When I woke up the scene in the Gavarnie campground reminded me of a Basque village. Fog had arrived during the night, and I couldn’t see anything.

Today I was leaving Gavarnie and entering a new section of the HRP. I was mentally ready to hike onwards but my legs felt heavier than normal this morning. My bag weighed more than usual from the resupply of food, which included 1/2 a kilo of cheese. It was a slow, lazy start.

Halfway up the ascent to Hourquette d’Alan, there was a magical moment where the mountains around me suddenly dissolved into view. I had climbed out of the clouds!After a short break to soak in the sun at Refuge d’Espuguettes, I continued on up with renewed motivation.The day started to heat up, but after I crested the col, a blast of wind cooled me down.The following descent began steeply, then took me through a cute little valley with a river running through it.At the end of the valley stood a lake and a dam.Once I made it to this point, all that was left was a 5 km road walk to the tiny hamlet of Héas, where I would camp next to the Auberge de la Munia.I had heard good things about this place, and it did live up to the hype. I took a hot shower after I pitched my tent. Camille arrived a bit later, and we had a drink with a Dutch HRP hiker named Bart. The auberge served one of the best meals I’ve had so far, featuring duck confit and garbure, a type of soup from the region. We even had a small campfire, although the wood was a bit smoky from being wet.Gavarnie to Héas - 18.94m and 1226m gained.