A Short Tour of the Pyrenees Oriental

3. Around Bagneres-des-Luchon - to the Port de Venasque

OK, so I lied a little bit about having no plans for the week as there was one thing in particular that I wanted to achieve: to walk from France into Spain. There is a rich history of border crossing which stretches from Hannibal traversing with his elephants to refugees fleeing the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930's or Allied servicemen sneaking out of Vichy France a few years later. 

For about 10 years a copy of Kev Reynolds 'Classic Walks In The Pyrenees' (1989 Oxford Illustrated Press) had been loitering enticingly on my bookshelf, occasionally I would pull it down and thumb through the routes: most of them are pretty serious undertakings involving several days in the wilderness with only rope, crampons and an ice axe for company. But the Port de Venasque stood out as not only achievable in one day but also visually spectacular, taking in views of the Maladeta glacier. There was only one negative comment - that 'this walk should not be attempted before the end of June owing to avalanche danger in normal years'. The Rough Guide and the Baedeker cover the same route but made no comment about 'avalanche danger'. To be on the safe side we decided to seek advice from the Tourist Office in Luchon where we were told by a charming young lady that we could get as far as the Refuge but beyond that, she summed up the likely conditions with a gallic shrug. 

We decided to go and see for ourselves, optimistically hoping that 12 years of global warming may have reduced the risk somewhat, nevertheless we agreed beforehand that if conditions looked tricky then we would turn back. We followed the road to the Hospice de France and parked in the discreet hollow next to the Hospice (so discreet that the car park doesn't spoil the view!). The Hospice is tumble down collection of buildings that were part of a medieval trading route between France and Spain. The view south is beautiful but two large patches of snow did give us some cause for concern.

The path itself climbs steeply but as it was established for mule trains is fairly easy walking. After an hour or so we had to ford the river which was sluicing a huge quantity of snowmelt down the mountain, and a short while later we were standing in front of the first snowfield which snaked up into a gully high above us. Outsize melting footfalls crossed the base of the field in a line about 20 metres long. We stopped to debate our course of action, and decided to press on - the distance was short and the field ended some 3/4 metres below us. In fact so safe did we feel, we foolishly posed for photographs halfway across - foolishly, because within 2/3 minutes of reaching the other side we heard a loud crack from somewhere in the gully above and moments later a 2 metre diameter snowball smashed itself into the rocks below. We are not especially proud of this moment and recommend that in a similar situation, you turn around and leave it for another day. We pressed on, simply because we didn't fancy re-crossing what was an unstable snowfield until the sun had dropped and the snow had firmed up. 

The second snowfield was somewhat smaller (about 6 metres wide) and we crossed it briskly at its highest point (where we had no fears about the snow above us). A short walk later we climbed over the lip of the valley into a bowl fringed with Tolkienesque peaks of black rock, covered in heavy snow and pools of snowmelt. The path leveled out and picked its way past the lowest lake, an icy blue/green pool half covered with dripping snow. We reached a second lip which emerged behind the Refuge. The breathtaking scene of two more half concealed frozen lakes glinting in the sunshine and the sharp outline of the peaks above us convinced us that we were going no further that day. We picked a sheltered spot and had some lunch. Pouring over the map we managed to pick out the path which we could see crossed diagonally over a 500 metre snowfield. It was disappointing not to make the border but the wintry scene was ample compensation. The 1909 Baedeker has an enticing panorama of the view from the Port de Venasque (click here to see it) - we will have to go back to see it in colour.

As we munched on ham baguettes, a helicopter dropped in with supplies for the Refuge. It's amazing to think that someone lives in this wilderness from the beginning of June onwards, even more amazing when we wandered over for a coke and were served by a portly Frenchman wearing carpet slippers! After exploring the bowl and admiring the view North we headed back down the mountain. The snowfields were firm enough to allay our avalanche fears but slippery enough for us to be worried about sliding off. Back by the Hospice de France we spent an idle hour soaking our hot feet in the cold water of the river as the hazy valley slowly began to fill with cloud.

After driving back to Luchon we treated ourselves to... yes a few beers and a slap up meal!

next: 4. Some Cycling - Bagneres- de-Luchon to Salardu