Other aspects of the planning are now moving forward. I've bought my first train tickets - for the train to London and the TGV from Paris to Hendaye. I had hoped to sort out my Eurostar London to Paris leg and Paris hotel using an airmiles voucher and airmiles but was tharted by the fact that the return train booking is not available yet - will have to wait until the last week in April and will do all the return legs then.
Just bought a pair of yaktrax which arrived today
- these may pull me out of sticky patch if or more likely when I encounter snow and ice. My wife has had a pair all winter for walking the trainee guide dog in the snow and ice and found them brilliant. Yes I know I'm going in June but you can still get significant lying snow on the higher passes such as the Hourquette d'Arre as can be seen by these photos taken on June 22nd.
The two photos have led me to discover what looks to be a good account of a GR10 crossing which I shall read after posting today's entry.
I also had very helpful conversations with one of the Bolton MRT who works at Go Outdoors in Wigan.
This opened up the boots v shoes question again. As a MRT volunteer he sees many ankle injuries which would have been prevented or at least had less effect were a good boot worn. He did make a recommendation - not cheap - but I may go for it as they are very lightweight yet extremely firm. The other advice that he gave was regarding cookers. I've been doing a bit of web research and think I've narrowed it down to either the Jetboil or MSR Pocket Rocket. The Pocket Rocket would also require some cooking pan (MSR Alpine Stowaway seems best - can also store the rocket inside it). The other one we discussed was the MSR Reactor which is extremely fast but at over £100, very expensive.
There's a couple of useful video reviews - comparison and this.
Would still be good to see the odd small donation coming through for either Guide Dogs or British Heart Foundation - click the links for the justgiving sites.
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