de Peyreget -- on that mountain's western flank for the night and so began my third descent of the day in the knowledge that, when walking the HRP, what goes down, must come up. Almost every day of walking the Haute Route involves at least one major climb; the stages set out in Mr Joosten's guide usually contrive to deposit you at the foot of the following day's climb so that it can be dispensed with before the early-afternoon heat sets in. Furthermore, climbing west to east early in the morning usually keeps you in the shade for a good couple of hours. With the Pic du Midi d'Ossau dominating my actual and metaphorical horizons, I gleefully tumbled my way the 500-odd metres down to the valley below. I came to a halt at the Gave de Bious and re-filled my reservoir. I was hot, sweaty and beginning to feel knackered. The climb up to the Cabane de Peyreget was a very steep 300 metres and I was thoroughly relieved to arrive and remove my 25-plus kilo pack. There is a narrow winter room for walkers to shelter in at the cabane , but it didn't make for an appealing dormitory, so I pitched my tent in front of the building. Sunset lights up the Pic du Midi d'Ossau Later in the evening I watched a file of around thirty teenagers with full packs, labouring up towards the Lac de Peyreget. Even at a distance they looked distinctly British and