This was to become the hardest day of them all so far. It was very hot and the first part of the stage ended in some crossroads in the middle of nowhere and there was no chance after that (I later learned) to get hold of water. The track then continued steeply uphill on a surface made up of big rocks for the good part of the rest of the afternoon with no shade to be found anywhere. Doing this hour after hour can make anyone utter primal cries 🙂 The slope down into the last valley was v-e-r-y steep with a lot of roots and loose, big stones to stumble on. Halfway down I went out of water, although I had gone easy on it all day long, and I was really exhausted. The GPS track information wasn’t very accurate either but luckily I was pointed in the right direction by two different gentlemen at two different occasions.

A cold beer tastes like fine champagne after such hardships and after also having had a liter of water I felt fully recovered.

I took a taxi to a casa rural at the outskirts of Mogent and was greeted by a young couple that took really good care of me and even made me dinner although it was quite late in the evening.

But what had happened that day made me think of days to come when GR-7 was to disappear into a big natural park where it continued for several days and I decided to try to find a different route instead of walking round all day being anxious for not finding water or for not having water enough.