Walk up Péne Blanque

We were woken up in the early hours as usual be the baying dogs occasionally joined by the donkey. By 09:10, Pete must have been getting bored as we heard small stones being thrown at our bedroom window!
We got up to see a gloriously sunny day. Keith had contacted his friend Mike back home in Rugby for the weather forecast for Andorra last night as he and Pete wanted to drive there (about 100 miles away) and do a Via Ferrata but the forecast was for rain in the afternoon so they delayed that plan for another day.
Elaine had gone off walking, Boyd went to look for cave entrances and Pete and Keith planned on a trip in the Trou du Vent. We decided to go for a short walk but wanted to drive to Mane again to visit the supermarket.
After a snack for lunch back at the gite, Karen and I walked up the nearby peak of Péne Blanque. The route started at La Baderque following the road to the west towards where the two donkeys were kept, which leads to the Fontaine deL'Ours car park, but taking the right turn at a junction also signposted to either the car park or the Péne Blanque. Soon this led to a rough track branching to the left (the route is well marked with yellow stripes of paint).
We followed this track until it suddenly narrowed to a footpath. Just a very short distance beyond this was a small cave entrance next to the bath which had a very strong and cold draught. We didn't even spot this on the way up, only on the way down.
Luckily most of the route was in woods and well shaded because even though the air was cool, it was quite warm in the sun.
The path led uphill gradually, passing a small cairn and red-painted arrow on a rock pointing to the left, which was the route to the Gouffre du Pont de Gerbaut. Soon we reached a col, still in the woods, with views far in the distance to the North and down quite a long way to a huge wooded area.
The path led along the col to the right (to the left was the route to the Gouffre Henne Morte) and in a 100 metres or so ended at a sign announcing the end of the marked route and the start of a section of steeply sloping limestone pavement which rose up to the left forming a large cliff of limestone with a very large drop below.
We clambered and walked along the pavement of deeply rutted and sharp limestone for 100 metres or so and could see it continued for about the same distance again to the highest point.
We didn't bother continuing for the last bit to the highest point but returned to where the pavement started and sat on a grassy area with patches of blooming Thyme watching some lizards on the bare limestone as we ate some flapjack.
We then set off back the same way and arrived back at the gite at about 17:00 to find that Boyd and Elaine had just arrived back from their day's activities but no sign yet of Keith and Pete. (They were back at around 18:00).
In the evening we wandered up the road as on previous evenings to give the two donkeys in nearby fields some carrots.