FRANCE - MIDI
PYRENÉES
2016 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER
The
title of this account is a little misleading because the
administrative region
of this name was only created in the 1970s and subsumed in 2016 with
Languedoc-Roussillon in a new and even larger region called
Occitanie.
This new name is derived from the word Occitan which was
a language (langue d'oc) historically spoken by many in South West
France, Northern Spain, Morocco, Monaco and North West Italy closely
related to Gascon, Catalan and Vivaro-Alpine. There was no
standard written form and like Cornish, Welsh and Gaelic, although
some still use their version of Occitan it is gradually being
displaced by standard French, Spanish and Italian.
When Midi Pyrenées was first created it comprised parts
of the much older provinces, principally Gascony in the west, parts
of Languedoc with Toulouse as its capital in the east, and many
smaller Pyrenéan provinces in the south.
This account is one of a stay at a campsite called,
appropriately enough, Camping Midi Pyrenées, in Montréjeau roughly
halfway between the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. Here is a
view from my van's pitch looking south east.
REGIONAL
TOPOGRAPHY
In geologic terms the Iberian land mass was distinct
from the European one but the two moved towards one another with the
Pyrenean mountain chain being formed as a result of the collision
between them. It lies approximately east-west and is about 450
km long.
Later movements and erosion, particularly during the Ice
Ages, changed the original configuration so that today there are deep
glacially-induced cliffs and water eroded valleys, running mainly
north-south but sometimes cross-ways and usually steeper on the
French side.
BAGNERES-DE-LUCHON
Luchon lies at the head of one of the north-south
valleys on the French side with soaring mountains all around and had
human occupants since Neolithic times with many cave dwellings from
that period now discovered.
But it was first put on a modern map when the Roman
General Pompey marched through in 71 BC after a 5 year campaign in
Spain against rebel general Sertorius. One of his soldiers who
had a skin complaint bathed in the local waters for 21 days and came
out completely cured (I think it must have been in summer when the
temperature can reach 35°C as it sometimes drops to – 10°C in
winter).
A few years later Tiberius Claudius Nero heard the story
and had three pools dug to create thermal baths (similar to those in
Bath in England) and so the town became a Roman Spa.
About 2,000 years later, when economic growth from the
Industrial Revolution and the increasing prosperity of the upper
echelons of society led to an expansion of leisure activities the
town became a more modern centre of attraction and new Baths, Hotels,
Restaurants and other amusements were constructed. The Baths are still in use, still with a recommended
immersion of 21 days, but the town has modernised its attractions by
building resorts and scores of ski-lifts high up the mountainside to
attract winter sports enthusiasts.
I arrived about noon in late November, after summer
activities had long been forgotten and well before there was enough
snow to attract the winter sports crowd. So the town was
relatively quiet but I did find a bistro at which to enjoy a passable
lunch of lamb cutlets with chips and salad followed by crèpes
chocolat noir (Yum!).
Allée d'Etigny in Bagnères-de-Luchon
THE
COL DU PORTILLON
There are four ways of leaving Bagnères. One
choice is to return north along the way one normally arrives.
Another is to go south to newly created resorts and Refuges high in
the mountains. The two other ways are to climb high up roads
with many hairpin bends to cols on either the south east or south
west sides.
I chose to follow the south east route and finally
emerged at the summit of the Col du Portillon some 9 km from town and
1,293 metres above sea level. This is on the border between
France and Spain but there were of course no formalities as both are
members of the European Union's Shengen Zone (although the pass was closed
temporarily a year ago following the terrorist attacks in Paris).
Summit of the Pass at Col du Portillon
I was very tempted to get the bike out of the car and
ride at least a little way along a rough track heading off in an
eastwards direction. There was a notice beside it making clear
this was for the use of walkers and mountain cyclists – and indeed
I could see on my Planet Earth map that it wound around the
mountainside and rejoined the motor road later on.
But, there were mist and rain drops in the air, it was
cold, and I could see from the map the place where track and road
again met was some 5 km distant and 600 metres down the Spanish side
of the pass. I might have managed the distance but had grave
doubts about my ability to push the bike up the road for the same
distance and height to rejoin the car.
THE
VAL D'ARAN AND BOSOST
The Val d'Aran is one of the areas in Spain where
Occitan is still regularly spoken. It is a sub region of the
(separatist) Province of Catalonia within which Occitan is an
officially recognised language, but has its own dialect known as
Aranese.
Interestingly, the valley is also the source of the La
Garonne river that flows for a few km on the Spanish side of the
border before entering France, winding its way north to Toulouse and
then west until it becomes one of the mighty watercourses joining the
Gironde Estuary.
There were excellent views up the valley from a roadside
promontory about half way down the pass. Here there was a
statue and plaque celebrating Spanish Winners of the Tour de France
from the great Bahamontes in 1959 to the commendably drug free
Sastres in 2008 (I guess the stature was erected soon after since
Contador won the race for the second time in 2009).
Statue celebrating Spanish winners of the Tour de France
Yes, although I was deterred by the possibility of
having to walk my bike up half the height, the pass is often used as
one of the Mountain Stages of the Tour de France, and by leisure
cyclists as part of a longer ride!!!!! People describe having
made the climb in less than half an hour at an average speed of 15
km/hr. I can't even manage that on the flat – they must belong
to a different species.
BOSOST
Bosost had the appearance of a small town catering
mainly to modern visitors and tourists. Its main feature was La
Garonne, already a clear and fast-flowing mountain stream on its way
to becoming a mighty river.
La Garonne at Bosost
PIC
DU MIDI
This mountain has an isolated peak very nearly 10,000
feet high and right at the top has an astronomical observatory
containing France's largest telescope.
Observatory on the Summit of Pic du Midi
French Motorways have rest areas called Aires, some are
just vehicle parks with a Picnic area and some are fully serviced
with a Restaurant, Toilets, Fuel Stations and so on. There is one
of the latter called Aire de Pic du Midi at a strategic point on the
A64.
On the northern side of this Aire there is an unusual
sundial consisting of two pieces of children's playground equipment
and posts of varying height. There are 12 posts arranged on the
perimeter of a curve similar to an imaginary figure of eight passing
through them all – one for each month of the year.
An Unusual Sundial
The tube and frame in the photo form a line of sight on
the Observatory and solar noon can be determined by observing when
the tip of the shadow from the appropriate post reaches that line of
sight. The positioning and height of the posts allow for the
earth's elliptical orbit around the sun and the inclination of its
axis of rotation.
Interpretation of solar noon in terms of clock noon
requires a number of corrections and there is a board nearby
tabulating these for this sundial. These are necessary because
clocks measure time changes using a fixed interval and are set for a
single longitude in each time zone. In contrast each solar day
has a different length from its neighbours and noon occurs sooner or
later at different longitudes from that used as the time zone
standard.
CIRQUE
DE GAVARNIE
The most celebrated of the Pyrennean Cirques is the one
at Gavarnie where the deepest part of the cliff is an almost vertical
drop of about 2,000 metres and the width varies from 800 metres at the
bottom to 3,000 metres at the top. Theoretically it is possible to
walk in a couple of hours from the village into the bowl at the foot
of the cliffs but I didn't feel fit enough to do so and in any case
there was snow and ice on the ground during my visit.
The Cirque de Gavarnie
SKI
RESORT AT GAVARNIE GÈDRE
The west side of the cirque is a spur from the mountain
chain and a road with many hairpin bends climbs up the western side
of this spur to a another natural bowl below the chain's ridge line.
I was tempted to try this as it had been snow-ploughed for most of
the way until reaching the last few hundred metres to a modern
ski-resort. There were a number of people about but they turned
out to be resort workers preparing for the opening of the season in a
week's time.
Looking Down on the Hairpins
A Mostly Empty Car Park
The Forester behaved impeccably in these freezing
conditions with no hint of slipping or sliding about.
CIRQUE
DE TROUMOUSE
To reach Gavarnie one has to pass through a village
called Sassis at which there is a fork in the road to the mountains.
On my return journey I first tried taking the other leg of the
fork in order to see another Cirque that has no nearby
holiday-centric village and is described as being much wilder.
Cirque de Troumouse
The cliffs aren't quite so high or sheer as those at
Gavarnie but are wider and were easier to photograph because it was
later in the afternoon and on a more favourable line of sight.
I haven't yet discovered how this Cirque was named with
its strange combination of the English Mouse and the French Trou
meaning Hole. It is mentioned in Bradshaw's Guide published in
the Victorian era so I can't help thinking it must have been an
Englishman, probably an early recreational Mountaineer, who first
used the phrase as a humorous description that later became a name.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.