We arrived in Ax-les-Thermes last night. It was a long and very hot train to Toulouse (with a few complications). From there we took another train that finally got us to Ax.
From the train station we hiked 500ish meters to our hotel l’Auzaire. Fenn and Ilo spent the rest of the evening watching the World Cup final while
Jim and I napped. I did, however, wake up early enough to catch the one goal that Spain made against the Netherlands in extra overtime…or something.
This morning was spent getting Fenn to see a doctor, so she could have the stitches in her pinky finger taken out. Ilo and I stayed behind at the hotel for an easygoing breakfast. Jim and Fenn were back from the doctor’s before we had even finished eating. We eventually checked out, booked a taxi and stored our luggage in the breakfast room.
The center of Ax is beautiful. There is a thermal foot basin in front of the hospital. At the main square is a fountain with shade trees all around. We took care of our shopping at a Petit Casino market because the nearest grocery to the campsite is a several kilometer hike down a mountain, which is not really practical for last minute staples. Everyone we dealt with in town was friendly, and had perfectly cute southern French accents.
Our taxi driver was a sassy woman with long acrylic finger nails. Each one had a flower motif painted on with glitter and all. The four of us , five if you count the driver, plus our packs, cooler, chairs and groceries fit into her four-door Citroen. We made our way up to Lordat in about 20 minutes.
The tent:
Go Sport 4 vis-à-vis.
It took all four of us and a good, long hour (probably more) to set it up. It’s never easy to set up a tent for the first time, and this one has three rooms and about 50 pegs. There was a very audible sigh of relief and satisfaction once we got it up.
Now I’m inside of it and ready for bed.
The fresh mountain air is working its magic on the likes of me.
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