Table de trois Rois from sanchesse
near Lescun, Nouvelle-Aquitaine (France)
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Trail photos
Itinerary description
Waypoints
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From the plateau de sanchese head wnw toward giant grey rock wall and waterfall by pastures. July August u have to park a km downhill which adds 40min total to walk. The waterfall and grassy plateau is popular picnic spot but in summer you may be mugged from your lunch by horses or cows...
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Less than 100m from waterfall and just by east end of great grey vertical rock u will see a small trail climbing uphill steeply to the left of this rock and right of waterfall. It's not signed and goes steeply up in zig zags. Take this
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U can also go to small bridge at far end of pasture and turn right where it's signed for cabin and as a gr route
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At 1480m and hr after starting leave forest into a vast valley with livestock pastures in summer and giant molar like bare roack peaks on either side. Route is straight ahead toward pass at head of valley and not as steep now
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After hr 45 reach a small ridge nearer too of valley. A huge scree slope is on right and landscapes get much rockier. In summer all this valley is accompanied by musical livestock bells and bleeting sheep. Continue straight ahead on gr trail
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From the source leave the gr trail and go sw along a clear grassy trail with Cairns. It's heading toward a formidable looking rocky pass between barren peaks
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Route quickly gets rockier and navigation a little more demanding. If there were plenty of ppl on main gr route from now on the crowds think dramatically
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After few tricky navigate min path becomes much clearer and heads methodically over rocks to obvious pass above a grass patch
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25min climb beings u to what turns out to be a false pass. Keep following trail up for another few min
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As u near pass take great care of very deep sink holes. If area snow covered turn around and descend it's very dangerous and strong chance of falling in a hole. Otherwise carry on upward gently on a s direction
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U are now on vast lifeless cold and windswept karst plateau and many confusing trrails
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From top veer left east which points u toward pic lhurs track is now hard to make out among all the rock debris
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The vague trail makes its way around edge of a vast rock bowl on Spanish side. To west is pic d'anie and north the fertile french valleys u walked up. Head east climbing slowly
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The path gets even harder to follow as it crosses huge ruptured sheets of bare rock with just a few cairns. At one point I might need hands to climb
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Climb up beside long crack on rock. U may need to use hands. Dangerous in bad weather
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Bend right away from col and head for pass between peak and table. Trail is still complicated
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Last part to col between two is much clearer zig zag path through scree. Climb of ten min
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View east from spectacular pass. Turn left to table and gentle 5min climb up grassy ridge
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The bit after crack up rock face can be tricky. No set path and huge fissuredin Rick. Use extreme care and look for cairns marking the safer crossing points which are like little stone bridges. U will likely get a bit confused and need to use hands as well but just keep heading east (?)
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On way back u will come to a col where u can see sources below. Don't be tempted to descend here as it gets rather tricky. Instead bend to the left around the outcrop back to where u came up
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At plateau sanchese there is a shallow river to splash in and kids to look for fish, a beautiful narrow but tall waterfall lots of cattle and horses and incredible walls of mountain rock all around. Camping is officially forbidden but overnight bobby shouldn't present problems (but don't expect a quiet night with all those bells around cows!). July and August u have to park lower down and walk a km half up dirt road. Rest of yr drive right up.
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