked more. And more. Then I got fed up with walking, but what can you do? You need to descend. Honestly, it was one of the longest descents I had ever done. It felt like an eternity. Once I finally reached the village, I was completely wasted after such a grueling descent.
It was awesome to know where I’m staying tonight (and that I’m staying there for sure), but mostly I was ecstatic to have someone to share the experiences of the day. I guess I was talking to Nikolai and Romana like a small child – I wanted to share everything! I didn’t speak to people that much in the last few days (except for getting services from them), so I loved having someone with me tonight.
As we had a tough day, Nikolai and I decided to reward ourselves with dinner at a pizzeria. An awesome end to a gruelling day.
Day 6 tips
- There is a dedicated bivouac place at Lac de l’Oule, you will not miss it if you’re following GR10.
- I later found out that you can hike directly from Refuge de l’Oule to Col de Portet. Instead of walking along the lake, you’d head up right after the refuge. It might be a bit steeper, but surely shorter than my route (I walked along the lake until the road met with GR10 again).
- The streams between Lac de l’Oule and Col de Portet were dry when I walked in August, so make sure you have enough water. It is an exposed area with no shelter from storms or sun.