Courtesy of this trip report, the following re-supply points have been identified:
o Hendaye: before starting; several adequate grocery stores are available.
o Arizkun: two small stores with limited, but sufficient selection.
o Les Aldudes: a surprisingly useful quick mart in the gas station.
o Col Bagargui (Irati): very small shop at the ski resort.
o Lescun: a well-stocked medium sized market.
o Candanchu: tiny Supermercado El Bozo (easily missed!)
o Gavarnie: small, but moderately well-stocked grocery
o Salardu: barely adequate small market.
o l’Hospitalet-pres-l’Andorre: barely adequate small market and deli.
o Bolquere: excellent market and great deli.
o Le Perthus: huge stores with everything you could ever want.
Postscript: In retrospect, I didn't use Hendaye, but shopped at St Jean de Luz before starting.
I found some provisions at a bar in Arizkun.
Aldudes had a well-stocked petrol station that was open on Sunday morning.
Col Bagargui had a poorly stocked shop, but was at least open.
Lescun had a good small supermarket.
I went via Col du Somport rather than Candanchu.
Gavarnie had good small supermarket.
Salardu, supermarket was small but OK. I was lucky to catch it open, since it shuts at 1.15pm for the afternoon.
Hospitalet was disappointing. There was nothing open except a hotel.
Bolquere had a good small supermarket that was shut when I arrived, but opened at 4pm.
Arles-sur-Tech had good Spar supermarket that was also shut, but opened at 3pm.
Le Perthus was an absolute grim dump of a town. I would strongly recommend passing straight through without stopping if at all possible. I did eventually find a supermarket that seemed mainly to sell large volumes of cheap alcohol. That tells you all you need to know about the place.
5 comments:
apparently, also Aux Les Thermes and luchon, food can be got, for the back half of the walk. Refuges will be too busy to sell you anything except if you are staying for dinner.
theres also a small shop at Col de Somport we used last year, in the hotel right on the border. The lescun shop is tiny but the gavarnie shop is luxurious by comparison - fresh bread and even fruit!
bon chance
Merci David! I still need to get the scissors out and chop down my £100 worth of HRP maps. Last year I found it quite tricky on the GR11 finding anywhere to buy any food. The Spanish villages tend to be totally closed during the day.
Yes i think food is my biggest single concern, stage 3 and 4 especially, where it gets more remote and goes into Spain more - before that shouldn't be too much of an issue, especially as you are moving fast and its mainly in France, so less siesta! Apparently water can be an issue on these latter stages too, so we'll need to keep an eye on the map and stock up when needed...
David - I found a few random bar restaurant gift shop type places in the early stages in Basque Country. I never had any problem with water on the GR11, possibly because I was doing far longer stages than normal people, so I stood more chance of reaching another good place to stock up. I think the HRP will be tough enough, without having to carry far too much food & water. I'm hoping that the refugios will be a good source of meals.
Hi Chris and David.
Do gites/refuges allow hikers to restock water at their pumps? This would be very useful if they were friendly enough to share the potable water.
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