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.
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
Looking up to Pena Telera and the cliffs of the Sierra de Partacua
The mountains of the Valle de Tena are looking beautiful and bursting into life. Spring gentians, trumpet gentians and elder flowered orchids are covering the sunnier meadows around Ibon de Piedrafita and above the village of Sandinies.
Ophyrs orchids attract male bees by imitating the shape, colour and scent of female bees. Each orchid is specialised to be pollinated by only one type of bee. Read an interesting article on the bbc today about bees cross pollinating different orchids creating hybrids. Continue reading →
Few signs of spring as I took a walk out from Biescas yesterday. First few primroses are coming out in sunny spots alongside the path and few hepatica have started to join them. The stinking hellebore have been out a few weeks – the flowers of these remain green as there’s nothing else in flower at this time of year to compete for insects attentions. Continue reading →
The other day I took a walk from Biescas up to Santa Elena and was pleased to see that they’ve put up some boards with information about the dolmen. The upper Gallego has one of the greatest concentration of megaliths in the Pyrenees. The dolmen at Santa Elena is a simple but large dolmen that was destroyed during the civil war and reconstructed using the original stones in 1975. Continue reading →