THE PYRENEES
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
PARIS
MARIE ANTOINETTE
EMMANUEL BURDEN, MERCHANT
A CHANGE IN THE CABINET
HILLS AND THE SEA
ON NOTHING AND KINDRED SUBJECTS
ON EVERYTHING
ON SOMETHING
FIRST AND LAST
THIS AND THAT AND THE OTHER
ON
A PICKED COMPANY
[Illustration: THE GATE OF THE ROUSILLON
_H. Belloc, del._]
THE PYRENEES
BY
H. BELLOC
WITH NUMEROUS SKETCHES
BY THE AUTHOR
AND TWENTY-TWO MAPS
FOURTH EDITION
WITH A NEW PREFACE
[Illustration]
METHUEN & CO. LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
_First Published (Demy 8vo)_ _June 3rd 1909_
_Second Edition_ _June 1916_
_Third Edition (Crown 8vo)_ _April 1923_
_Fourth Edition (Crown 8vo)_ _1928_
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
TO
GILBERT MOORHEAD
IN PIOUS MEMORY OF PAMPLONA, ELIZONDO, THE CANON WHO SHOT QUAILS WITH A
WALKING-STICK, THE IGNORANT HIERARCH, THE CHOCOLATE OF THE AGED WOMAN,
THE ONE-EYED HORSE OF THE PEÑA BLANCA, THE MIRACULOUS BRIDGE, AND THE
UNHOLY VISION OF ST. GIRONS.
PREFACE
The only object of this book is to provide, for those who desire to do
as I have done in the Pyrenees, a general knowledge of the mountains in
which they propose to travel.
I have paid particular attention to make clear those things which I
myself only learned slowly during several journeys and after much
reading, and which I would like to have been told before I first set
out. I could not pretend within the limits of this book, or with such an
object in view, to write anything in the nature of a Guide, and indeed
there are plenty of books of that sort from which one can learn most
that is necessary to ordinary travel upon the frontier of France and
Spain; but I proposed when I began these few pages to set down what a man
might not find in such books: as—what he should expect in certain inns,
by what track he might best see certain districts, what difficulties he
was to expect upon the crest of the mountains, how long a time crossings
apparently short might take him, what the least kit was which he could
carry into the hills, how he had best camp and find his way and the rest,
what maps were at his disposal, the advantages of each map, its defects,
and so forth. The little of general matter which I have admitted into my
pages—a dissertation upon the physical nature of the chain, and a shorter
division upon its political character—I have strictly limited to what
I thought necessary to that general understanding of a mountain without
which travel upon it would be a poor pleasure indeed.
If I have admitted such petty details as the times of trains, and the
cost of a journey from London, it is because I have found those petty
details to be of the first importance to myself, as indeed they must be
to all those who have but little leisure. I have in everything attempted
to set down only that which would be really useful to a man on foot
or driving in that country, and only that which he could not easily
obtain in other books. Thus I have carefully set down directions as
minute as possible for finding particular crossings and camping grounds,
for the finding of which the ordinary Guide Book is of no service. My
chief regret is that the book will necessarily be too bulky to carry in
the pocket; for it is meant to be not so much a lively as an accurate
companion to the general exploration of those high hills which have given
me so much delight.
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION
This third edition of my book on the Pyrenees necessarily suffers
somewhat from the fact that it is published after the interval of the
Great War.
The book in its original form was written in the course of 1908-09, and
contained a number of particular details on prices, etc., which the war
has completely changed. These I have had to revise _only approximately_,
for the value of the franc still fluctuates violently. But the present
conditions of currency in Europe are not permanent. In other matters the
book is as applicable to the present condition of the Pyrenees as it was
to that thirteen or fourteen years ago. The road system is the same,
and though one or two of the inns may have changed hands, the account
of these I give holds in the main. There have been no new maps issued,
either, since the date on which the book was written. I have not added
anything on the present system of passports, because that also presumably
will be out of date in a short time; but I may mention that at the moment
of writing these lines (September, 1922), it is advisable to have one’s
passport _viséd_ to Spain before visiting the mountains. Even if the
reader has no intention of crossing the frontier he may be compelled to
do so under stress of weather, or he may easily do so by error in the
confusion of the higher valleys, and in the first Spanish town he comes
to his passport is sure to be demanded.
The train service differs little now from what it was before the war.
The night and day services and the average number of hours required for
approaching the mountains from Paris or London, are again much what they
were fourteen years ago.
PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION
I write this Preface to the Fourth Edition after five years.
My last note upon this book was written, as the reader will see, for the
Third Edition, in September, 1922. These lines are written in November,
1927.
When I wrote my Preface to the Third Edition, Europe, its currencies, and
the rest, were still under the heavy disturbances of the Great War. But
things are now more settled, notably currencies. Also a few more years of
peace have given both French and Spaniards the opportunity for building
new roads, and for extending the railway system.
In the notes I am about to add here I ought to make it clear that I
am writing principally by information rather than by direct personal
experience, and anyone who finds that some point ought to be corrected or
something added, and who will communicate with the publishers, or with
myself care of the publishers, will be doing the future readers of this
book a great service. I am sure to be making some mistakes, and the less
there are in any future edition the better.
I humbly beg the reader to remember that the book was written in the old
days of peace, “before ever the sons of Achaia came to the land.” It
was also written when I was a young man and could go over any number of
miles on foot in any weather and over pretty well anything—even the worst
steeps of the Canal Roya, though I have no claim to climbing. To-day I
can do none of these things, and have to go by hearsay. I propose to
divide what I have to say into (1) general remarks, (2) additions to
the road system, (3) the (comparatively slight) changes in the railroad
system (including the change in the value of money and present prices of
tickets), (4) changes in inns (here I shall have to be very tentative,
for I have to go mainly by reports), and (5) maps.
(1) GENERAL
The political situation has so developed that it is no longer advisable,
as I formerly said, but _necessary_ to have one’s passport _viséd_ for
Spain before starting for the Pyrenees, even if one has no intention of
crossing the frontier. For, as I said when the book was written, there
are occasions when the traveller on foot in the mountains may cross
the frontier unwittingly, and have to deal with the authorities on the
farther side. To this must be added the consideration that a stricter
central government in Spain, coupled with occasional plots against
it, has made the frontier authorities particularly vigilant. They may
take from a traveller anything which looks like an offensive weapon—an
acquaintance of mine was deprived, for instance, of a very large stick,
and he might have fared worse with a very large knife. It is well to
remember that when you enter Spain by this frontier you are coming in
by its most remote, least peopled, and most difficult area, and that
one must have nothing to explain if one can help it. I mean, of course,
when you enter over the main range; for the two main roads and railways
at either end of the chain by the sea-coasts of the Atlantic and the
Mediterranean are common international highways.
Another point to remember, which is a small one but now and then, though
very rarely, important to the traveller, is that the variation in the
compass has changed since this book was written. It was written twenty
years ago, and was published nearly nineteen years ago, and since then
the variation of the compass has lessened (for this part of the world)
by something like three degrees. The traveller must further remember
that (though it is not very strictly enforced) there is a new law in
France both for travellers proposing to reside a certain time in the
country and (this is strictly enforced) a daily tax for travellers using
foreign motor-cars in the country; while all the Spanish corresponding
regulations have been tightened up. The wise thing to do, therefore, if
you mean to spend more than a fortnight in these hills on either side
of the border, is to inform yourself thoroughly upon arrival of what
is required of you. You can do it in France easily enough; but as on
the Spanish side the main towns are a long way from the range, you will
do well, if you intend to spend any number of days to the south of the
frontier, to find out at the Spanish Consulate in London or at your
nearest large town what formalities may be needed.
On the effect of the change in prices I deal elsewhere. But there are two
things to be remembered here, with one of which most people are familiar,
but the other of which most people have not as yet appreciated. The first
is that on the French as on the Spanish side, but much more on the French
side than on the Spanish, the old unit of currency does not mean, in
gold, what it meant when this book was written.
In France it means _in gold_ only _one-fifth_ at the present apparently
stabilized rate of what it meant when I first put these pages together.
We are on a gold basis in England. A franc used, before the war, to be
nearly 10_d._ It is to-day almost exactly 2_d._ On the Spanish side the
peseta fluctuates somewhat, but at the moment of writing it is well below
thirty (twenty-eight odd), which means that the peseta, once nominally
equal to the franc, is between 8_d._ and 9_d._, or rather more than four
times the present value of the franc.
But the second point, which is much less generally appreciated, is even
more important to retain. _Prices in gold have changed._ There are all
sorts of views as to the real amount of the change; but I think we are
not very far wrong in basing any calculation of expense upon a basis of
doubling. At any rate, if you do that you will not be disappointed. The
gold franc or gold peseta buys in 1927 more than half as much, but not
much more than half as much, as it did before the war. In other words,
the franc to-day is not in practice half of a fifth, that is, one-tenth,
of what it was before the war, nor is the peseta in practice as little as
fourpence halfpenny compared with prices before the war. You get more for
your money than such a rough rule of thumb would warrant. But remember
that you are getting things cheaper than the strict gold basis would
allow. For instance, I know of one particular inn on the French side of
the frontier, high up in the valleys (it is a very good one and a typical
one), where they charge for food, including wine, and lodging, fifty to
sixty francs a day. You would not have got the same thing for five or six
francs in 1914; but you would have got it for seven or eight. My object
in emphasizing this is to prevent the traveller from thinking that under
modern conditions he is being bled. It is rather the other way. He is
getting things somewhat cheaper still in these mountains than world
prices would warrant. He must expect to pay on the very different scale I
have indicated.
Lastly, let me add in connexion with prices that, for a variety of
reasons which it would take too long to go into, he must expect a very
distinct rise in general expenses as measured in English exchange when he
passes from French into Spanish territory. He must allow for something
like an increase of a third, and perhaps in the larger towns of a half of
what he pays on the French side.
Further, when he is looking for anything like luxury, even in the
humblest sense of that term, he must be prepared to pay (e.g. for foreign
wines, or for well-appointed travel by car) nearly double on the Spanish
side what he would have to pay on the French.
The traveller should remember that there has been a very great expansion
of good roads on the Spanish side compared with what there was when this
book was written, and with that has gone an almost universal system of
motor-buses, which have quite changed travel on the southern side of the
range. He will do well always to ask before trying to go by the slow and
few trains what the motor-bus services are. Thus, in the old days when
this book was written, a man had either to go on foot or by slow horse
vehicles across Roncesvalles to Pamplona. To-day there is a first-rate
service of rapid motor-buses, and he will find that to be the case pretty
well everywhere between the Mediterranean end and the Atlantic.
(2) ROADS
In the matter of new roads a great deal has been done since this book
was written. First and most important, one can go by a good road now
over the Bonaigua. I regret it, but so it is. The road does not, indeed,
follow the old track of adventure from the Noguera to the Upper Garonne.
It goes somewhat to the north of it. But it constitutes, what did not
before exist, a proper crossing supplementary to the two roads of Sallent
and Jaca. It leads down through the hitherto impassable centre of the
range to Lerida, and makes of the Val d’Aran, which used to be a most
secluded pocket, a thoroughfare.
Next, there is now a road which a motor car can follow from Seo de Urgel
to Andorra the Old. In my time no wheeled vehicle had entered Andorra.
They used to boast also that no man had ever been put to death there by
process of law. I hope that progress has not changed that.
Next note that there is a road for motors now through Bourg Madame,
through Puigcerdá to Seo, and so down into Spain, and further a
first-class road from Puigcerdá to Barcelona over the Pass by Ripoll,
which I think did not exist when I was a younger man. The main road from
Burguete to Pamplona, cutting off the great corner at Aoiz and passing
through Erro and Larrasoaña, has long been completed; it is now served by
a good service of motor-buses.
Of secondary roads that up the valley of Salazar reaches as far north
as Izalzu; that up the valley of Roncal as far as Uztarroz. So if you
are crossing the Basque ridge anywhere between St. Jean Pied de Port and
Tardets you will find the beginning of a road on the southern side at
either of these points.
On the French side there are few important changes. I am afraid that the
very difficult road overhanging the precipices between Argelès and Larunz
has not been made less difficult. It is well called Mount Ugly. If you
care for the experience, it is exciting enough. Nothing, I fear, could
make this road easy without a high parapet at its worst stretch; and that
might be a danger of a new kind, by giving the driver too much confidence.
There is some secondary extension of the road beyond Gavarnie up to the
frontier. I see it marked: I have not myself tried it. You can get up
from Tardets nowadays by a road both to Ste. Engrace and Larrau, and
there is something of a road up the Arette from Aramitz. For the rest,
I believe there is on the French side no change, but developments were
proposed some little time ago, and if there have been any quite recent
changes which any of my readers can acquaint me with they will oblige me
by mentioning them for a further edition.
(3) RAILROADS
The railroad system is, for the practical purposes of travel, what it was
when I wrote the book so many years ago. But we are on the eve of very
important changes. One cannot yet travel by train under the Pass of the
Somport and so directly to Saragossa from Toulouse or Bordeaux. But the
tunnel has long been completed, the rails are being laid—indeed, perhaps
at the moment of writing they may be already in position. I cannot find
out from the authorities when they think the first train will go through.
Perhaps they do not know themselves. It is amusing to hear that the
tunnel is now continually used by foot-passengers, who are escorted in
a gang and who (so I am assured) have their passports examined in the
bowels of the earth, some thousands of feet below the summit of the main
ridge.
The railway from Ax over the Hospitalet is in a more backward
state—hardly more than surveyed—and I know not when it is designed to
open. On the other hand, the through railway by the Cerdagne is now
virtually completed; there are only a few hundred yards to be finished;
one still has to go in a vehicle or walk from Puigcerdá station to Bourg
Madame, a matter of a mile or so; but whenever the authorities choose one
can have through traffic through this very fine piece of scenery round
from Perpignan to Ripoll and Barcelona.
I append what may be of use, though of course it is a changeable thing,
a note on the main trains for approaching the Pyrenees as the time-table
now stands, with the prices under the new currency and their equivalents
in English money; this time-table changes of course, and inquiry must
always be made, but the main trains (e.g. the Sud Express) are much the
same year after year.
The three main lines of approach to the Pyrenees remain what they were
when this book was written, the western one by Bordeaux, the central one
by Toulouse, the eastern one by Lyons, Nîmes, and Perpignan. Of these the
first is the most rapid; and of the two routes to Bordeaux—the State Line
and the Orleans Line—the latter is the quicker. The day train leaves at
8.8 in the morning from the Quai d’Orsay, and gets you to Pau, which is
the jumping-off place for the Western Pyrenees, at 10.45 at night. The
distance is a little over five hundred miles; the cost, with the franc
apparently stabilized at 124 at the time of writing, is just over 250
francs second class, just over 370 francs first class, and not quite 165
third class, that is, about £1 7_s._ 6_d._ to £1 8_s._ English third
class from Paris, about £2 2_s._ second class, and about £3 2_s._ first
class. If you are making a very short stay in the Pyrenees it may pay
you to take a return ticket, the duration of which varies on the French
lines with the length of your journey. In this case it would give you
about ten days, counting the day on which you leave Paris. There are all
sorts of arrangements on the French lines for round trip tickets, family
tickets, etc., at reduced prices, but on these one must get information
specially from an agency or the French tourist office in London or the
main stations in Paris.
Going first class and paying a supplementary price of about £1 4_s._ to
£1 5_s._ and changing at Dax, into an ordinary first class, one can go
from Paris by the Sud Express leaving the Quai d’Orsay at 10 a.m. and get
to Pau at 8.30 in the evening.
If you are making for the extreme west of the range at St. Jean Pied de
Port, the same trains get you, the one to Bayonne, where you must sleep,
at 9.45 at night, and the other, the Sud Express, without changing, at
7.45 p.m.
Next morning there is a train on at 8, and another at 11.30, for St.
Jean, the first getting in at 9.45, the other at 1.15. The distance from
Bayonne to Paris is about 485 miles, and the cost therefore, rather less
to Pau, being 350 francs (about) first class, 235 or 236 second class,
and 154 third class.
The night trains by this line are the 7.10 (which has no third class),
which gets you to Pau at 7.20 the next morning; there is a luxury train
with supplementary payments for sleeping berth which gets you there no
earlier, but has the advantage of giving you time to dine in Paris. It
does not start till 8.40; however, it costs nearly £2 more than the first
class fare to Pau. Another night train with third classes in it starts at
9.50, gets you to Bordeaux at 7 in the morning (where you have nearly
half an hour for coffee) and to Pau for lunch just after noon.
The Central Line leading to Toulouse is a very slow one because it has to
go over the central mountains of France. You start from the Quai d’Orsay
also at 10.20 in the morning, and you do not get to Toulouse till just on
10.30 at night. The fares are 142 francs third class, 218 second class,
and 324 first class.
The two night trains are, one at 7.50, the other at 9.15—the latter with
sleepers if required; the first gets into Toulouse at 8.30 the next
morning, the other at 9.15.
From Toulouse you have a choice of three ways: to the Central Pyrenees,
to the Valley of the Ariège and Ax, which is to the west, and to Narbonne
and so to Perpignan on the Mediterranean at the extreme east of the range.
The first is a distance of about 100 miles to Tarbes, or another 12 miles
on to Lourdes.
The second, about 75 miles, but with only one fast train a day, a morning
one, at 9, getting you to Ax at 11.40, in time for lunch; while the third
one is the main through line with plenty of trains, but a distance of 125
miles. On the other hand, it has the fastest trains. For instance, you
can leave Toulouse at 9.30 and be in Perpignan by 1.30.
As for the line by Lyons, it is a long way round and not to be taken
unless you want to see anything on the way. On the other hand, it has
the best service of fast trains. The best morning train is the 9 o’clock
from P.L.M. station in Paris, which gets you to Avignon at 7.45 in the
evening, and there you must sleep, going on next morning to Perpignan.
You usually have to change at Tarascon. It is the better part of two
days, for save in the case of one train, there is another change at
Narbonne. There is no need to dwell on this line, as no one would take
it for the Pyrenees unless they were visiting other places on the way,
such as Nîmes or Narbonne. The cost also is about thirty per cent greater
than by the more direct line.
(4) INNS
The little I have to say on the changes in the inns since the first
edition of this book was published must be very tentative, as I have to
depend upon reports of others, save for a certain amount of recent travel
at the two ends of the range. Most of the old recommendations still
stand. Gabas is what it always was, and the Golden Lion of Perpignan as
admirable as it has been for these thirty years and more. The inn at
Burguete and that of Val Carlos have been somewhat modernized since the
new motor-bus service began, but they are still excellent. An inn I did
not mention in the first edition on the Spanish side of the range, in
Catalonia, is that of Ribas Prattes, standing over the torrent, and one
where I, at least, have always been very comfortable. Since the opening
of the new road and railway over the Sierra del Cadi it has become
unfortunately rather famous, and it is not cheap; but the people treat
you charmingly, and that is a great thing.
At Bourg Madame I have quite recently found myself very comfortable
at Salvat. I am told that the principal inn at Andorra is rather more
sophisticated since the motor road has been built to the town, but is
still as good as it was in the old days. Of course the cooking and
everything else is Catalan; and I am talking from hearsay, as I have not
been to Andorra for many years.
As you stop at Bayonne on your way you will find good meals at the Grand
Brasserie facing the end of the bridge, while the hotel for sleeping is
the Capagorry; at least that is my favourite, though there is also the
rather more expensive Grand Hotel.
Nearly all the places on which I have made inquiries seem to have
maintained the old service intact. You still have the Mur in Jaca, and
the more primitive but hospitable inn of Canfranc; and the little inn
at Urdos, where I stopped some years ago, is passable enough, though I
still recommend as a base the Hotel de la Poste lower down the valley at
Bédous. By the way, if you do stop at Urdos, beware of the drinking water
which for some reason is not very safe—or was not.
Before leaving these very brief notes I should like to emphasize again
for travellers the change in prices. On the whole, they are lower,
reckoning the real purchasing value of money, than they were in the old
days.
Thus, the place I know best, and where I have stopped most often, is
charging now as a regular _pension_ per day in francs including wine,
and counting in francs, six times what it charged before the war. Now
the nominal value of the franc in gold is only a fifth of what it was
before the war, and the purchasing power of gold is very nearly half,
so a multiple of six means that you are getting your board and lodging
really cheaper than you did in 1913; but I know it is difficult to
persuade people of this, just as it is difficult to persuade people in
England that railway fares and postage at home are really less than they
were before the war. At any rate, those who may have had experience
of the Pyrenees before the war may roughly multiply by six for the
present price, at least in modest places; and in some cases by less.
Of course in the very large hotels in places like Bagnères you may be
charged anything. But they are places which I never go to and on which I
therefore can give no advice.
It remains, by the way, as true as ever that on the French side of the
range you must always ask the price of your room before taking it, and on
the Spanish side be quite clear as to whether the price quoted is for the
room and all the day’s meals including wine (as is the national custom)
or for only a part. On both sides of the frontier service is usually
included in the bill nowadays at 10 per cent on the total, and it is
foolish to pay anything more.
(5) MAPS
The war interfered with map-making in France so much that recovery is
only beginning, and the revision of the main surveys is still in arrears.
What I have said, however, in this book still stands for the most part.
I append a list of the maps recommended, with their prices, to be
obtained from Messrs Sifton, Praed & Co., The Map House, 67, St. James’s
Street, S.W. 1.
With regard to this list I would make the following comment:
(1) This is the standard French ordnance map, the one most necessary for
the pedestrian, especially if he is dealing only with a limited area.
(2) This is the map for motoring and road work.
(3) This is the map for climbers, but unfortunately the first three
sheets have been allowed to go out of print. I hear that there is some
hope of a reprint being made, and on my next visit to the publishers I
will urge them to advance it. The map was made years ago for Messrs.
Barrere, and is very useful on account of its numerous contours.
(4) is to be reckoned with (3).
(5) This is the general map for a conspectus of the whole range.
(6) I have not seen this map, but it can be obtained from the firm
mentioned above. It is I believe detailed and exceedingly useful, but as
yet only applies to this small section of the mountain.
(7) The Michelin map is a motoring map, but contains a great deal of
useful information, and is very accurate as to motoring roads.
(8) The Taride is a much rougher map, with general indications; not so
accurate as the Michelin, but useful for long tours.
With this said I append the list.
(1) 1/100,000 France, covering the Pyrenees in 27 sheets. Price
1_s._ per sheet unmounted; mounted on cloth to fold for the
pocket, 2_s._ 6_d._ per sheet.
(2) 1/200,000 France. 7 sheets. Price, 2_s._ each unmounted;
mounted on cloth to fold, 4_s._ 6_d._ each. Sheet 69 mounted
on cloth to fold, 4_s._
(3) Schrader’s map of the Pyrenees Centrales par F. Schrader.
Sheets 4, 5, 6 only available. The three northern sheets 1,
2, 3 are out of print.
(4) Schrader’s map “Massif de Gavarnie et du Mont Perdu,” Scale
1/2000. Paper, folded in cover. Price, 2_s._ 6_d._
(5) Touring Club de France. Scale 1/400,000. Two sheets cover
the whole of the Pyrenees. Mounted on cloth to fold for the
pocket, 5_s._ each.
(6) Mapa Militar de Espana. Sheet 86 and part of 62. Seo de Urgel.
This is the only sheet published so far of the Pyrenees.
Price, 2_s._ 6_d._ unmounted; mounted on cloth to fold, 4_s._
6_d._
(7) Carte Routière Michelin. Scale 1/200,000. Two sheets cover
the whole of the Pyrenees on the French side. Mounted to fold,
4_s._ each.
(8) Taride Road Maps. Scale 4 miles to 1 inch. Two sheets cover
the whole of the Pyrenees. Paper, folded in cover, 2_s._ each.
Mounted on cloth to fold, 5_s._ each.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE PYRENEES 1
II. THE POLITICAL CHARACTER OF THE PYRENEES 36
III. MAPS 59
IV. THE ROAD SYSTEM OF THE PYRENEES 79
V. TRAVEL ON FOOT IN THE PYRENEES 106
VI. THE SEPARATE DISTRICTS OF THE PYRENEES 144
i. The Basque Valleys 145
ii. The Four Valleys (Béarn and Aragon) 155
iii. Sobrarbe 167
iv. The Tarbes Valleys and Luchon 179
v. Andorra and the Catalan Valleys 187
vi. Cerdagne 199
vii. The Tet and Ariège 204
viii. The Canigou 210
VII. INNS OF THE PYRENEES 217
VIII. THE APPROACHES TO THE PYRENEES 234
INDEX 239
LIST OF MAPS
FACING PAGE
GENERAL SKETCH MAP OF THE PYRENEES 1
THE BASQUE VALLEYS 154
THE FOUR VALLEYS 166
THE PASSAGE OVER THE COL DE LA CRUZ AND THE COL DE GISTAIN 174
THE SOBRARBE 178
THE TARBES VALLEYS AND LUCHON 186
THE CATALAN VALLEYS AND ANDORRA 198
THE CERDAGNE 202
THE ARIÈGE AND TET VALLEYS 208
THE CANIGOU 216
THE GATE OF THE ROUSSILLON _Frontispiece_
[Illustration: GENERAL SKETCH MAP OF THE PYRENEES]
THE PYRENEES
I
THE PHYSICAL NATURE OF THE PYRENEES
[Illustration]
To use for travel or for pleasure a great mountain system, the first
thing necessary is to understand its structure and its plan; to this
understanding must next be added an understanding of its appearance,
climate, soil, and, as it were, habits, all of which lend it a character
peculiar to itself.
These two approaches to the comprehension of a mountain system may be
called the approaches to its physical nature; and when one has the
elements of that nature clearly seized, one is the better able to
comprehend the human incidents attached to it.
From an appreciation of this physical basis one must next proceed to a
general view of the history of the district—if it has a history—and of
the modern political character resulting from it. At the root of this
will be found the original groups or communities which have remained
unchanged in Western Europe throughout all recorded time. These groups
are sometimes distinguishable by language, more often by character.
Changes of philosophy profoundly affect them; changes of economic
circumstance, though affecting them far less, do something to render the
problem of their continuity complex: but upon an acquaintance with the
living men concerned, it is always possible to distinguish where the
boundaries of a country-side are set; and the permanence of such limits
in European life is the chief lesson a deep knowledge of any district
conveys.
The recorded history of the inhabitants lends to these hills their only
full meaning for the human being that visits them to-day; nor does anyone
know, nor half know, any country-side of Europe unless he possesses not
only its physical appearance and its present habitation, but the elements
of its past.
These things established, one can turn to the details of travel and
explain the communications, the difficulties, and the opportunities
attaching to various lines of travel. In the case of a mountain range,
the greater part of this last will, of course, for modern Englishmen,
consist in some account of wilder travel upon foot, and the sense of
exploration and of discovery which the district affords.
Such are the lines to be followed in this book, and, first, I will begin
by laying down the plan and contours of the Pyrenees.
* * * * *
The first impression reached by modern and educated men when they
consider a mountain system is one over-simple. This over-simplicity
is the necessary result of our present forms of elementary education,
and has been well put by some financial vulgarian or other (with the
intention of praise) when he called it “Thinking in Maps,” or, “Thinking
Imperially”; for the maps in a man’s head when he first approaches a new
range are the maps of the schoolroom.
Thus one sees the Sierra Nevada in California as one line, the Cascade
Range as another parallel to it. The Alps and the Himalayas alike arrange
themselves into simple curves, arcs of a circle with a great river
for the cord. The Atlas is a straight line cutting off the northern
projection of Africa, the Apennines are a straight line running down the
centre of Italy. Such are the first geographic elements present in the
mind.
The next impression, however, the impression gathered in actual travel,
or in a detailed study, is one of mere confusion, a confusion the more
hopeless on account of the false simplicity of the original premise.
Deductions from that premise are perpetually at variance with the
observed facts of travel or of study, the exceptions become so numerous
as to swamp the rule, and an original misconception upon the main
character of the chain prevents a new and more accurate synthesis of
its general aspect. Thus, the conception of the Cascade Range upon the
Pacific Coast of the United States as parallel and separate from the
Sierras, confuses one’s view of all the district round Shasta, and of
all the watersheds south of the Mohave where the two systems merge; or
again, one who has only thought of the Alps as a mere arc of a circle
misconceives, and is bewildered by the nature, the appearance, and the
whole history of the great re-entrant angles of the Val d’Aosta with
its Gallic influences; the anomaly of the Adige Valley will not permit
him to explain its political fortunes, and the outlying arms which have
preserved the independence of Swiss institutions upon the southern slope
will not fall into his view of the mountains.
This confusion, I say, is not due so much to the multitude of detail as
to the permanent effect of an original strong and over-simple conception
remaining in the mind as it continues to accumulate increasing but
sporadic knowledge of a particular district; and it is a confusion in
which those who have formed such an erroneous conception commonly remain.
In order to avoid such confusion and to allow one’s increasing knowledge
a frame wherein to fit, it is essential to grasp in one scheme the few
elementary lines which underlie a mountain system, and such a scheme will
be a trifle more complex than the too simple scheme usually presented,
but once one has it one can appreciate the place of every irregularity in
the structure of the whole chain of hills.
In the case of the Pyrenees the common error of too great simplicity
may be easily stated. These mountains are regarded as a wall separating
France from Spain, and running direct from sea to sea. Such an aspect
of the range will more and more confuse the traveller and reader the
more he studies the actual shape of the valleys. Another picture should
occupy the mind, and it will presently be seen that with this picture
permanently fixed as a framework for the whole system, an increased
knowledge of its details does but expand the sense of unity originally
conveyed. The Pyrenees must not be regarded as a sharp heaped ridge
forming a single watershed between the plains of Gaul and those of
Northern Spain, and running east and west from the Atlantic to the
Mediterranean. They form a system, the watershed of which does not
exactly stretch from one sea to the other. The axis of it does not
consist of one line; the general direction is not due east. The axis of
the Pyrenean chain is built up of two main lines, of approximately equal
length: the one running south of east from a point at some distance from
the Atlantic, the other north of west from a point right on the shores of
the Mediterranean. These two lines do not meet. They miss by over eight
miles, and the gap between them is joined by a low saddle.
[Illustration: PLAN A.]
The first of these lines starts from a point (Mount Urtioga) 25 miles
south of the corner made by the Bay of Biscay at Irun, and some 15 miles
west of its meridian; it runs about 9° 15′ south of east to the peak
called Sabouredo, the last of the Maladetta group, the direct distance
from which to Mount Urtioga is precisely 200 kilometres, or 124 miles.
The second runs from Cape Cerberus on the Mediterranean to a peak called
the Pic-de-l’homme, which stands a trifle over 12 kilometres, or 7¾
miles, north of the Sabouredo; its direction is 9° 25′ north of west, and
the total length of this second line is just over 190 kilometres, or 117
miles.
[Illustration: PLAN B.]
The simplest scheme, then, in which we can regard the Pyrenees, is as a
system of not quite parallel lines of equal length, running one towards
the other, but missing by not quite 8 miles; the gap or “fault” joined by
a zigzag saddle on the watershed. The westernmost of these lines splits
into several branches before it reaches the Atlantic, so that the true
western end of the chain lies well to the south and east of that ocean
(at Mount Urtioga); the other starts from, and forms a projection in, the
Mediterranean. The full distance as the crow flies from Mount Urtioga
to Cape Cerberus upon the Mediterranean is 390 kilometres, that is 241
miles. And there is but 10 kilometres, or 6½ miles, difference in length
between the two halves of the chain.
If U be the point called Mount Urtioga, S the Sabouredo, L the
Pic-de-l’homme, and C Cape Cerberus, these two lines and the gap between
them will lie precisely as in this plan.
With this main guide by which to judge the structure of the chain, all
details will be found to fit in, and the two first variations which we
must superimpose upon so general a view, are to be found in the “step” or
“corner” formed by the watershed round the Pic d’Anie. The southward turn
of the range is here not gradual but sharp, and the Somport, the pass at
the head of the Val d’Aspe, lies almost a day’s going below the Port St.
Engrace, which is the Pass near the Pic d’Anie. Next, one should note the
two re-entrant angles, one to the north of the chain, one to the south,
which distinguish the Spanish valley of the Gallego and the French valley
of the Gave de Pau respectively. These features modify the simplicity of
the first or western branch of the chain; one exceptional feature only
modifies the second or Eastern branch, and this is the deep re-entrant
wedge of the Ariège valley upon the French side. We may therefore regard
the elements of the watershed somewhat according to the sketch plan B on
the preceding page.
[Illustration: PLAN C.]
The details of the watershed when they are given in full are of course
indefinitely more numerous and complicated, and it may be of advantage
for those who would understand the structure of the Pyrenees to glance
also at the plan opposite where the dotted line represents the exact
trace of the watershed, the dark lines the simple structure described
above.
[Illustration: PLAN D.]
The watershed then should be regarded as the chief feature in the range,
and as the backbone of the whole system. Geologically, it is not the
foundation of the range. Geologically, the range was piled up by the
junction of a number of short separate ranges, each of which ran with a
sharper south-eastern dip (about 30°) than does the present long line
of saddles which has joined them and forms the existing watershed, and
probably the process of the formation of the Pyrenees was upon the model
sketched in the following diagram.
But for the purpose of understanding the Pyrenees as they now are, it is
the existing watershed which we must consider, and that runs as I have
said.
Next, the rule should be laid down that the Pyrenees must be separately
considered on their northern and upon their southern slopes. It will be
seen later that the physical and historical contrast between the two
sides of the mountains is sometimes acute and sometimes slight, but the
contrast between the general contour upon either side is such as to make
it impossible to unite both in one similar system.
The Northern slope of the Pyrenees is narrow and precipitous. The plains
are for the greater part of its length clearly separated from the
mountains; the easy country in some places (at St. Girons, for instance,
and in the Flats between Lourdes and Tarbes) is not 20 miles as the crow
flies from the highest peaks.
On the Spanish side, on the contrary, the mountainous district will run
from two to three times that distance. Its extreme width between the open
country at the foot of the Sierra Monsech and the Salau Pass is over 60
miles, and it is nowhere less than two days’ good journey on foot from
the summits to the plains.
This differentiation between the northern and the southern slopes is not
merely one of width, it is due to profound differences in the contours
which make the Spanish side of the system a different type of mountain
group from the French. For, on the French side the Pyrenees consist
in a series of great ribs or buttresses running up from the plains
perpendicularly to the main heights of the range, and it is between these
ribs or buttresses that the separate and highly distinct valleys which
are the characteristic habitations of the French Basques and Béarnais
lie. On the Spanish side the main structure is in folds _parallel_ to
the watershed; the lateral valleys descending from the watershed run
southward for but a very short distance, they come, within a few miles,
upon high east-and-west ridges which sometimes rival the main range
itself in height and which succeed each other like waves down to the
plains of the Ebro. The contrast in structure north and south of the
watershed may be expressed in the formula of this plan. A man looking at
the Pyrenees from the French towns at their base sees in one complete
view a belt of steep rising slopes, and a long fairly even line of
summits against the sky. A man looking at the range from the Spanish
plains can only in a few rare places so much as catch sight of the main
range. In far the greater number of such views he will have before him
a high ridge which masques the country beyond. If, then, the reader or
the traveller regards the French slope as being essentially a series of
profound valleys parallel to each other and running north and south, he
will have grasped the main aspect of this side of the range. If he will
regard the Spanish slope as a series of parallel outliers which begin
quite close to the watershed, and which, though falling at last into the
plains of the Ebro, are, even the most southern of them, of considerable
height, he will have grasped the structure of the Pyrenees upon the side
which looks towards the sun.
[Illustration: PLAN E.]
To these two main aspects the reader must again admit considerable
modifications, the first of which concerns the French side.
[Illustration: PLAN F.]
This Northern slope and its valleys, of which the sketch map over page
indicates the general arrangement, may be divided into two sections:
the first a western section, the second an eastern one, and these two
are separated at A-B by a division roughly corresponding to the “fault”
between the two axes, which, as we have seen, determine the lie of the
range.
From the first, or western axis, descend with a regular parallelism,
eight valleys. Each valley bifurcates in its higher part into two main
ravines, and a whole system of minor streams, spread over an indefinite
number of tortuous dales and gullies, attach to each valley.
There is a mark or limit for each of these western French valleys,
which is the spot where it debouches upon the open country. Thus the
Gave d’Ossau falls into the Gave d’Aspe at Oloron; nevertheless the two
valleys must be regarded as separate, because the meeting of the two
streams takes place in the open plain. On the other hand the valley of
Baigorry, and the neighbouring valley of St. Jean, though containing two
large separate streams, must be treated as one system, because these
streams meet at Eyharee near Ossés, and the open plain is not reached
before a point some miles further down beyond Canbo.
The test, though it may sound arbitrary upon paper, is quite easily
appreciated in the landscape, and the separate valleys are more clearly
marked, perhaps, than those of any other European mountain chain.
These eight valleys (see plan G over page), going from west to east,
are first that of the Nive (the bifurcations of which give St. Jean
and the Baigorry), next that of the Gave-de-Mauléon (Larrau and Ste.
Engrace), and both of these are Basque; next comes the valley of the
Gave d’Aspe (with the bifurcation of Lourdios and Urdos), up which went
the main Roman road into Spain and which is the first of the Béarnese
valleys; next is the Val d’Ossau (with the bifurcation of Gabas and the
lac d’Arrius), next the valley of the Gave de Pau (with the bifurcations
of Cauterets and Gavarnie), next the valley of Bigorre, a short valley
bifurcating in two minor streams at its head. Next, or seventh, comes the
Val d’Aure, with Vielle upon its western bifurcation and Bordères upon
its eastern; and lastly the bifurcated valley of the Garonne, whose level
and deep floor comes nearest of all to the main chain, and holds on the
west Luchon, on a branch called the Pique, on the east Viella in the Val
d’Aran.
[Illustration: PLAN G.]
[Illustration: PLAN H.]
Once past this point, the structure of the hills along the eastern run
of the broken Pyrenean axis changes. The mountains here are penetrated
by only two valleys, but each is much longer and more important than
any of the eight just mentioned, and these two great valleys run, not
parallel to each other, nor north and south as do the eight western ones,
but at a steep slant: the one (that of the Ariège) goes westward, and
the other (that of the Tet) eastward. Save for these two main valleys no
regular features can be discovered in the eastern portion; all is here a
labyrinth of dividing and subdividing lateral ridges, and the only thing
giving unity to the group is this system of two great trenches which run
up towards each other, the one from the Plain of Toulouse, the other
from that of Perpignan, to meet on the high land of the Carlitte group.
Strictly speaking, the western valley is not wholly that of the Ariège,
but those of the Ariège and Oriège combined, and it is further remarkable
that no regular passage exists from the one depression to the other, but
by a curious topographical accident, which will be described later in the
book, the crossing from the Ariège to the Tet has to be made by going
over on to the south side of the range, and then back again on to the
north side.
The importance of these two main valleys upon the eastern half of
the northern slope of the Pyrenees is sufficiently evident from the
historical fact that each determines a great historical district: the
one, that of the Ariège, was the country of _Foix_, the other, that of
the Tet, was the _Rousillon_. And while the eight small western valleys
running parallel to each other separate local customs and dialect alone,
the ridge of the Ariège and the Tet may almost be said to have separated
two nationalities, and owed ultimate allegiance for a thousand years, the
one to a Gallic, the other to an Iberian lord.
Beyond the valley of the Tet and eastward of the Canigou runs the little
fag end of the range, which falls into the sea at Cape Cerberus, and is
called the “Alberes.” Here there is but little distinction between the
northern and the southern side, the general shape of a sharp ridge is
maintained throughout, but the height lowers more and more as the sea is
approached. These hills are everywhere passable; the ancient road into
Spain which crosses them, should count, geographically and historically,
rather as a road crossing round the Pyrenees at their sea end, than as a
road crossing the chain.
* * * * *
A Pyrenean valley upon the French side always presents the same main
characteristic, and this is true not only of the main valleys, but of the
innumerable lateral valleys which ramify from the main valleys in all
directions.