Unlike Luchon Cauterets was definitely all open and had a bit of a holiday buzz about the place. We thought we would take advantage of the access to the top of the mountain being open and took the gondala up on our second day. While we were up there we thought we would have a look at the mountain bike tracks. Neither of us have done any downhill mountain biking and we were keen to have a look at the tracks before we had a go. On the way up in the gondola we were trying to assess how steep the tracks on the way down were but it was pretty difficult to tell. Once we got to the top we were able to have a better look and watch a few people coming down. We decided that this wasn’t going to be the place we had a go as there were hardly any tracks and the ones that were there were more for intermediate riders and we didn’t reckon we would enjoy it that much. To be fair there will be other places where we can have a go and there were so many hikes to do that we weren’t going to be short of things to do.
So for us it was on with the hike and we set off up a fairly (very) steep incline to the top of the bowl. There were some mutterings within the group on the way up as to whether the chairlift running next to us would have been a better option. I have to admit I didn’t notice it in my research for the hike and just crossed my fingers that it didn’t go to the same spot. An hour later of constant uphill we arrived to picnic tables at the top and a stupendous view…and of course people getting off the chairlift looking a fair bit fresher than us!!! Woops.
The good thing though about getting to the top of a mountain is that the only way forwards is down!! We had 1000 vertical meters to travel down to the village and our campsite. The hike was pretty awe inspiring and was very different to the one we did the day before as we were above the tree line (1500m to 2000m) and the view didn’t change we just walked through it. It was also a very popular hike as we began to pass a lot of people on their way up (probably to catch the cable car down) and it got a little frustrating having to constantly stop to allow people to pass and I have to admit it did detract a little from the experience.
Once we got through the throngs though we had a lovely hike all the way down the valley to the village just beating the rain which turned into a thunderstorm which resulted in us hunkering down in the van eating pasta both completely exhausted but smiling from ear to ear. T
