Indoor meet 20th. March 2003.

A very large group of members turned up to hear Rosemary and Garrey’s account of their traverse of the Pyrenees which took place last summer. What an account and journey it turned out to be. Travelling from west to east, from Hondarribia on the Atlantic coast to Banyuls-Sur–Mer on the Mediterranean coast, and although there are a few different ways of traversing the mountains Garrey explained that they tried to keep to the spirit of the original route.

The distance to be encountered would be 500 miles with 150,000 feet of ascent and descent. The guide book states about 45 days travel and Rosemary and Garrey completed the journey in 47 days, a remarkable feat taking into account off days and bad weather days which included ferocious hail storms. During the middle section of the traverse they met up with Tim Mason at Lescun who trekked with them for a 3-week period, which I believe initially, It started off with many days searching for gas.

Garrey mentioned that the people they encountered were very friendly, that is until they descended to Torla to find their sleeping bags missing, all was revealed later however when the expected meeting with the Club took placed, they were on holiday in the area.

Slides of the Ordesa valley and the Breche de Roland were shown which is very familiar territory to the club having spent holidays there before. At this point Garrey mentioned that the typical day was turning out to be 3000 feet up, along a ridge then 3000 feet down, seldom flat. Tim had to leave them at Luchon his holiday over and he went back carrying a lot of extra gear that rosemary and garrey had discovered were extraneous to requirements.

Eventually the last peak was in sight then the decent to the Mediterranean after an incredible journey of 47 days only to find every campsite in the area was full to overflowing. Therefore the remaining 2 weeks of their holiday was spent in an hotel.

The journey was completed with a train journey to where they started. Both Rosemary and Garrey showed and explained to us some of the lightweight kit they found necessary to take.Their Berghaus rucksack which weighed 5 and a half pounds was replaced witha Go-lite one which weighed one pound and was 14 pound when full of kit.Most of the time they walked with a base layer and shell garment when necessary, having offloaded light fleeces on to Tim at Luchon. Hat and light gloves were also carried. They walked with one set of gear on and one set of being cleaned, and carried Helly Hanson long vest and leggings for emergency plus a foil blanket. Their tent was a Terra Nova Solar designed for one person but accommodating two intimately! An Epi gas stove and maps and 3 guide books, which weighed ore than their tent.

For insulation a foam mat and a Thermarest, Garrey explained he would discard the mat in favour of another Thermarest. The kit was completed with a compact zoom camera. It was a very captivating accounts of an incredible journey, by my calculations the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest five times in 47 days. Fred Craddock gave the vote of thanks to conclude a memorable meeting.

David Aitchison.