Hiking with Tweenagers in the Pyrenees
Vic Landon
The nephews and I above Lac d’Oó
Summer 2022 saw the world open up to tourism again and that meant that my sister and her family were able to visit for the first time in nearly 3 years. We spent some precious time together and made some unforgetable memories.
At the start of the pandemic the nephews were 8 and 10, when they visited last year they were 10 and 13. The perfect age to introduce them to proper mountain hiking and an overnight stay in a refuge for the first time.
Shuttle bus up to Superbagneres.
The night before we set off we parked the minibus at Granges d’Astau ready for collecting us on our return.
Geoff, Abs, Rich, the boys and I packed our rucksacks, filled our tummys and lathered on the suncream before heading to the free shuttlebus up to Superbagneres for the start of our adventure. After a little bit of nervous faffing at the top we were soon trotting off on our way to Refuge d’Espingo. The path is well trodden so it’s difficult to get lost, it’s not an easy hike as there’s a significant amount of elevation but the scenery is amazing even though we started in the cloud. There were very few people around despite it being one of the busiest weeks of the year.
Hiking in the clouds
The first section is a little difficult psychologically as you descend quite a bit before the long climb to the Col de la Coumme but it is well worth it for the views at the top. We had a refuel in the form of fresh baguettes and some home made brownies at the top ready for the next section of undulating terrain.
After lunch we plodded on, some of us more comfortable with the path than others (sorry little sis!) and within no time we reached the last of the peaks and headed off on the descent to the refuge. Refuge d’Espingo is a beautiful location, close to a lake and catches the afternoon summer sun. Despite already covering 12.5km and nearly a kilometer of ascent, the boys were not tired! We sent them off on their merry way for a walking race and a dip in the lake. Us adults dipped into the limited supply of white wine available at the refuge, we soon drank them dry <hic>.
The six of us were in our own room - triple bunks no less, if you’re hiking with kids the refuge will always try and put you in a Private Room rather than sharing in the larger dorm rooms. After settling in we headed back down for a hearty 3 course veggie meal and a few games with a very well used ‘Uno’ deck.
Much to the boys disappointment the grown ups all wanted an early night! We’d promised them a duvet of stars but sadly that wasn’t to be as it had clouded over, we’ll have to do it again so that they get to see the amazing Pyrenean night sky.
Our triple bunk room in Refuge d’Espingo
Another early start but this time a standard refuge breakfast, it does the job but it’s not very exciting and if you’re like me and don’t drink tea or coffee it’s a little dry. We filled up our water bottles with the spring water and trotted off, it was as little fresh for August but we soon warmed up on our walk down to the Grange d’Astau.
Early start with the Refuge d’Espingo in the background
From Espingo you drop quite quickly to the famous Lac d’Oó. Lac d’Oó is one of France’s most popular lakes and is well known as being one of the top ten lakes in France. It’s classed as an easy walk up to the lake so lots of familes and this is where we started to meet all of the human traffic on their days out. We were all perfecting our “bonjour” as everyone we met greeted us.
“It was a fun walk, breathtaking views, it was hard on my legs but after a few hours and a lot of sweets we made it to the refuge. A dip in the lake and I couldn’t wait until the next day. Overall a fun walk, I really recommend it”
Mountain goats - aka Bert and Wilf
A much shorter (7km with just 110m of ascent) and easier walk, skirting around Lac d’Oó and taking is views of the waterfall. From here you join a farmers track all the way down to the pastures at Granges d’Astau.
“The hike was fascinating and the views were lovely, the refuge was okay because it can’t be five star in the middle of a mountain range, I wouldn’t mind going there again”
There are a few restaurants at the bottom and we treated ourselves to an ice cream or crepe before heading back to Luchon to take in the Flower festival - some of us may have been dancing in the streets later that night.
The boys loved their first mountain refuge trip and cannot wait to do it again, we might not take as many grown ups next time!
Duckie! One of the stars of the flower festival