The REFUGE: A French Vacation for the Young (at Heart) by Nimrod Negev

Accommodation is free and is not allowed for more than two consecutive nights. If you come in the middle of the hiking season, you must make arrangements with the “Refuge” maintainers so as not to arrive when the place is occupied. I hiked at the edge of the seasons and the above were always free. The distances between one refuge and another are a day’s walk or less. The hikers who use the place usually take with them the dirt they create, and chop wood for those who come after them, so that the wood will be dry and easy to light.

Often, they also leave behind small items for those who come after them. In this way, we crossed the Pyrenees, on a water trip to the ocean. A month of walking with free overnight stays, without any problems. (To be safe, we took a light tent with us in our backpacks, we only used it once). In order to stock up on food, we had to immediately go down to a nearby village, where, sometimes, we also had to order our needs a day in advance.
The food items we chose to stock up on were usually lightweight, small in volume and high in calories (mixing with water does the magic of food creation). Things like tahini, soup/puree/hot dish powders. Flour for making pita bread. Sausages and “shuluf”, for instant energy a tube of condensed milk and/or dried fruit. Since we were hiking at an altitude of 1600 m and above, which is exactly the seam line where the eternal snow begins, we had to learn, and very quickly, how to hike at these heights. A lesson in itself.

We hiked mainly (but not too diligently) on the trail called the GR10, which is a cross-Pyrenees trail on the French (more developed) side. 

Sometimes we encountered travelers who made circular routes (they left their car at a certain point and at the end of their day or two of hiking, returned to their car). These travelers were an unfailing source of bartering in products. When we arrived in the Basque Country, it was precisely the season when the shepherds raised their flocks of sheep to graze in the heights. Therefore, they repopulated their seasonal farms. Thus, we had the opportunity to spend the night with such a lone shepherd, to watch the arduous process of manual milking and turning the milk into cheese. With her, we also had the opportunity to “feast” on fresh dairy products, which we had not tasted for a long time, and vegetables that we had difficulty taking with us. Of course, we also volunteered to participate in the routine work that we were capable of, so as not to feel like leeches. We ended our trip in St Jean-de-Luz at a Basque restaurant on the ocean shores. There are books about these “refuges” and how to call to make a reservation. They are also marked on 1:25000 maps.

A little about the author

Nimrod Negev (His original name is Norbert Felstein) He was born in Paris. He grew up there, did his military service here… At the beginning of his career he worked in civil engineering, later he studied geography (later he taught the subject in high schools and colleges). He also studied archaeology and worked in the field for about 15 years, 13 of them as a district archaeologist.