Stop Hanging around, and get on with it….Oooops !

The day started with great promise, sunshine,peaceful surroundings…after a free nights camping! I was ready for anything …I thought

I set off along the country roads of Arganon, through peculiar landscape, similar to the grounds of the ‘Badlands’ in Canada (where’s that geologist again ?)…and travelling along very quiet roads, with hilltop villages perched on any hills  available,http://www.spain.info/ven/otros-destinos/sos_del_rey_catolico.html%20?l=fr_FR  presumably for protection in ancient times ?

I then travelled over a the Col de Pourtalet,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Col_du_Pourtalet a mountain pass, rising almost to 2,000 mts high, and in between great mountains either side of me, the excitement was building, and then I was up at the top,and crossing into France, Bonjour!

I dropped further into France, intending to go through Eaux Bonnes, and then to a Via Ferrata – De Saila,http://www.laviaferrata.net/topo-via-ferrata-siala.html  as I was passing, ultimately then intending to visit Lourdes, for a restful few days ( I didn’t know then how I would need it !)

So, by midday I was up the Col d’Aubisque at around 1,000mts high, and the start of the Via Ferrata . I was excited ,it being the first that I had done in 2010 (or ever!) and I well remembered the fear as I had crossed the first rope bridge across the stormy torrent of a River below… well it wasn’t much different, very muddy to get down the river bank, and the river was if anything even worse, torrents of water splashing and squirming through the gorge below, as I timidly set off across the river, on a 2 stranded rope bridge (1 above,1 below), but confidence was soon flowing through me, as I quickly crossed that one, and 2 others ,as I crossed and re-crossed the river below me. Then it was onto the rock (or should I say,shale) wall in front of me, and I climbed up,around and over the cliff above me,although water was running down the cliff, I was managing quite well…worse was to come !

I then came to that crucial point ,do I go left,on the difficult route, or right on the really difficult, overhanging route…I could see most of the right hand route,and looking at it, thought I should be able to manage it..so, off I went up, and around to the right, which was quickly above me, not just vertically, but overhanging,so I was having to climb,up and out –surprisingly this relatively mild overhang quickly sapped the strength from my arms, and I was having difficulty holding on, my soaking gloved hands were really struggling to hold onto the protection, as I tried to make upward progress and soon ground to a halt. I couldn’t manage to get up, and neither could I easily go down…so, I went the quick way (not really meaning to !) and fell ! I hadn’t fell far, as my protection devices held me well, and I was left dangling over a drop, several hundred feet off the ground, with no clear idea of how to get out of it. Phew,at least I was safe, and rested on my equipment for a while trying to get some strength back, and putting in another sling and crabs (another mistake,later abandoned !) as secondary protection.

I again tried to get up and over,couldn’t and then decided to retreat as best as I could as there was no one in sight who would be able to help…and I couldn’t remain where I was, and whilst trying to get out my secondary protection slipped, and fell again, but a bigger distance this time, falling against the rock and ironwork and injuring my side/ribs !

There I was,again dangling,hundreds of feet up, only now I was injured, but, I had the advantage of adrenalin pumping through my body ! Abandoning my secondary equipment which I now couldn’t reach, I then did manage to retreat down the route,not easily, but I managed it ! Descending back to the hard/harder choice point, and relatively safety,with a sore side, which was getting worse, and still a difficult climb to do to get out of it ! No point hanging (!) about, up I went, and managed to get up and over this cliff, to an escape route, which I gladly took (caution eventually appearing!) out through the forest,and limped back downhill,feeling sorry for myself,and hurting –a sorry state ! This is a diagram of the bit that undid me…undeterred, I posed for the obligatory ‘happy snap’

  Now, how was I to survive ? I managed to drive to Lourdes, got some supplies, and checked into a campsite,http://www.lourdes-camping.com/  ready for a few days healing…I’ll need it !