Rambles in the Pyrenees

The high plateau of the Cerdagne and Capcir enjoys 3000 hours of sun per year, so is an ideal location for outdoor activities. Last year, our daughter relocated there from Wirksworth, to the village of Saint Pierre dels Forcats, near the border with Spain and Andorra. Having paid several visits to the small hotel, which she is now running, we wondered whether any of our fellow “Wednesday walkers” would be interested in joining us for a week in October. A number of them were, so on October 10th, ten of the group headed for Perpignan. We were met by the hotel transport, which took us up the Tet valley to Saint Pierre – a journey of about 90 minutes.

The following morning dawned bright, sunny, but cold, with an overnight covering of snow on the peaks  above 2000 metres. We decided on an “easy” walk for the first day, as altitude can affect the breathing of those not accustomed to the thinner oxygen. We were taken to the tiny village of Dorres (1441 metres), from where we walked to a hill top (1685 metres) with magnificent views over the Cambre d’Aze and the Sierra del Cadi. After returning to the village for refreshments at the local bar/café, we were driven back to the hotel for tea and home made cakes.

On the second day, we tackled a longer walk, passing several small lakes, and stopping by one for our
packed lunch. The highest point reached was about 2250 metres. This way marked route was a popular one. Most other walkers we encountered were from Spain – we discovered it was a Spanish bank holiday! Although we had the local IGN maps, they are not as good as British OS maps. The accepted method of route finding for walks in the area, and in fact in most European countries, is by following the painted (yellow in our case) dashes on trees and/or rocks. A yellow X denotes the “wrong” way. The local tourist information offices stock booklets with suggested walks; our hotel had copies of these.

On Saturday our daughter and two granddaughters joined the group for a walk down the Tet valley, through Sauto, a village perched on the hillside, and eventually to the station to await Le Petit Train Jaune – the yellow train which runs between Villefranche and La Tour-de-Carol. We hailed the train – it was a request stop – and returned to Mont Louis, a most picturesque journey over the Gisclard suspension bridge and through several tunnels.

Other walks during the week took us to Les Angles, a busy ski resort in winter, but almost deserted out of season. The only sounds were the bells worn by the cattle and the rush of water in the streams. The colours in the forest and the sun on the snow on the high mountains made the views almost unbelievable. Our most adventurous walk was from Thues-entre-Valls up the Gorges de Caranca. We climbed up the eastern side, via the roc de Madrieu, crossed the gorge on a Passerelle – a wobbly suspension bridge – and returned on the corniche path on the western side.

We took advantage of the yellow train again to bring us back after walking to Thues, past the Roman hot baths, and on to Fontpedrouse. On our last day we had time to visit Collioure, a Mediterranean coastal resort south of Perpignan, before returning to Derbyshire.

We shall be going out there again – join us if you wish!

Pauline & Brian Ward.