Pyrenees Fitness Trek

Inquire: bellasomerset@gmail.com

£350 pp, organisation and yoga fee, then you’ll spend roughly 60EUR each day in addition

CONNECT deeply with yourself, nature, and other like minded people.

Hike the beautiful GR10 in the French Pyrenees and I will accompany you as your group organiser along this well trodden path that I am familiar with.

Enjoy calming, grounding beauty that this world offers and experience the value of living the Simple Life for a week.

Maybe you have been to one too many parties or looking to gain more professional clarity and align on your path of purpose – the mountains will give you perspective on what’s working, what’s not, and allows you to form clear action steps to propel your life forward in a way that feels good to you.

This is a physically challenging but mentally peaceful trek so a good level of fitness is required. We’ll be walking for 5-6-7 hours a day up and down steep mountain paths. We will be carrying what we bring.

Bella’s role as a Mountain Leader and Yoga Instructor is to facilitate safety, support and management throughout the experience. I will book the Mountain Gites and Refuges and Hotels and you will pay on route for your accommodation, food and transport (roughly €60 a day excluding flights) Removing your logistical nightmare of planning and discovering magical places – it’s a beautiful trek and you’ll feel revived and content when you finish each day and the the week.

Bella’s Bio

Bella is a Mountain Leader and Yoga Instructor. She combined her experience of the healing power of trekking in dramatic mountains, and her own journey with mental health, to form an adventurous, connecting experience that gives clients space and time to find their own balance and peace with life and form deep, lasting friendships

Itinerary:
Day 1: London – Perpignan – Villefrance: We’ll meet at Perpignan train station or airport if we’re on the same flight. We will do a mini walk to the top of the Fort and have dinner in a charming restaurant.

Day 2: Villefrance to La Caranca: Getting the Little Yellow Train which winds through the Pyrenees and is a drawing attraction in itself. We get off at Planes to commence our days walking. We will be walking into the afternoon and thunderstoms are prone to this valley. La Caranca is a remote mountain refuge nestled in an beautiful valley.

Day 3: La Caranca to Manet: 5 hours walking up then down to the charming village of Mantet nestled in the beautiful valley.

Day 4: Manet to Refuge les Marelles: ascending up for 30mins before a steady descent via Py where we will re-stock on supplies for our lunches.

Day 5: Refuge les Marelles to Les Cortalets: We stray off the GR10 and go via Mt. Canague summit making for a tough hike that almost turns into a climb near the top. This is an exhilarating day with panoramic views of the Pyrenees. This is the high point of the trek – enjoyment and altitude – before descending down to Les Cortaletes.

Day 6: Les Cortalets to Batere/Perpignan: steady descent.

Day 7: Batere – Arles – Perpignan – UK: Gradual descent to Ales where we will get a bus to Perpignan and then a taxi to the airport for an evening flight to the UK.

Check List

  • Ear plugs – the refuges sometimes have a snorer
  • Waterproof Jacket
  • Walking boots – with ankle support
  • Walking socks
  • Pillow
  • Dry towel – a specialist travelling towel
  • Underwear
  • 1 liter Water bottle – ideally one that doesn’t leach chemicals in the water – Whole foods
  • Sunglasses
  • Backpack
  • Waterproof cover for backpack
  • 2 trekking tops
  • 1 sleeping top
  • Sleeping leggings/ PJs/ tracksuit (warm)
  • Sun cream
  • Head torch
  • Warm fleece
  • Warm had
  • Sun hat
  • Trekking trousers (the sexy kind that can become shorts)
  • Trekking poles (optional)

Supplements (optional)

  • Spirulina – detoxes free-radicals in the blood – when we lose weight toxins stored in the fat get released into the blood, so it is good to eat more greens to clean the blood
  • Omega 3 pills – reduces inflammation around the joints and balances mood

Review:

I wanted to be in nature and escape the everyday noise of the city and life. I was keen to reconnect with nature, with community, with myself. The goal-oriented nature of point to point mountain hiking allows one to reconnect in all these ways. There is an immediate sense of escapism when hiking, and as a busy lawyer, with two young children, having this time effectively to myself allowed me to recalibrate. I came back invigorated and refreshed. I would highly recommend this trip and any of Bella’s other treks to anyone looking to boost their physical fitness, whilst rebooting their mind.

Glen A

Review:

Just returned from an amazing trip trekking the GR10 in the the Pyrenees for a week with Bella’s Magic Mountains.
It was exactly where I needed to be. Bella’s trips realign your mental clarity and gives you the perspective of what’s not working in your life so you can take action when you get home.
We didn’t so much focus on what you eat but why you’re eating. We cut out coffee, alcohol and sugar and I took a digital detox which was something personal I wanted to do before I left.
I loved the minimal living of carrying around a 40L backpack with everything you owned. So uncomplicated.
The trek was tough sure but the mountains are an incredibly powerful place to revaluate your goals and get that precious and rare peace of mind.
Back home I’m feeling incredibly focused, calm, fit, appreciative and motivated keeping my goals in the forefront of my mind.

Glen A