PYRENEES REVISITED  Weeks 3-4 News

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Weeks 3~4 - Tet and Tech ValleysWeek 3~4 News:  a tale of two valleys - the Têt and the Tech 

From our 2000m high camp close to the source of the Têt at Lac de Bouillouses, we began the descent into the Upper Têt valley (see map) to the garrison town of Mont Louis. After centuries of Franco-Spanish feuding over these border lands, France finally gained control of the Rousillon by the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees. Louis XIV's military engineer, Vauban, was charged with securing the tenuous new frontier with a series of fortresses. The citadelle of Mont Louis was built at 1500m high in the Cerdagne region

                                                                                    
Click on map for details  

to counter what seemed the obvious route of potential Spanish incursions. But even in the 17th century, such mighty fortified strong points were an outmoded form of military defence, as easily bypassed as the Maginot Line was 300 years later in 1940 - funny how the French went on ignoring the lessons of history! Mont Louis is still occupied by the French military (though who they are now defending it against defies imagination!), but the views of the surrounding mountains are quite breathtaking in this lofty setting in the Upper Têt valley

From here, we spent almost a week exploring the Têt, from its alpine craggy gorges in the upper and middle valley, down to the contrasting fruit orchards and Mediterranean climate of the lower valley, before crossing the arid high scrubland of les Aspres into the parallel valley of the Tech to the south. The number of alpine plants so far seen has merited another alpine flora page - click here or on link below.

First stop in the Upper Têt was the village of Fontpédrouse, perched at 1000m with its houses tiered up the steep valley side and wooded canyon walls rising on both sides. Again we received wonderful hospitality at the municipal campsite down in the valley bottom by the youthful river Têt. As tea brewed, we suddenly heard the peep-peep of an engine whistle and a trundling sound - it was the Little Yellow Train (le Petit Train Jaune) crawling  precariously and totally improbably high across the northern face of the valley wall above the village, looking like a yellow caterpillar with red stripes - the Catalan national colours. We just had to make this incredible journey along the upper valley by the Train Jaune. That evening, as the clouds gathered in the gloomy confines of the valley, we experienced our first Pyrenean mountain electrical storm - unnerving as thunder cracked around the enclosed canyon walls above us. In addition to the Train Jaune, Fontpédrouse offered another unusual opportunity: following a footpath high in the hills above the campsite, we found natural thermal springs (sources sauvages) - sulphurous-smelling water at 50° C bubbling up and tumbling down the hillside in steaming pools (Photo 1). And close by, the thermal sources are put to commercial use at St Thomas les Bains: a beautiful open-air spa pool set in a south-facing hollow on a tree-covered hillside, with naturally heated 38° C water - wonderfully relaxing after a day's walking. Now came the highlight day - a 40km ride along the valley on the Train Jaune. The 1m gauge line opened in 1909 and climbs from Villefranche at 420m in the middle valley up to Mont Louis at 1510m, in places on a 6% gradient. From here it runs for another 20 kms to link with the trans-Pyrenean Toulouse-Barcelona main line. The whole journey was a literal cliff-hanger (Photo 2); the line hugs the  rocky side of the valley wall on narrow corniches, crossing spectacular viaducts and a 150m long suspension bridge 80m above the Têt gorge. If you are ever in the Eastern Pyrenees, don't miss this rail journey of a lifetime.

From the Upper Têt, we moved down into the still craggy middle valley, near to the spa town of Vernet les Bains, to another delightful campsite, Del Bosc. Its most practical feature was a washing machine; after 3 weeks on the road, we needed clean laundry! But what set Del Bosc apart, in addition to another hospitable welcome, was its wonderful setting: with sun filtering down through the oak trees, total peace other than the sound of a mountain stream and constant birdsong, and breathtaking views to greet you each morning looking up to the snow-covered massif of 2,800m high Canigou. If we needed any reminder of why we had chosen this life-style, here it was.

Close by, 1/2 hour's climb up from the mountain village of Casteil, is the Abbaie St Martin du Canigou, perched just below the summit of a rocky pinnacle at 1,055m and hidden from the valley below, the perfect setting for secluded monastic life. Founded in 1001 AD, the Abbaie was occupied by a Benedictine community continuously until 1783, when, as the guide leaflet aptly put it, "the last remaining monks asked permission to come down". The building fell into dereliction and its carved stonework plundered to decorate local churches; until, that is, in the early 20th century, the Bishop of Perpignan asserted his episcopal authority to recover the stonework and rebuild the Abbaie. Our visit was really worthwhile, not only for the eagle's eyrie setting, but the beautiful Romanesque chapels and cloisters overlooking the Cady gorge. And after the heat of the day, we enjoyed our first and rather belated BBQ of this trip - summer had truly arrived. The other nearby attraction was the medieval town of Villefranche, positioned at the strategically important confluence of the river Cady running down from Canigou and the main Têt river. The wonderfully preserved medieval fortifications and another 17th century Vauban fortress high above the ancient town are well worth a visit. 

The main town of the middle valley is Prades, which gained fame as the home in exile from Franco's Spain of the Catalan cellist, Pablo Casals, and venue of an annual music festival held in his honour. But for us, memories of Prades are the grubby, noisy and inhospitable municipal campsite - we were glad to move on further down valley. Suddenly the mountains were left behind and the Mediterranean climate meant fruit orchards and road-side stalls selling peaches and cherries. We camped close to the town of Ille sur Têt in order to visit a local geological curiosity known as les Orgues: cliffs of soft white friable sandy sedimentary deposits have been eroded into fantastic shapes, and sculpted into columns like organ pipes (hence the name) (Photo 3). The quality of the commentary-leaflet was excellent in explaining the complex geological processes which had created the formations, although a little of the meaning was lost in translation: "do not let the erosion make you sad since it has sculpted beauty through time with its sediments"; we took comfort from these words of reassurance.

It was now time to cross the barren scrubland hills (garrigue) of les Aspres, over to the Tech valley, a 30 mile drive on a road scarcely a vehicle's width, with fearful drops on one side and projecting schist rock on the other threatening to rip the camper's side as we rounded the tight bends. The only relief en route was a visit to the beautifully restored 12th century Prieuré de Sarrrabone. The hills are covered with cork-oak trees, said to be one of the most commercially important Mediterranean natural products along with the vine and olive. Cork bark is stripped off the tree trunks once every 10~15 years, and the sight of this amazing crop, growing in such a fragile environment, certainly changes one's feeling towards plastic bottle-stoppers.

After such a challenging journey, it was a relief to descend to the Tech valley, a more benign landscape than its northern craggy neighbour - rolling hills covered with deciduous woodland, and cattle grazing in pasture land by the gently-flowing Tech. Proximity to the Spanish border made the valley a major escape route from occupied France during WW II. We enjoyed a peaceful 2 day stay at le Riuferrer campsite at Arles sur Tech to visit 2 amazing spectacles, 1 man-made, the other natural. The first was Arles Abbey, a sturdy Romanesque structure dedicated to the valley's 2 obscure patron saints, Abdon and Sennen. The second was the Gorge de la Fou (a Catalan word meaning precipice). Although slightly over-sanitised with safety measures, this was one of the most spectacular natural showpieces ever seen: the gorge is over 1.5 km in length, up to 800 feet deep, and in places only an arm span in width. Walkways provide a viable passage of the enclosed narrow groove, with chock-stones almost forming caves through which you pass. The roaring torrent which formed the gorge surges beneath the walkway - not a spectacle to be missed. And so we moved up to the head of the Tech valley, to the southernmost town in mainland France, Prats de Mollo. This delightfully welcoming medieval town enjoys a picturesque setting hemmed in by high mountains to the north and west, and looking southwards towards the rolling hills of Spain over the 1500m Col d'Ares (Photo 4) - our onward route for next week into the Garrotxa volcanic region.

                                             Sheila and Paul                                                                                                          Published: Monday 6 June 2005

 Music this week:  Alhambra
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