In early September 2002 Jan and I went to the Pyrenees for the first time. Unusually for us, for a trip below the snow-line, we booked on a 6 day organised trek with a guide, Hilary Sharp (the wife of Jon de Montjoye, the mountain guide that I did most of my ski mountaineering with).
The trek covered the area between Gavarnie in France and Torla in Spain with the Ordesa Gorge (the Grand Canyon of Europe) in between.
If you would like a black and white print as a memento of your trip, all of the black and white images are available. They were taken with a Mamiya 6 camera on Ilford 220 film and are available as high quality hand made darkroom prints in a range of sizes from 40x30cm to 70x70cm (size refers to mount and frame, image is a few cm smaller).
They all have a 6 digit number at the end of the title to uniquely identify the negative to help ordering – just type this number into the search box in the World Landscapes Gallery and it will show the image and ordering information. Not all images are included so if you can’t find the ones that interest you just send me an email, quoting the negative reference number, using the Contact Form on this website and we’ll sort out the details between us.
We drove down to Harpenden and stayed with relatives ready to go to the airport, leaving our car in Harpenden for the duration of the trip.
We took the train from Harpenden to Gatwick and then flew to Toulouse at 1.45pm with British Airways. From there we caught the train to Tarbes and a taxi for the last bit to Lourdes Hotel du Petit Languedoc, one of the few hotels where, when laying on the bed my bottom touched the floor – the mattress was well and truly worn out! We walked around Lourdes for a few hours, it was quite an eye opener and everything was so commercial! It’s the only place where, inside Pizza Express, we’ve seen a patient lying on a hospital trolley being helped to eat by a Nun. All of the ambulances were sponsored by MacDonalds, Pizza Express, etc. with so much advertising that it was difficult to spot that they were in fact ambulances. There was also an impromptu race with Nuns sitting in wheelchairs being pushed at the run by handsome young men. So much ‘kiss me quick’ gifts and religious artefacts for sale at exhorbitant prices.
In the morning we met the other couple, Ann and Malcolm, and our guide Hilary in Lourdes and then made our way down to Gavarnie (1365 m), a small village in the Pyrenees mountains. For our first day we had a gentle day walk to the Col de la Bernatoire (2336 m) and the near-circular lake just beyond, the Lac de la Bernatoire. The weather was hot and sunny with good views everywhere, just right for the start of a trek – it makes such a difference when you see the grand views and the lie of the land. We retraced our steps from the Col to join the GR10 track that wound its way down to Gavarnie along a balcony path and then through alpine meadows (about 7 hours).
Another good day, we walked from Gavarnie up the Vallee des Pouey Aspe to the Port de Boucharo (a col at 2270 m). The views from here were spectacular. From here the knees took a fair pounding as we descended down the track to Bujaruelo (1338 m). The well earned break by the Roman bridge over the river was much appreciated in the afternoon sun. From here we walked through the woods to the road and then followed this to the village of Torla (1030 m). My feet were telling me we had just finished quite a long day (9 hours)!
We had a disappointing start to the day when we discovered that one of Jan’s new trekking poles had been stolen from the hostel that we stayed in. Trekking poles were not allowed in the upstairs dormitory areas and had to be left at the foot of the stairs. We rushed to the local outdoors shop to buy a new pole.
It was dry all day but with clouds building it looked like the weather was changing. We caught the bus to the Ordesa Gorge car park (1310 m). From here we headed south up steeply to the Faja de Pelay. A spectacular balcony track part-way up the walls of the gorge. We were walking through trees and steep alpine slopes with continuous stunning views of the Ordesa Gorge. The path eventually weaved down to the Mares Tail Waterfall (Cascada Cola de Caballo) right at the end of the Cirque de Soaso. A good track then led us back along the north side of the river, past lots of small falls in the foot of the gorge, to the car park (7.5 hours).
Today we were heading back to France via the Breche de Roland, a huge gash in a line of cliffs above Gavarnie. Once more we caught the bus from Torla at 7 am to the Ordesa Gorge car park, with blue skies and sunshine above. We made good time up the gorge reaching the Mares Tail falls in about 2 hours. Then a steep path led up through the walls of the Cirque de Soaso to the Cirque de Goriz above, to arrive at the Goriz Hut (2200 m) at 11.30 am (4 hours), which was shut! The views from above the Cirque de Soaso, down the length of the Ordesa Gorge, were fantastic and made for some good photos. It was turning colder now and clouding over as we headed along the Faja Luenga. At the Llano y Cuello de Millarts (2457 m) we opted for the higher route to the Breche de Roland. The last section of this was over some very unusual rock formations which looked like a glacier made of rock; a jumbled array of huge rock crevasses that needed great care to negotiate. Before we could reach the Breche we had to get down from this high area. Without resorting to climbing there appeared to be just the one place where the descent could be made; a steep scree run. From here it was a straightforward route to the Breche de Roland (2807 m), which we reached at 3 pm, just as it started to rain and thunder started rumbling above us.
The Breche was a very impressive place as you can see from the black and white photos. In view of the change in the weather we didn’t hang around but descended the Glacier de la Breche on the north side using the well worn track. It looked as though it was just a permanent snow field rather than a glacier with crevasses all over the place. We didn’t need to rope up and trekking poles were enough for security. We arrived at the Refuge de la Breche de Roland (2587 m) about 3.50 pm and settled in for the night. The storm didn’t come to anything, thankfully.
The weather had closed in but we decided to continue with the plan to climb the peak Le Taillon. However, the other couple in our group decided that they would prefer not to go as the weather wasn’t good, so it was just Jan, Hilary and me that left the hut at 8 am. We quickly crossed the glacier to reach the Breche at 8.40 am. From here we headed up westwards, weaving around the huge fin of rock next to the Breche. Then the climb up became more reminiscent of a day on Munro’s in Scotland. A narrow track on a rocky ridge covered in fresh snow, not too much exposure and next to no views because of low clouds. We reached the top of Le Taillon (3144 m) at 9.30 am, just 1.5 hours from the hut. From here we had a brief glimpse of the view before it closed in even more and started snowing again. It was very windy too. One to return to on a good day! We descended quickly, reaching the hut at 11 am.
After a bite to eat we left the hut at midday, now back to full strength with all 5 of us. The track down headed northwest along a zigzag path to a waterfall which we descended aided by chains fixed to the rock face to one side, then waded across the river to reach the track on the other side. Not one to do after heavy rain! Fortunately, it was warm and we soon dried off. We were back in Gavarnie at 3pm.
Our last day and the other couple decided to stay in the village all day so Jan Hilary and I went off on our own. We wanted to finish on a high so we decided to go up Pimene. A shapely peak that stands out from the main ridge to give good views of the higher mountains around. We started at 8 am and took the track to the Refuge des Espuguettes. From here it was along a good track across broad open slopes to a gap in the ridge running down to the south from Pimene. Then round to the east side and up a short scramble to reach the ridge and easier ground led to the top. Pimene (2801 m) reached at 12.15 pm. We stayed on the top in the hot sunshine for 45 minutes. For the descent we decided to stay on the ridge and came down at the gap in the ridge where we had crossed to the east on the way up. Then down to the hut and a leisurely break, more mountain photos; this is a great viewpoint too (see last black and white photo above). Then we retraced our tracks to reach Gavarnie a bit before 4 pm. After a drinks break it was back to the hostel to collect our gear and be driven back to Lourdes by Hilary. This time we were in the Hotel des Pays-Bas.
Gavarnie is a great base for exploring this part of the Pyrenees. There are lots of tracks, a few roads to aid getting higher more quickly and lots of places to stay.
A taxi took us from Lourdes to Tarbes to catch a train to Toulouse. Then we flew from Toulouse at 12pm to Gatwick on British Airways and caught the train from Gatwick to Harpenden.
We drove home to Tunstead Milton.
Camera: Mamiya 6 MF + 50 mm lens (wide-angle)
Film: Ilford FP4 Plus 220
Maps: The French IGN series are good for the French side but you don’t see much of Spain on them. I just bought the IGN 1748OT 1:25,000 map before we left. Once we arrived in Gavarnie I discovered there was a series of local maps for the Pyrenees. They are called Rando maps and look like IGN maps in style but they are produced by the Institut Cartografic de Catalunya. They cover both sides of the border on the same map. Sheet 24 is the one for Gavarnie-Ordesa at 1:50,000, it also includes Vignemale just above the centre of the map, so it’s a big map!
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