For breakfast today we were given free access to a kitchen with eggs! Dan fried up a couple for each of us to enjoy with the gîte's homemade bread.Once again we departed early, before the sun came up. Today would be a number of lasts: Last time in Spain, last big climb, and last time over 1300 meters elevation.The climb started out hot, but a breeze came through the trees after we got high enough. Dan and I have a similar pace. I'm glad he caught up to me a couple days ago so we could finish the HRP together.At the windy peak of Roc de Frausa, we took a break before heading down through a light bushwhack.After a brief but hot descent into Spain, we reentered France near the town of Las Illas. It was only midday, so we decided to have lunch at the Hostal dels Trabucayres, which had been hyped up by our guidebooks.Lunch was so good that we decided to stay for dinner and continue on when the sun went down. The restaurant was nice enough to let us stay and relax in their back yard until they reopened at night.

I took an outdoor shower at the town square, and washed some of my clothes. Then, Dan and I had dinner with Alex from Paris and Michael from Hong Kong back at the restaurant.

Dinner took a bit longer than we expected but the vibes were good. At around 10 pm, we headed out from Las Illas. The cool air and darkness gave us new energy, in addition to the espresso shot we each had just after dinner.We saw 3 wild boar and 5 toads during our night walk before getting tired and pitching our tents! We found a flat spot near the border fence and went straight to bed. Only two more days left!

Mas de la Fargassa to Border marker 564 - 26.19km and 1169m gained