L'Esprit de Montagne

I'm back home now. Have been for almost a week and have started getting a bit more mobile and less tired. Walking up and down mountains is much easier than shuffling around a house on crutches.

Thanks are overdue to everyone who helped when I found myself stuck on the mountain, and that's the purpose of this blog:

- Ben was a star; setting off down the mountain when we found we couldn't raise anyone by phone. I worried that he would himself have an accident on the way, which would leave us in a much worse position, but intermittent text contact when bubbles of reception allowed kept me reassured. When he could he contacted the Gite d'Etape in Aulus les Bains (via James at home) who called the emergency services. Eventually and after not insignificant battles with fallen trees he arrived in Aulus.

- the bar in Aulus (sorry, don't know the name) which was Ben's first port of call; not for a drink but because that was the first sign of life. They were very helpful and hospitable even though very busy trying to finish their restaurant ready to open for the peak of the season.

- Helene and Christophe at the Gite d'Etape Le Presbytere in Aulus. This had been our destination for the night. Helene and Christophe (and others in the community) were very supportive to Ben, who stayed in the Gite for nothing that night (to be rectified as soon as I can get something in the post).

- the rescue services; the local police who spoke to Ben but more importantly the Secours de Montagne (part of the Gendarmerie) from Tarbes who came out by helicopter in the dark to find me and plucked me off the mountainside through the trees. Scary but I felt in such safe hands.

- the staff at the hospital in St Gaudens, all of whom were warm and friendly, caring and very competent, without exception, even to the point of giving me and Ben a lift to the station when we left the hospital because they weren't able to track down a taxi in time for the train we were hoping to catch!

- the staff at the Courtyard Marriott near Toulouse Airport, who also couldn't do enough for me, from allocating the most convenient room, to paying for a taxi when there was no navette available to bring me back to the hotel from the airport after the abortive first attempt to leave.

And that really sums up the kind of welcome I've received wherever I have been in the Pyrenees - "l'esprit de montagne" has made my trip what it was. I will be back.