At 9am on Thursday 18th September 2008 we land in Pau airport, get a Chevrolet Matiz and drive to the Spanish boarder – to Pourtalet pass (Col du Pourtalet).
Our first hotel is an old white two-story building at 1800m above sea level right on the pass – the only building at the French side of the Spanish village El Pourtalet. We move in and hurry on to our first adventure which starts a couple of km back in France. Our track goes by the main summit of the region – 2884m high Pic du Midi d’Ossau. We see it all the time during the trip (and we see it frequently during other days as well). The track leads us to the rest house Refuge de Pombie (2031m), then to the passCol de Suzon (2127m) and to the summit Pic Saoubiste. We see goats and horses during the walk. The weather changes frequently – a cold wind is followed by warm and sunny, then drizzle. We spend 5 hours in total – not bad for the first day.
