We're Mountain Climbers now!

After the gale force wind fiasco of last night we decided to make our way to the top of the Pic du Midi de Bigorre.  The weather was fantastic, blue sky and pleasantly warm (until we got to the top where it was a bit chilly!)

The climb was steep and we do wonder if we should have been better equipped as we had no crampons, ropes, or mountain climbing kit.  Still, we got to the top and it was well worth it.  At the top is the French observatory which has viewing platforms for the general public to enjoy the panorama.  At this altitude (approx 9500ft) the air is quite thin and we had to work harder and slow down in order to get to the top

Kate picking her way to the top...

Closely followed by me (it's flippin steep)

The views justify the use of 'Awesome!' as a descriptor

Kate made me do it!

Ok ok, the top two photos were staged! we really only had to walk along this track...

When we arrived back at the van (the whole trip up and down took 5 hours) we found Wolfy slowly being enveloped by cloud. 

The forecast was then for snow, so we decided to drive down the other side of the pass to a lower level.  This turned out to be a slow crawling drive for 13 miles in dense fog (well, cloud really) and eventually we arrived at our next aire just before dark.....what an eventful day!