Schedule

My schedule for the Haute Route is fairly ambitious.

I plan to start on Friday 1st July at about 5.30pm, as soon as I step off the bus at Hendaye.

My return flight from Girona is booked for Monday 25th July, which gives me 23 full days (plus a few hours on the evening of 1st July) to complete the coast to coast.

I'm not sure if this is feasible, but I managed the GR11 in 23 days last year, and I'm hoping the HRP might take about the same time.

Provisional schedule:
http://chris-upson.com/HRP/HRP_Stages_v2.xls

Self Powered

I just found this great blog by David Lintern, also planning on hiking the HRP in July:
http://selfpowered.blogspot.com/2011/05/planning-haute-route-pyrenees.html

Re-supply points

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.

Why?

Why would anyone want to hike across the Pyrenees?

Here's the answer:
http://www.jameslomax.com/books/1314/the-pyrenees-mountains