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The total costs for the trip come out at £854, £257 was spent getting to the start of the walk - some of which could have been avoided, £327 was spent getting home. This leaves £270 spent during the walk, of which £110 was spent on the rest day (2nts hotel plus meals).
I decided that rather than tie myself down to dates I would book the outward journey and get myself back to the UK from wherever and whenever I decided to finish, pre-trip expenditure was therefore minimal. Also - having done the trip to Gavarnie in reverse last year I was happy not to book anything other than flights.
| Easyjet flight (with hold luggage) from Newcastle to Stansted | £35.49 | |
| Room at 'Days Inn', services near to Stansted Airport | £39.00 | |
| Ryanair flight from Stansted to Pau | £69.99 |
A lot of the cost for the journey outward could be avoided by buying food rather than meals, however I've included everything I spent - I also chose to spend the first night in Gavarnie in a hotel rather than the campsite, the reasons for this were wanting to revisit the excellent hotel used last year, and it would give me a good early start whatever the weather on the first day.
| Meal at Stansted | £8.04 | |
| Shuttle bus to and from Stansted | £8.00 | |
| Bus to Pau railway station | e1.00 | |
| Rail ticket to Lourdes | e7.50 | |
| Lunch in Lourdes - 2 hrs to kill so had a relaxed lunch in a Best Western! | e17.00 | |
| Bus ticket to Luis st Saveur | e7.50 | |
| Fuel for stove | e2.20 | |
| Bus to Gavarnie | e2.00 | |
| Evening meal in Gavarnie | e28.30 | |
| Accommodation in Gavarnie | e53.00 |
I had brought food for Section 3 (9 days) with me from the UK, but not 100% of what was needed, I used the refuges and other places on route to supplement what I carried.
| SECTION 3 | ||
| Campsite - Sandwich, beer and campsite fees | 30/07/10 | e17.00 |
| Refuge de Barroude, soup, omlette, drink | 31/07/10 | e16.00 |
| Camping Forcalla, full evening meal, camp fees, drinks | 01/08/10 | e28.80 |
| Refuge La Soula, meal, accommodation and breakfast | 02/08/10 | e37.00 |
| Refuge Portillon, soup and coffee | 03/08/10 | e6.50 |
| Hospital de Benasque, buffet breakfast! | 04/08/10 | e9.00 |
| No Expenditure | 05/08/10 | |
| Refuge Vielha, breakfast | 06/08/10 | e6.00 |
| Refuge Restanca, sandwich, coffee, orange juice | e14.00 | |
| Refuge Colomers, tuna salad, soup, coffee, orange juice | 07/08/10 | e20.00 |
| REST DAY AT SALARDU | ||
| Supermarket - food for Section 4 | 08/08/10 | e53.00 |
| Accommodation - 2 nights, hotel | e84.00 | |
| Meals - 2 nights, 1 day | e51.00 | |
| SECTION 4 | ||
| No Expenditure | 09/08/10 | |
| No Expenditure | 10/08/10 | |
| No Expenditure | 11/08/10 | |
| Refuge Certascan, breakfast | 12/08/10 | e8.70 |
| No Expenditure | 13/08/10 | |
| No Expenditure | 14/08/10 | |
| No Expenditure | 15/08/10 | |
| No Expenditure | 16/08/10 | |
| No Expenditure | 17/08/10 | |
I followed the guides recommendation to take the night train to Paris, paid for a berth - a great way to travel and not much more than a Hotel for the night. As I was travelling on a Sunday though there wasn't the opportunity to buy food or a meal until the following morning, in fact when I bought my Eurostar ticket a First Class ticket (which included a meal) was actually cheaper than a standard ticket.
| Night Train to Paris | 18/08/10 | e106.00 |
| Eurostar to London | 19/08/10 | e149.00 |
| British Rail fare to Darlington | 19/08/10 | £99.40 |