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