The skies were somewhat threatening this morning and a few drops did fall, but we pressed on with the day's plan. No rooster woke us, by the way.
We drove up to the next village, Gavarnie, then up a very narrow, precipitous road into La Vallee d'Ossoue, stopping only when we ran out of pavement. We continued on foot, eventually reaching a dam and a reservoir (mostly empty) and decided to press on up into the meadows on one of the trails leading off into the hills. This turned into another 2 hours of wandering before we finally dropped back down to the road just in time for lunch.
We then hiked from the village up to one of the major cirques in the area and admired the views. Can't say I liked the village. It's obviously set up for summer tourists (which aren't here yet) and winter skiing, which is well over by now. And the village has none of the charm we usually find. A couple of bars were open plus a store selling pink teddy bears and other junk, but nothing selling a tasty pastry, which is what we really wanted.
The day's outing was nice, though, getting increasingly warm and sunny as the morning progressed.
We also saw a small herd of small deer-like animals. We discovered later they were Isards, related to the chamois of the Alps. Lots of marmots too.
Anyhow, it was a full day. Probably 6 hours of hiking, enough to earn a beer and chips, the snack of last resort when you can't find a pastry shop stocked and open.
C'est dommage, malheursement.
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