The cirque of Rincon de Balsera

Explored the remote Ibon de la Sierra and was rewarded with great views and wildlife including a lammergeier, chamois, kestrels and my first marmots of the season.

It’s an area of the Valle de Tena that I’d wanted to hike in for ages but never seemed to get round to it. It’s a long walk in but really worth it as you get to some really wild valleys lying under the imposing peak of Punta Escarra.

Stemless Gentians - one of my favourite early flowers

The weather’s been beatiful the last couple of weeks and the spring flowers are really starting to come out. Saw my first orchids of the season – elder flowered orchids. These come in both yellow and purple but both are the same species and can be seen in their thousands in June. In sunnier spots gentians were out too – mainly spring gentians but a couple of patches of lovely stemless gentians.Where the snow had recently melted a few alpine snowbells were coming out too – these are fantastically delicate and spring out of the ground as soon as the snow cover has gone.

Alpine snowbell

The marmots have come out of hibernation and I heard lots of warning whistles and saw plenty of them grazing on the fresh grass.

My first marmot of the season

Also saw a group of Chamois – one of which posed silhouetted on a small peak nearby.

Chamois posing on a ridge

When I got to Ibon de Sierra I was quite surprised to find it covered in ice which was a bit surreal as I was hiking in sorts and t-shirts. I was even more surprised to see several fully grown frogs swimming under the ice – they must survive all winter under there.

Ibon de la Sierra

The wildlife highlight of the day was a lammergeier flying close overhead. I could really see it’s colours and get an idea of it’s huge wingspan (which can be over 2.5 metres). Its always a delight to see these vultures.

Great day out and a good new area discovered that I’m sure I’ll be visiting again this summer.

The Chemin de la Mature carved into the cliff face

Walked the famous Chemin de la Mature on the French side of the Pyrenees last weekend. This spectacular path is carved into a sheer cliff face. Originally constructed in 1772 to provide access to the forests above which was logged to build ships. These inaccessible forests had ancient huge trees that were perfect for the masts of naval vessels, in fact Chemin de la Mature translates to ‘road of the masts’.

This short documentary gives the history of the Chemin de la Mature.

Walking on the Chemin de la Mature

It was a perfect winter day -  beautifully sunny day but freezing cold. The Chemin de la Mature is actually very easy to get to – just a ten minute walk from the road.

As the path turns a corner suddenly you are the on the Chemin proper and a drop of several hundred metres open up on your right.

In fact the path isn’t narrow and you can walk along it very easily stopping every now and then to peer over the edge into the gorge below.

It has to be said though if you suffer from vertigo this probably isn’t the walk for you!

Icicles on the Chemin

The night before had been very cold and there were some huge icicles hanging down onto the path.

In a couple of places the path was really iced up which made things a bit interesting but we passed easy enough keeping well away from the edge!

From the path you get excellent views over the Fort of Portalet – another incredible construction built into the cliffside in the 1800′s to defend the pass from invasion by Spain.

The Chemin itself lasts for a kilometre or so and afterwards you pass through some lovely woodland. Our route took us up and over the Col d’Arras where you get some excellent views north to the massif of Pico Aspe in Spain.

From the col a good path led back down to the car park. Not a long day – we walked for around 4 hours and did 700m of ascent but really interesting with great scenery and the Chemin is pretty spectacular.

The Chemin de la Mature is just one of the many routes that you can walk on Hike Pyrenees Self Guided walking holidays.

Views from the meadows around Col d'Arras

Looking down onto the Fort du Portalet

The Valle de Acumuer

Beautiful weather in the Pyrenees last weekend after a week of rain and cloud. On Sunday I went to explore the Valle de Acumuer which I’d looked at lots of times but not walked in before.

The church in Acumuer

We started in the village of Acumuer which is in a lovely location with a pretty church. The valley is long – we’d already driven 12 km up a winding road to the village and the valley then carries on for another 13km.

Initially we walked through woods of oak and scots pine. We passed a group of landrovers with dog trailers on the side of the track – hunters out looking for jabali (wild boar). Several sets of hunting dogs ran across the track giving us a cursory sniff as we walked but I didn’t hear any shots so I think it was a good day for the boar

Liliana on the snow

As we approached the head of the valley the scenery got more rugged and impressive with steep cliffs surrounding a rocky cirque. We reached snow about 4o minutes from the end of the valley. There is an Ibon (mountain tarn) at the head of the valley but time was running a bit tight with the short winter days and we had to turn back before we reached it.

Just after we’d commented that we’d hardly seen a bird all day two lammergeier appeared from behind the cliffs and soared high overhead.

Near the head of the valley

A nice route and a good day out although the walk in is a bit long! I think we’ll try it again in the spring with bikes so we can cover the first section much quicker and give us time to explore the great scenery at the head of the valley.

The Rio Aurin

Near the summit of Pic du Midi d'Ossau with a sea of clouds below

Pic du Midi d’Ossau is one of the iconic peaks of the French Pyrenees. It´s a fantastic looking mountain with rocky walls guarding each of it’s twin peaks. The ‘via normal’ is a pretty exciting scramble to the summit and another route I’ve been longing to do for ages.

Fabien at the top of the first chimney

Pic du Midi d'Ossau - the 'via normal' heads along the right hand ridge

We made an early start and although it was lovely and sunny in Biescas we were a little surprised to find the French border covered in cloud and a chilly -3 degrees! We soon walked up through the valley cloud towards Refugio Pombie and were rewarded with great views of the mountain ahead and a sea of clouds below.

Refugio and Lake Pombie emerging from the mist

From the refugio we headed across to Col de Suzon, along a short ridge to where the fun began. The route is famous for it’s 3 chimneys – each a highish grade scramble. We donned helmets and started up the first chimney. Rather unnervingly the first couple of moves weren’t that straightforward but thankfully the handholds got better as we went further up the chimney.

Fabien on the second chimney of Pic du Midi d'Ossau

The second chimney had the most exposure and required some care. Lots of good places for your feet on this chimney and I enjoyed this one the most (although the least when coming down!). The third and final chimney was pretty straightforward and we came out onto a boulder/scree field through which we ascended the final couple of hundred metres to the summit.

On the summit of Pic du Midi d'Ossau

The views all day were absolutely incredible – beautiful blue skies, clouds filling the valleys below and dozens of peaks poking through. The views across to Balaitous were particulary good.

A quick sarnie and a slice of Anna’s fab cake on the summit and we were back down again. Two of the chimneys were pretty exciting on the way down and it has to be said I was pretty glad when we reached the bottom of the final chimney. As we passed Refugio Pombie on the way down we couldn’t resist a cheeky vin chaude next to the wood burner. It tasted fantastic and had a bit of poke -  if we’d had a second we might have been there for the night!

Great day and a brilliant peak.

At the top of the third chimney

Fabien with Pico Arriel behind

Every time I open the shutters in my flat I see the Pico Arriel at the head of the Valle de Tena on the French border. I’ve wanted to climb it for ages but with the summit covered in snow for most of the year hadn’t got round to it until this week. So glad I did as it was a fabulous hike with a good scramble up the summit ridge.

On the summit ridge - a fairly easy but sustained and really enjoyable scramble

Autumn is definitely setting in and the woods around Sallent de Gallego are particularly colourful. Our route started in these woods before climbing out into a surprisingly grassy meadow with fantastic views south back down the Valle de Tena.

Emerging from the woods into the high alpine meadows

The weather was great at the start of the day butthe mist closed in as we started up a steep scree field to a col on the French border. From here the fun started as we scrambled up the ridge to the summit. It was a good scramble – not too exposed or difficult but enjoyable and fairly long with a cpuple hundred of metres of ascent.

On the ridge near to the summit of Pico Arriel

There was a dusting of snow and the rocks were pretty slick in the mist so we had to take care. The clouds opened up several times to give us great views of the Ibones de Arriel on the Spanish side  (a popular hike on our Peaks & Passes walking holidays) and the Lacs d’Arremoulit on the French side of the border.

The refugio and Lacs d'Arremoulit from Pico Arriel

Sadly we didn’t have any summit views and I’ll definitely be doing this route again as the views of Balaitus and Pico Palas would be great in good weather.

Fabien on the summit of Pico Arriel

We descended by the same route passing this fabulous rowan tree with great autumn colours. A dood day – next week we’re hoping to get in Pic du Midi d’Ossau – another summit I’ve been meaning to do for ages.

A rowan with fabulous autumn colours