One or two word summary: Ooops.
It started off well. We were hiking before 9AM and the temperatures were pleasant with low humidity. No wind, though, so we were glad to get out early. After climbing up through the huge open-cast ochre mines of the Colorado de Rustrel (which once produced 40,000 tons of ochre a year), we walked through a lovely but silent and empty countryside towards the large village of Viens.
It has been a recurring theme of the hike so far: no-one, or practically so, on the hiking trails. And it isn't as if we have been hiking along unknown paths -- they are for the most part Grandes Randonnées... well-maintained national hiking trails. You'd think that everyone else knows something we don't (like maybe that it is hot?). Today was actually a little more populated -- we saw two hikers in the morning, and a few more at the Oppedette Gorge in the afternoon.
Ah yes, the gorge. The idea was to hike along the western rim trail, with intermittent views down, and a signpost that said 3.5km to the far end (at around 1:45PM) left us feeling pretty optimistic. However the trail went up and down continuously and was extremely rough, with loose rocks and karst pavement (think a field of toadstools... made of sharp-edged stone) everywhere, so going was tiring and slow.
Perhaps that explains why, when we came to a signpost that seemed to suggest that in order to get to the end of the gorge we should climb down a steep ladder into a cave, we followed instructions and got onto the wrong path. Instead of a gentle walk out to the end of the gorge, we went down an incredibly steep trail with ladders and iron bars and rails to the bottom of the gorge. It was a good thing we both have good balance and upper body strength, because it wasn't easy. On the other hand, if someone had been with us for whom the descent presented serious difficulties then I would probably have looked at the map and seen that there were two alternatives.
But I didn't, so we found ourselves on the bottom of the gorge walking up the (mostly dry) riverbed, and every 50 meters or so being directed by trail-markers to climb up the near vertical walls to avoid stagnant pools. It was exhausting... and that was before we had to climb (along a similarly challenging Klettersteig / Via Ferrata (climbing trail)) out of the gorge up to the eastern rim trail... which was significantly higher than the one we had been on.
At around 4PM we staggered with shaking legs into the village of Oppedette and bought mineral water from the wise-cracking grandmotherly owner of the local bar/cafe ("Oh yes, people come here all the time saying they aren't going to walk another step..."). We finally got to our Gîte (like a mountain refuge but not in the mountains) at around 5:15, considerably more tired than planned.
As I said, ooops.
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