Epic Hikes of the World ( PDFDrive )

Tand four-slide mega-swimming pool, and take them hiking up steep hills in the
Pyrenees for two days instead.
I didn’t expect it to go well. Especially as back then walking for any decent
distance would often be met by whining. Yet it became the hands-down holiday
highlight of that year, thanks almost entirely to a pure-bred Pyrenean donkey
named Lazou.
On the first morning of our hike we met Lazou and her owner Marie at Bernicaze
Farm, not far from Arras-en-Lavedan, near Lourdes, in southwest France’s Hautes-
Pyrénées. It was clear she was a well-loved donkey with shining eyes and a healthy
coat, and nothing like the ragtag flea-ridden mule stereotypes you used to see at
the seaside.
So it felt like a great privilege when we were entrusted to lead her away from the
farm and into the wilderness shortly afterwards. Particularly as we had no phone
reception or concrete idea of where we were going. Luckily Marie had equipped us
with paper maps and some meticulously detailed instructions, my favourite of which
was ‘follow [the path] for 800m until you find three unusual fir trees, planted in a
triangle’.