A Pyrenean Adventure 13th to 22nd September 2002

by Michael Green
Also read a woman's strictly Non-Technical Viewpoint!

Day 1
Le Havre to Bordeaux

378 miles of which about 2/3 on side roads and 1/3 charging down a tolled motorway for 189k at the end of what was a very long day. The tolls take bank cards! But I did not have the courage to breaks ranks from the convoy to take the line marked ‘Cartes’. We were on the road from 6:30 am to 6:00 pm and this followed a night on the ferry interrupted by tannoy announcements urging us to ‘buy, buy, buy’ in English and French and sleeping on a noisy ferry is not easy when keyed up for an adventure in a foreign land.

I have never been to France or Spain before, although Judy had been to France as a child, and had no idea what to expect. We also ‘lost’ an hour because we had to put the clocks forward one hour on landing in France.

As soon as you exit the ferry port the first French roundabout the ‘wrong’ way but soon after the new bridges for the very efficient road system are quite spectacular. Quickly have to learn how to pay tolls, where the display for the amount is on the side of the booth, remember to pick up a ticket on entry. You pay at booths at whatever exit point you choose. 7 vehicles drive down in two groups. A Discovery and Jeep Wrangler going at 90 mph and the rest - Defender, Defender, old Jeep, Vitara, Defender travelling at 60 to 65 mph. No common communication method on the move but hand held radios distributed by one of the party help a lot.

Rolling down in the slow convoy we noticed very little livestock out in the fields and virtually no barbed wire. Blown away by fields filled with sunflowers and further south vineyards set out with military precision covered in green leaves baking in the sun.

Day 2
Bordeaux to Montory

Our leader, Richard Towell, instructs “We leave at 8:00 am without fail to meet Jean-Michel at 11:30 am at turn off 4”. That’s a turn off from the main motorway from Bordeaux to the Spanish Border at Biarritz. Flat, flat land with mile upon mile of pine forest - we think Corsican Pine because it’s growing on sand. Crops of sunflowers, maize and even tobacco. Later in the day saw tobacco leaves hanging up to dry in the air under a barn roof.

We had a ‘welcome’ lunch. Trout, a whole one each, pork and beautifully cooked vegetables including chicory, tomato, mushroom, potato slices in cream. Followed by creme caramel for me and coffee. This comes in a very small cup but is VERY strong and tastes wonderful. Local wines with the meal too.

Then off for the afternoon to St Jean de Luz on the Atlantic coast. This consists of a harbour, old town, wonderful safe sandy beach. Both Judy and I swam in the sea which was wonderfully warm and within an area safely buoyed off for swimmers. This keeps sailing and other craft away from people (sharks too?). The whole beach is covered with a throng of French families having Sunday afternoon relaxation. Most topless and tanned.

St Jean de Luz

We all met up gain at 5:00 pm which proved to be the rush hour out of town and onto motorways - first 1.90 euros to pay and then onto the Pau motorway where collect a ticket on entry and pay 2.30 euros on exiting. Then onto smaller and smaller roads, winding into hills beside rivers. Very picturesque houses, barns, Ardenne horses, Blonde Aquitaine cattle (we think), acres of maize, hay crops and woods everywhere.

At last, after 215 miles for the day, to Montory at 7:45 pm looking out onto mountains all around us.

Day 3
Testing tracks or Another Full Day

Total mileage for this day is only 63. The distance may be reducing but the driving challenge is intensifying. We all fuel up a few kilometers from the L’Auberge de L’Etable (The Stable Inn) which is our base for the next few days and then off into the mountains. At lower levels are fields with ponies and also cattle with bells, which make such an evocative, timeless and unmistakable sound. Simply wonderful. Also flop eared sheep, also with bells. Up steep dry muddy tracks and soon along the side of a hill - just a few inches of grass on the left of the track and beyond is a precipitous, vertigo inducing 80 degree slope.

The first easy tracks

Progressively higher into the mountains

Around a corner and into woodlands. Cool and very English in nature. Lots of open Beech woods with evidence of occasional recent fires. The highest we go this day is just over 4,000 feet.

There are 9 vehicles in the party now but the smallest Jeep struggles - it has no low box so has to tackle everything at speed. Eventually it gets stuck so is tugged out by a Land Rover. Using a kinetic energy recovery rope (KERR) proves NOT to be such a good idea because it is long and we are negotiating hairpin bends by now. With a long rope you finish up pulling the towed vehicle backwards once the towing vehicle has gone round the hairpin.

A pause to admire the view

At about 12:00 noon arrive at a superb viewpoint looking out over a vast valley to a hillside beyond in the middle of which is a limestone sided gorge. We are told by our guide Michel that it has suspended walkways along parts to allow visitors to explore the valley for the full length. We sit out on the finest of grasses in hot sunshine eating cold meats and bread rolls and being challenged to drink wine from a squashy water bottle shaped bag which you have to squeeze to direct a fine jet of wine straight into your mouth from a suitable distance. Little did we know then what awaited us a little later in the day.

So next back down the mountain along more tracks to a tarmac road, past a hydro generation station fed by a bright blue lake. It was a truly startling blue and some debate as to what might have given the water that colouring. To lunch on cold meats followed by duck with vegetables (duck being the local speciality) followed by fromage followed by a Tarte au Basque and coffee - TOO MUCH FOOD! Wine with the meal too!

Back to the forest for the rest of the afternoon. We have a temporary hiatus because convoy discipline breaks down and the convoy splits in two. Routes much steeper now and rougher. On the last one for the day even our guide gets stuck and has to take several attempts to clear it. It is up over a rocky section and, as he is an off road racer, it shows just how challenging the driving was getting. (Michel, our guide and the racer, had just done a 24 hour off road race and for that race had not slept for two days, had come back by plane to meet up with us and had arrived at the Auberge at 1:00 am that morning and then was up to lead our party that same morning. What a hero.)

Much modified Jeep Wrangler with 4 litre engine cleared the hill easily. Self with my Quaiffe diffs also sailed up and TD5 with all it’s electronic trickery likewise, new Discovery went up OK as did a Mercedes G Wagen (with all diffs locked) on road tyres. Bog standard 90 with underbody protection struggled and needed a number of attempts. A Vitara (on road tyres) could not and had to be towed up by the TD5 and finally a Nissan Patrol at the back of the convoy struggled but after many attempts, no end of advice and arm waving, finally made it.

Flowers seen during the day include harebells, gentians, autumn crocus and a golden rod look-alike scabius, not just one or two but lots in different locations. Thyme and mint which smelled when crushed underfoot. Judy even spotted some baled bracken in one farmers yard - this was traditionally used as bedding for cattle so presumably that continues to be the purpose behind cutting and collecting it as a crop.

Day 4
All roads lead to the Central Café.

Trust me to insist on convoy discipline the previous day - my turn to eat humble pie after not concentrating on keeping the vehicle behind me in sight all the time. My excuse is that the nearside mirror had been ‘pinged’ off it’s socket by a branch. Another branch also broke an indicator covering and bulb on a very tight corner where the Quaiffes locked in and effectively made the turning circle non existent. They do this from time to time and give some loss of directional control.

Our host and guide again today, Michel, takes us onto the same mountainside as yesterday but onto progressively more difficult tracks with rocks steps or deep water eroded gullies. These all lead back from time to time to an ancient hut which Judy dubs the café in jest. One of our group investigates and finds that it does indeed contain a table and two chairs so is officially dubbed the Central Café.

In the mountains

Everyone struggles at some point having to make 2 or 3 attempts to clear a section. Even the heavy metal 4 litre Wrangler complete with £10,000 of suspension mods and monster tyres is defeated. All I will say with due modesty is that Defender J 838 DNN with it’s Quaiffes front and back cleared every obstacle every time first time. The G Wagen wasn’t with us today but the TD5 showed it’s awesome potential that the new electronic control gives it. Mostly it simply walks up or down obstacles at a gentle tickover. I had a demo of the satellite navigation system fitted to this same vehicle before we set out this morning. It is vastly impressive, rather complicated and at £3,000 still very expensive AND as it doesn’t show either rupps or boats in the UK is severely limited. What a waste!

Some do it the hard way

Also, during the morning someone remarked to Michel that there were good drivers in the group. His response was classic and he simply said “Some very good vehicles.” He has us sorted and summed up exactly .

Strugglers in the frame

Lunch was at the Ski Lodge - 4,700 feet above sea level. Tuna pate and salad followed by home made pasta and duck mince. Wine and Gateau Basque - delicious almond flan thing. Then Quad Bikes. Judy and I also had a quiet stroll (notable for her finding a hairbrush and I a metal tent peg) all that way up in the middle of nowhere on a mountainside. Even larger mountains visible to the south which look as if they are covered in freshly fallen snow but Michel confirms that it’s just thousands of acres of bare white rocks.

At the Ski Lodge

Day 5
Spain

Today we have set off with 2 guides - Michel and Christian. Little wiry man who speaks no English and is the spitting image of Tony Robinson - Blackadder’s sidekick. Lovely drive up to Col du Pourtalet at 5,970 feet up a very steep sided valley with an ever winding road and signs every kilometer to keep flagging cyclists spirits up. No check whatsoever crossing over the Spanish border where immediately the shopaholics in our midst stock up on cheap cigarettes etc. Shortly thereafter filled up with fuel which is cheaper again than in France. South then to Banos de Panticosa for a Turkish Bath - honest! It turned out to be in the rather run down and seedy basement of a local hotel. They certainly saw the tourist Brits coming and charged £22.00 per head for the experience but the warm mineral water in which we were immersed for 20 minutes or so was soothing to tired muscles.

Then a picnic lunch beside E de Bubal - large lake with lovely picnic area specially set out and mountains all around. It developed into a bit of a race against the arrival of rain but we won! Just.

Then to the serious off roading for the day. Different rules apply to off roading in Spain- no more than 5 vehicles in a convoy and 300 metre separation between vehicles. 4 vehicles had to wait at Hebra de Basa, the starting point of the mountain road,. Quaint, ancient bar we were taken into and given VERY strong and thick coffee - made drinkable by the addition of an enormous individual packet of sugar doled out with the coffee. The bar was overall dark brown and when the Brits came in and sat down we emptied the place of all locals within 30 seconds. Thus was the 30 minutes wait accomplished to avoid the reputably very heavy fine for non compliance with the convoy rules.

It gets serious from here.

Once on the drive it was a rapid succession of being in the American Badlands, gravel roads, coloured soils, dorsal fin rock formations sticking out from the sides of the mountains, pine and maple forests. Anyone with half an interest in geology will be absolutely fascinated by the changes in the rock formations in these mountains. Gravel beds, mudstones and hard rocks all seemingly jumbled up.

We initially drove up into fog on the tops where the weather rapidly deteriorated. Without the professional guide to lead us there is no way we would have navigated the route given on the roadbook. It was very tricky driving once we were on tracks with the rain coming down - which are mud based - which turned rapidly into yellow goo and directional control very difficult indeed. The plants up at this altitude grow in individual mounds, the smell of thyme is heavy in the air from being crushed by passing vehicles, all the while a thunderstorm raged as rain hammered down. That high up one is much nearer to the lightning and the thunder is measurably louder. Well, that’s how it feels.

The tracks here are far longer than any we encounter in England or Wales - for this day we had a roadbook which showed a total of 46.5 kilometres over the mountains. Total mileage for the day 132.4. At the very end of the final piece of track the little Jeep shed one of it’s rear wheels. “We went down a hole I didn’t see” is how the driver summed up the experience - but there was no hole in the road, just his rear wheel bounding off ahead of him. Everyone rallied round to help. It seems that all the wheelnuts simply fell off - all within a few feet because all were recovered by a search party. High Lift jacks came into their own as did chocks to keep things safe.

Everyone helps!

Day 6
Arguis to Puenta la Reine de Jaca

Can it get better? Overnight in Arguis was good and bad. Good room, great facilities, very clean, good food, coffee machine at breakfast which ground the beans individually for each fresh cup of coffee it produced. Impossible to get fresher or better coffee. Bad because we had a bolster for a pillow. My wife says of such things “ They [bolsters] should be taken out and shot on sight and any youngsters put down humanely at birth.”

After fuelling up we set off up a winding country road where there was a delay due to our guides having to go off and see the local Mayor for permission to enter the area we were about to drive into. Up winding tarmac and then onto an unmade mountain gravel surfaced road to Salto Del Roldain. This was a buttress off the main mountain and on top are the remains of a monastery. To get there a steeper and steeper scramble up a hillside and then vertically up a rockface via a fixed steel ladder and then individual steel rungs fixed directly into the rock. Over an overhang! 3 sets of these rungs and then out onto the top and a view out over a plain to the south for 25 plus miles. Just breathtaking (in every sense of the word). Add to this a little distance away a single buttress rising up 100 metres or so on which were perching Egyptian vultures - not just one or two but hoards. They were flying lazily below us too rising on the early morning thermals. Some came coasting over very close to the top of the buttress we were on to see if we had a picnic, or one of our number was ailing and edible. The birds rising on the thermals were below us. Back with the vehicles and Judy pointed out that families of swallows were passing just overhead on the col we were on - passing through on their journey south to Africa.

The ‘climbers’ return

Looking back at Salto Del Roldain.

Back on the main road and then along gravel farm tracks - STRICT instructions to maintain the 150 metres between vehicles and we were split into two groups again to maintain the maximum 5 vehicles per convoy. For mile after mile of farmland with olive groves, almond groves, cultivated fields of all shapes and sizes and levels with a constant background of mountains on our right and the plain to the left. Villages are all raised above the general level of the plain and houses always clustered round a church. Tiled roofs and shuttered houses - some very poor and run down. Passed a shepherd leading quite a large flock of mixed sheep and goats. No dogs to assist him, just a special call he made every few seconds and the flock follow him.

And so to Castello de Loarre. This has to be every child’s romantic version of a medieval castle with an outer fortified wall with round towers set on a rock on foothills to a mountain backdrop with the plain spread out below. It was built to protect Christians from Moorish attack and was eventually taken by the Moors but was later retaken from them.

Castillo de Loarre

Lunch just down the hill on a verandah in the open air. Salad and beef (different courses) with the usual wine, desert and coffee. Lunch finished at 3:45 pm As Judy had done all the driving that morning I took over for the afternoon shift. Back in the vehicles in the inevitable 2 groups to climb back up into the mountains on good gravel roads - 150 metre spacing - slow 4th in low box 15 mph - past more of the ever changing geology right up onto the top to see Los Mallos. These are a series of sheer giant buttresses 400 metres in height which rise vertically out of the plain. White specks show where vultures nest and all the while vultures are circling above and below us.

And then the long drive over mountain tracks down to La Pera - forest fires had raged in the hills for 18 days and great areas of damage to pine forests visible everywhere - at the end of the drive the valley we were following narrows down to a narrow gorge which from the other side of the mountain shows as a tiny vertical slit in a long mountain wall. The road runs about 1/3 of the way up the side of the gorge face - one vehicle wide with bridges where there is nowhere to cut a road on the cliff and the bridges have no sides at all! Hairy! Then over a railway line and a gravel surfaced vehicle bridge over the Rio Gallego. We wait in the village whilst our guide gets yet another beer! I think the constant drinking is an effort to counteract vertigo - or something.

Wait in La Pera for the second group - who go another way. Finally all regroup on A132 and drive north to Punta la Reina de Jaca for hotel for the night. Just 67 miles covered but it has been a simply wonderful day.

Castillo de Loarre from the road

400 metre buttresses of Los Mallos.

Day 7
Desert

I have no doubt that you simply would not believe me if I told you that I was in the middle of the Nevada desert, eating a picnic lunch, by a film crew with a Ford Focus World Rally car with the film crew having full catering facilities, tables, chairs, umbrellas and the usual temporary railway for the camera which we had to drive very carefully around. All this with American jet fighter aircraft screaming overhead dropping bombs on a target that was maybe a mile away and loosing off occasional burst of gunfire. The planes dived steeply down and then climbed steeply back up and at the bottom of the manouvre seemed to dip the back end of the aircraft. At that moment a burst of noise would be heard and it looked and sounded for all the world that the aircraft were emitting an enormous fart. Hilarious!

A 202 mile day of great contrasts. Hotel overnight very good and slept extremely well. A drive then over twisting tarmac roads to Sos Del Rey.

Sos Del Rey.

A marvelous old town on a hilltop complete with castle remains. Tiny streets climbing steeply between the houses. Time for a wander and coffee to recover from the twisting roads that lead from E de Yesa, an enormous reservoir which nearly empty! Then south to Sadaba where our guides had to get in touch with the local police to ensure we had the necessary permissions to enter ‘the desert’. With permission confirmed we then headed into this incredible dry area of Las Bardenas Reales. On the way saw two cranes flying lazily overhead, their downward curving wings in flight so unmistakable. This area is described by Michel as ‘desert’ and really lived up to it’s name. It looked exactly as one would expect mesa in Utah or Nevada and other parts looked like the badlands of the United States. Although in part farmed, it is riddled with run-off paths for water and is being eroded very actively - even the road we drove disappeared in places along it’s width in part.

Then a long long drive back to the high mountains and over a different pass called Collado de la Pierre St Martin ( a ski resort) back to France and Montory. Low down are pine woods rising up to bare rock on the mountain tops. Higher up the road there is just bare rock and trees - Swiss in nature. At one point the road did a 360 degree loop and crossed over the top of itself via a bridge. No mark or building on the boundary between Spain and France. Soon down into endless French beech woods and so to Montory for a final night.

Day 8
Angers

Breakfast at 7:00 am and on the road by 7:30 am acting as baggage mule for the TD5 which was to carry Christian, that’s the other Christian who hired a vehicle from the hotel as an extra passenger to catch the train in Niorts for Hamburg early in the afternoon. It is very expensive to hire like that, £350 for the 5 days and the vehicle was a Nissan Trooper. Talking to our host Michel at Montory the previous evening he had recommended a route picking up the motorway standard dual carriageway that goes north to Bordeaux at St Geours de Marenne, north of Bayonne which turns into motorway proper at Bordeaux and took us right through to Niorts. Had to tackle fog and heavy rain south of Bordeaux but otherwise kept up a steady 75 to 80 mph until Niorts. Then cut the speed right down for the secondary roads to Angers. Stopped for a lovely leisurely picnic in a field entrance off a very minor secondary road with sunshine, blackberries, yellow butterflies and the distant sound of a hunt for company. Very shortly after we moved off saw the hunters cars and then a deer right beside the road. It was small, dark brown and wore a collar!

Eventually to Angers via the ‘Route Touristique’ alongside the Loire. Stopped in a village and parked by the water and watched two old Frenchmen fishing from a boat moored a little out in the stream held there by two horizontal poles from the bank.

Had real difficulty finding the hotel. Had no street name, no map, no directions and no telephone number. Eventually bought a local map and asked the way - even then not obvious where it was and one way systems don’t help. Parking spaces difficult too because Land Rovers too tall for the hotel parking spaces. Over an hour looking for it! But by 6:00 pm picnic for the following day purchased, presents bought, showered, parked and writing up these notes! Total mileage for the day 373.

The driving today has been much less tiring and altogether easier because a) not in a convoy which adds greatly to the time each action takes and b) we knew pretty much exactly what to expect along the route in the way of signs, traffic and driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road.

Day 9
Home

Again, the driving and navigation now routine and we do 187 French miles. Made the ferry with ages to spare. Gave an AC Cobra a jump start and then had the full explanation of the day to and from Le Mans it had joined complete with 2 laps of the Le Mans circuit at full speed.

So the total mileage over the 9 days is 1653.

Conclusion
A simply wonderful holiday

The best part of this expedition has been the constant contrast of each day. At no time has one particular activity been overdone and there has always been something new and fresh for each day. That has been a great strength and is a reflection of the effort and planning that has gone into setting up this package. Package holiday it is not and one is very appreciative that sights and sounds have been very different from the package holiday sausage machine. It has been a real privilege to have had the experiences given and to have entered and driven through the mountain areas that we did. That Michel and Christian, our guides, stopped and talked to all they met in the mountains to network and become better known and accepted demonstrates the professionalism behind the organisation. Organisation that is very much down to the enthusiasm, knowledge and sheer energy of one man, Richard Towell. Thank you Richard.

And Finally

There are a number of general points that I wish to make. These are not criticisms but if taken on board would, I believe, make the experience better and possibly also ease the organisational burden.

• Make sure that all personnel on the trip buy the best and most detailed maps money can buy.
• Start the expedition at Montory and not from GB. This would have the great benefit that individuals could convoy down or alternatively find their own way down, maybe adding it to time spent elsewhere or coming via the Santander ferry which would vastly reduce the distance to be driven.
• Communication: Firstly, insist that all participating vehicles are fitted with CB with European channels and with an external aerial. Cost is about £100 for the full thing so should not be an issue. Secondly, a daily briefing of what the party may expect to see and do during that day would be very helpful particularly how much and when people may be expected to eat.
• You must engineer a problem early on in the scheme of things to make the group gel. Off roading is the common thread that will be present before any group members meet but to make the electricity fizz - a real problem is needed. [To those people who helped me re-attach my wing mirror and who supplied replacement bulbs. Thank you. You know who you are.]
• It is also desirable that only participants for the whole expedition are included. To have members arriving and departing part way through is not conducive to the overall team spirit.

Now Read a woman's strictly Non-Technical Viewpoint!