Day 6-10: 🥾Trekking the GR10 - Through the French 🇫🇷 Pyrenees: Le Sentier des Pyrenees | before Estérençuby to by Lac Gentau

The trail gets real! Steeper climbs, wilder weather 🌦️, and the growing sense of life on the GR10 — here’s how the next stretch unfolded.

Day 6 🥾Trekking the GR10 - Through the French 🇫🇷 Pyrenees: Le Sentier des Pyrenees.

ℹ️Stats:

Weather: sunny ☀️

From: before Estérençuby

Start time: 7.40am

To: past Iraty

End time: 6.45pm

Accommodation: wild camped 🏕️

Terrain: roads, grassy paths, rocky trails, mountains paths

Cicerone guidebook stages: end of stage 6 - & stage 7

🥾Km: 28.71

🥾Miles: 18

🦶Steps: 34,454

Ascent: 1799m

Descent: 1136m

Total Distance 137/955km 14% Done ✅

💰Costs: €15.35 supermarket- avocado, tomato’s, ham, sweets, gluten free cakes, tuna salad in a tin, yogurt & peanuts.

Subjective feeling out of 10 on:

Enjoyment: 8/10

Fatigue: 4/10

Ease of terrain: 5/10

⭐️Highlights: it’s going to get boring, if I keep saying the views! But the views were epic!!

🏔️Challenges: no real challenges, apart from sweating a lot! I’m also very slow at going up hill. I don’t know how to get faster at it!!! Especially in the heat, it’s brutal.

💭Thoughts: is ice cream good for gut health? Can being at altitude affect your digestion? I wonder what my resting HR will be at the end?

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Day 7 🥾Trekking the GR10 - Through the French 🇫🇷 Pyrenees: Le Sentier des Pyrenees.

ℹ️Stats:

Weather: hot & sunny ☀️

From: past Iraty

Start time: 8.15am

To: before Col d’Anhaou

End time: 9pm

Accommodation: wild camped

Terrain: grassy paths, thin mountain tracks, roads, gravel, forested sections.

Cicerone guidebook stages: stage 8 & half of stage 9

🥾Km: 29.57

🥾Miles: 18.5

🦶Steps: 34,577

Ascent: 1383m

Descent: 1397m

Total Distance 166/955km 17% Done ✅

💰Costs: €3.20 ice cream

€11.40 crisps - 3x mini jelly sweets, gf chocolate bars, apple sauce.

€3.20 ice cream

Subjective feeling out of 10 on:

Enjoyment: 8/10 - solid day

Fatigue: 4/10 - all good apart from the uphills!

Ease of terrain: 6/10 - pleased I got the 2nd big climb done 👍

⭐️Highlights: finding water source was a dream come true. To be able to stop, have some lunch, get some electrolytes down me Really did revitalise me for the rest of the afternoon. Plus around 7pm I needed more water and a lovely French lady gave me some. It was so nice drinking cold water! I’ve drunk about 6.5l today.

🏔️Challenges: finding camping towards the end of the day was tough. I didn’t want to do another climb. Luckily found a flat spot, by some water before the next climb.

💭Thoughts: when will this start to get easier!!!

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Day 8 🥾Trekking the GR10 - Through the French 🇫🇷 Pyrenees: Le Sentier des Pyrenees.

ℹ️Stats:

Weather: hot & sunny ☀️

From: before Col d’Anhaou

Start time: 8.04am

To: past refuge Jeandel

End time: 6.45pm

Accommodation: wild camped 🏕️

Terrain: forest, mountain passes, grasses sections, gravel, rocky

Cicerone guidebook stages: end of stage 9, stage 10.

🥾Km: 28.41

🥾Miles: 17.7

🦶Steps:28,717

Ascent: 1700m

Descent: 1183m

Total Distance 194/955km 20% Done ✅

💰Costs: €14 breakfast plate

€3 2x mars bars

€4 orange juice drink

€12 magnum ice cream, 2x snickers, fruit & nuts @ ski resort

Subjective feeling out of 10 on:

Enjoyment: 8/10

Fatigue: 4/10

Ease of terrain: 6/10

⭐️Highlights: heading into the alpine mountains- starting to get high. Luckily there was forest sections on the climb up to 1760m plus it was cloudy. Which made it much more bearable. Did some yoga and stretching before bed. Which I’m noticing is helping a lot!

🏔️Challenges: I’ve got so many bites and scratches on my legs. I really want them to heal up fast so they don’t get infected. I’m putting savlon on every night.

💭Thoughts: I’m still having the same thoughts - when will it get easier!!

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Day 9 🥾Trekking the GR10 - Through the French 🇫🇷 Pyrenees: Le Sentier des Pyrenees.

ℹ️Stats:

Weather: hot & sunny ☀️ 31 degrees

From: past refuge Jeandel

Start time: 8.25am

To: Gîte d’étape de Lhers

End time: 5.20pm

Accommodation: camped ⛺️

Terrain: mountains paths, grassy sections, forest , roads & mountain tracks

Cicerone guidebook stages: stage 11 & 1st part of stage 12

🥾Km: 20.27

🥾Miles: 12.6

🦶Steps: 23,880

Ascent: 625m

Descent: 1395m

Total Distance 214/955km 22% Done ✅

💰Costs: €3.50 strawberry sorbet

€22 supermarket shop - Nutella, sweets, cheese, banana, crisps, baby tomatoes, gf crisps things.

€8.30 camping ⛺️

Subjective feeling out of 10 on:

Enjoyment: 9/10

Fatigue: 3/10

Ease of terrain: 5/10

⭐️Highlights: going forward assume the highlights are always gonna be the views and the mountains. 😍⛰️

🏔️Challenges: going forward the challenges are always gonna be the heat & the mountains. 🥵⛰️

💭Thoughts: thunderclouds in the distance! Hope I can avoid the rain that’s coming! (I did). Such a nice place to camp at and it takes the pressure off finding somewhere to wild camp!

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Day 10🥾Trekking the GR10 - Through the French 🇫🇷 Pyrenees: Le Sentier des Pyrenees.

ℹ️Stats:

Weather: cooler with rain in the afternoon

From: Gîte d’étape de Lhers

Start time: 8.35am

To: by Lac Gentau

End time: 7pm

Accommodation: wild camped 🏕️

Terrain: rocky, roads, forests, mountain paths

Cicerone guidebook stages: stage 12 & half of stage 13

🥾Km: 24

🥾Miles: 15

🦶Steps: 28,051

Ascent: 2206m

Descent: 1205m

Total Distance 238/955km 24.9% Done ✅

💰Costs: €12 coke, sweets, ham & a potato salad

Subjective feeling out of 10 on:

Enjoyment: 8/10 - 2 massive climbs

Fatigue: 4/10

Ease of terrain: 8/10

⭐️Highlights: the most stunning camping spot - overlooking Pic du Midi d’Ossau and Lac Gentau

🏔️Challenges: Really pleased I made it over the pass (Col D’ Ayous 2180m) and down to the lake. I was thinking about stopping on the other side due to the weather.

💭Thoughts: what to do about food over the next few days…. There doesn’t seem to be places to buy it!!

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👉 Ready to climb higher? Continue with Part 3: GR10 Days 11–15 and follow along as the Pyrenean adventure keeps rolling 🥾⛰️🇫🇷

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