Showdown: 2021 vs 2022 Haute Randonnée Pyrénéenne (Part 2)

 This is part 2 of the HRP 2021 vs 2022 showdown. I'll already be on trail by the time you read this!

First, a quick summary of the biggest issues that led to my failure in 2021:

• I continuously went back and forth from towns to the trail
• There's a central section of the HRP where you have to carry 9 days worth of food because there are few refuges (says the guide). I hadn't prepared for that.
• I was going way too many kms. The first few days I did around 30km/day and then upped it to ~40km. I was ascending 1500+ most days and it just wasn't sustainable for me.
• I hadn't read the guide/didn't know what to look for. I thought having a start and end point only would be okay
• I couldn't wash on trail. :[
  
• I had absolutely no plan other than "hike". I love hiking. I'm not a big planner
• I'd planned no rest days.
• I'd thought sleeping in a tent would be fun. It really wasn't.
• I carried way too much food (making my backpack heavier than it needed to be).
  

This year I've put a lot more thought into the journey. I've done some smaller hikes throughout Europe in the past year and a half (97km on the Karhunkierros in Finland, 200km on the GR90 on the Costa Brava, 150km on the GR34, 200km on the GR59) and I learned a lot about backpacking over the half year until now.

I've determined how much food to take and how to read a map to see where resupply is possible. I've wrangled the HRP and GR10 guide books for refuges and other places to stay. I pre-booked some hotels in towns on the GR10 (we'll get to the why in a moment). I limited my walking time per day to 25km and will do my utmost to stick to it. It's not a race. It's a marathon. I've done hundreds of other small things to improve my journey.

Here's in simple bullet-point format what I'm planning to do differently:

• I'll do the first few days of the journey on the GR10. I hate being dirty and find it difficult to sleep in a tent by myself in the forest. Due to my lack of planning on the last attempt I had to do this way more often than I can apparently stomach. I figured that since I sleep much better in the tent on an actual campground/at least with some other people around that it'd be my best bet to camp where others are camping if possible. This is easier on GR10. And I booked a few hotels as well to make the first days easy on myself. (I've also already walked that section of the "HRP" and I'm not a super strict completionist. I just want to walk.)
• I'll do the difficult 9 day food-carry section (mentioned above) on the GR10. This will be from Gavarnie to L'hospitalet-pres-de-l'Andorre.
• I will stick to the trail and not go to the bigger towns (and definitely not to Biarritz...). This one's probably going to be tough after a few days. But:
• Rest days are now mandatory. I booked a hotel on the 9th day for two days. I'll be staying there for the entire two days and do nothing at all. (Hopefully this'll erase my urge to go into town...) There are a few other points where I know there's a campground/camping site with other people where I'll be taking rest days. (Read: I kind of planned my journey this time.)
  
• 25km a day limit
• Sleeping in a tent still won't be fun. Buuut I'll have to make due. And I'll stick to places where other people are around as explained above. I know approximately where I'll be when and how many days it'll take me. This makes it easier to sleep in tents versus refuges/hotels as I know when I'll have to camp and when I can sleep in a bed. (It takes some of the stress off my mind!)
  
• I'm gonna carry a lot of food but instead of taking meals in towns/trail restaurants I'll empty my own food stores first. I've also looked up resupply points so really won't have to stress about "running out of food" (and therefore not eating what I had in backpack too often...).
• Wildnerness wipes. I'd bought them last year but didn't take them due to weight. This year they're already packed and I'm not bothered by the slight extra weight since they're consumables. They'll not weigh me down super long/forever!
• A treat at the end. There's a lovely beach town on the Mediterranean coast near the end of the trail (not Banyuls where the trail ends) to which I'll be going to relax after finishing the GR10/HRP mix.
• Keeping the end point open: I don't HAVE TO do the entire trail if I decide I don't feel like it. I've already seen the entire stretch from Arles to Banyuls-sur-Mer so if I feel like I've had enough after Lac des Bouillouses then I'll either find another hike (I am so hyped to do the Tour des Ecrins and GR5 at some point!) or just go home/go to the beach to relax and then go home. Hiking should be fun first and foremost. I'm done stressing myself out about whether I'm doing "the right" trail or whether I've actually "completed" the HRP. I know I won't "complete" it fully. I'm not willing to carry 9 days' worth of food and go into almost total wilderness by myself at this point. (But that doesn't mean I NEVER will complete that section. It just means "not right now" and "maybe once I've gained some more experience. After all, you gotta level up before you for the big bosses!)

I do want to say at this point that my "plan" is still a bit loose. I'm still not a big planner and I like keeping things just a bit open. It would've also been slightly pointless to plan too far ahead. I can't really book any hotels for the second half of the trail because it gets much too difficult to try to determine when I might be where (and most hotels don't allow refunds/cancellations there). I also can't book refuges so far ahead. That'll have to be done when I get closer to them.

But I'm fine with that. I know where I'll be (roughly) the first two weeks and have some nice stays planned in several places. And I think that's enough. For now.

Will it work out? Only time will tell. By the time you get this post I'm probably somewhere around Lescun. I'll be in Candanchu soon and then ascend to Pombie. It'll be fun!

And in the meantime you're more than welcome to follow me on Instagram: @jimneyhikes

I'll be posting pictures of my GR10/HRP journey throughout!

- Jimney