for the days ahead before hitching back to Gavarnie where we would be staying for the next couple of nights at the Hotel L'Astazou (named for one of the Cirque's 3,000 metre peaks). Like many French hotels, L'Astazou is a symphony in chintz, but the proprietor, Mme Gaby -- a chain-smoking femme d'un certain age , with a wit as dry as the Sirocco -- is a wonderful cook and we took advantage of her culinary skills in an attempt to stock up on calories for our imminent exertions. In view of our impending seven-day walk to Salardu, we thought it prudent to have a practice-run for Fiona to limber-up and on our last day off we scuttled up and down Pimn again. Fiona managed this no problem at all and so we spent our last evening enjoying dinner chez Mme Gaby and looking forward to the epic walk that lay ahead of us. View of L'Astazou from Pimn From Gavarnie, the HRP climbs south-east for three hours, in steep zigzags at first, past the Refuge des Espuguettes (2,027m) and on up to the Hourquette d'Alans at 2,430 metres. The route from Gavarnie shares the same path as the climb to Pimn, until a fork in the path 200 metres below the Hourquette, so it was all beginning to be very familiar, although no less enjoyable for that. As we climbed to the Hourquette, I fell into conversation with an indigenous teacher who had brought his class out to the