Day 18: Luz to Lac d'Aubert

Thanks to some advice from Frederick and a deeper look at the map we decided to take an alternate route that would put us in the mountains tonight by bypassing some of the section to Barege.  We spent the first part of the morning hiking along the road to Barege as the pre-Tour de France enthusiasts sped by us on the bicycles up to the steep moutains 'the Giant' ahead.  We then turned off into national park for our highest climb of the trip up to Col de Matemets.  We climbed through the burning sun (we'd pay for this later) past ancient stone cabins and hanging mountain top lakes filling from snow melt.  Eventually we reached the pass and had a rewarding view of the complex of lakes below. We picked our way down boulders and scree to the designated camping spot which- though likely the most beautiful camping spot- was horribly lumpy and swarmed madly by the densest fog of mosquitoes we've encountered yet.  We quickly set up the tent and climbed in to eat our soup while the mosquitoes lined the outside of the mesh.  We were then overtaken by a giant pack of sheep with bells around their necks, serenading us in the familar caucophone of the Pyrenees grazers.  Eventually, as with every night, we fell into a deep sleep exhausted by the relentless climbing and rocky descent of the Pyrenees.  We've never worked so hard for daily mileage.  In the states we're able to do high mileage days, but here we find ourselves comfortably able to do about 10 a day and definitely pushing it hard to hit 15. The combination of daily elevational gain and loss with the rocky, slippery, muddy terrain creates a slower pace than we'd expected. But, the beauty of the mountains and the delicious food has kept our spirits high.