Day 31 : Aulus les Bains to Goulier

A nice cool morning hike throught the forest and up high again in the sunny afternoon. The climb to Port de Saleix was nicely graded and we took an alternate route once again to avoid walking an extra day on a long W into the storm that was forcast for the following day. The route to Auzat was nice an shady and we made good time along the soft duff trail in the valley. The map (last updated in 2001) was not 100% consistent with the trail, and we never found the forested route from Saleix to Auzat, so we took the blistery hot road for this leg. The gaurdian at the campground in town showed us how to get to the connecting trail to Goulier - the final small climb to the end of our day. Goulier is a charming mountain town overlooking the valley below. We had the nice woman at the office de tourisme in Aulus make us a reservation for the Auberge (a reasturant that has rooms for rent) in Goulier and it was a very nice place that is run by a small family. Dinner was amazing, which is often the case at the auberges we have visited. Unfourtunatly, we think the water here made us a little sick the following day. We usually filter all of the water we drink - even the stuff from the gites if we can - but we drank some water with dinner in Goulier and the next day both of us felt a bit ill. As of this posting however, we are fine - it's likely that we are just not used to the water.