I was hiking up Punta del Pacino at the weekend which is one of my favourite peaks in the valley – not high at 1965 metres but with a fantastic position right in the centre of the valley and you get superb views in all directions from the summit. The lower sunny slopes are covered in elder flowered orchids and spring gentians.

Summit views from Punta del Pacino

This is the view looking south west over Embalse de Escarra to the Sierra de Partacua. Still a lot of snow higher up but most peaks around 2000 metres have only patchy snow. Higher than this there is still a lot of snow – particularly along the route of the GR11.

It really was a treat for flower lovers with a few clumps of early purple orchids and truper gentians out too. Higher up the snow has only recently melted and alpine snowbells (soldanella montaña) had sprung up – these flower immediately after the snow has melted and only flower for about a week so it’s a real treat to see them.

Alpine snowbell - soldanella alpina

Trumpet Gentian

It was a great to get out after some really poor weather this spring – hopefully we’lll get some more sunshine soon!

The village of Sallent de Gallego with the peak of Tebarrai behind

The Hike Pyrenees brochure is now available to view online. We’ve used the issuu website to publish the online version and it’s a great magazine/brochure reading tool.

You can also download it as a pdf. If you prefer of course you can always order a printed brochure and we’ll send one to you.

View the online brochure.

Our friends Dave and Elena are over at the moment with their daughter Evangeline. We all went hiking from Sallent up to the embalse at La Sarra which is a lovely spot. Isabel and Evangeline went in the backpacks and loved it.

Wild daffodils in the meadows

The spring flowers are really getting going now and there were meadows full of wild daffodils.

It’s  a great walk and can be done as part of our village to village walking holiday either as an extension to day 3 or as an easy option for day 4.

Overlooking Sallent with Punta del Pacino in the background

Cascada El Salto

The route follows the Rio Aguas Limpias – the river of clean water – and on the way you pass the ‘El Salto’ waterfall. Half way round you reach the reservoir  of La Sarra which looked beautiful surrounded by snow capped mountains. There is an excellent bar and restaraunt beside the river which is a tepting place to stop for lunch or a beer.

We crossed to the other bank here and returned to Sallent on a path on the other side of the river.

Really nice walk and day out – thanks guys.

La Sarra

Had great lunch up at Santa Elena earlier this week with our friends Eva and Oscar. There’s a stone refugio behind the church with an open fireplace to barbeque on. Gorged oursleves on chops, pancetta and longaniza.

Santa Elena is fascinating. It’s built at the site of a cave that was a pre-christian worship site. A spring comes out of the cave which is considered miraculous as it has sudden surges and starts and stops regularly.

We were looking at the waterfall under the church when suddenly one of these surges happened. The flow increased really quickly and flooded the steps, fountain and the meadow. It wasincredible to see – I’ve never seen it happen before.It stayed like this for about an hour and then went back to it’s previous calm state.

The water increased from this trickle....

.... to this torrent in under a minute

Oscar had borrowed the key for the church which is looked after by one of the bars in Biescas! There is door at the back of the church that leads to the cave behind.

Legend tells that Santa Elena (Saint Helen) hid in the cave during her travels spreading the early Christian faith to prevent being caught by Roman soldiers who were searching for her. The shepherds that showed her the cave became Spain’s first Christians.

Door leading to the cave at Santa Elena

Great day out – thank you Oscar and Eva for organising it.

In bars and restaurants in Biescas and Sallent de Gállego you will see pictures of one of the valleys most famous residents – Fermín Arrudi Urieta, more commonly known as ‘the giant of Sallent’. Born in Sallent de Gállego in 1870 Fermín reached 2.29 metres (7 feet 6 inches), weighed 170 kg (nearly 28 stone) and had size 58 feet.

There are many tales of Fermín’s deeds – he was said to be as strong as ten men and  more use than any farm machinery. He loved village life, hunting and the mountains. One famous tale is of him killing a bear with just his bare hands and a small hunting knife.

French postcard of Fermín visiting Eaux Chaudes

Fermín toured the world showing off his remarkable height and had shows in Paris, Berlin, Holland, Belgium, New York and did year long tours of both North and South America. The shows bought him fame and fortune and while in Paris he met his future wife Louis Dupuis. However he was never happy with the touring life and once married returned to Sallent where he built a house, bought some land and lived once again as a farmer.

It is now thought that Fermín suffered from acromegaly a condition where the body produces excess growth hormones. He had a brother who was of normal height but a sister who was also extremely tall at 1.90m.

He died in Sallent in May 1913 aged nearly 43 years. It took six men to carry his coffin.

The latest (and most entertaining) book about 'The Giant of Sallent'

Several books have been written about Fermín’s life and you’ll see them in the bookstores in the valley. The most recent – and most entertaining – is an excellent hardback ‘cartoon-style’ book which is great practise if you’re learning Spanish!