The Cirque de Gavarnie is a massive mountain amphitheatre in the mid Pyrenees, sliced through by thunderous waterfalls and ringed by sawtooth peaks. Many of these peaks are over 10000ft (5 x height of Eiffel Tower).
We parked in the village carpark where we stayed overnight then walked the 2 hour route to the base of the waterfall. The waterfall is the highest in France and one of the biggests falls in Europe (over 1300 feet drop). During winter the waterfall freezes solid and is climbed by 'ice climbers'.
The sheer scale of this mountain range can not really be appreciated in the photo's, trust me, it's massive!
As we were on a 'fasting day' this day we woke up the following morning at about 03:00 (or was it 02:00? the clocks had just changed from summertime!) so had a feast of porridge and tea then back to sleep. Still hungry at breakfast time we walked to the local boulangerie and bought 2 lovely (still warm) baguettes, one white and one wholemeal with cereal. The baker was a portly chap and one of the happiest and jolliest bakers we have yet met, his bread was quite fantastic (C'est Formidable!).
I am beginning to wonder if I am addicted to fooning! either that or I just can not take myself seriously! (really, you are not seeing the amount of 'foon foto's' that get taken!).
We started the walk here (it doesn't look too big or too far from here!)
The waterfall from afar
Me and Kate at 'base camp' just before the final push
Kate looking happy at reaching the waterfall !
Oh, and this is where we stayed the night
No comments:
Post a Comment