Adventures and information on the Spanish Pyrenees
Adventures and information on the Spanish Pyrenees
The wallcreeper, with its bright scarlet wing patches, is one of the Pyrenees most famous birds and prized sighting for ornithologists. It’s being celebrated as the ‘Bird of 2025’ by SEO/Birdlife to highlight the dangers it faces and why this small bird is so special.
Well, the 2014 hiking season here in the Spanish Pyrenees is well and truly under way, and despite the occasional late afternoon thunderstorm, things have been ticking along nicely. Our self-guided holidays are proving to be as popular as ever, with about half of the...
I ‘m hiking in Navarra with Javier for a few days checking routes for our Western Pyrenees holiday. Today we hiked up the peak of Ori which is the first 2000m peak of the Pyrenees. we had superb views across the Pyrenees range. The flora was superb with...
Ian a regular reader of the blog recently sent me a couple of photos of some snakes he’d seen on the French side of the Pyrenees to identify. He’d found a lovely example of a green whipsnake. It’s a long thin snake which can rach up to 2 metres but...
Snows melting in the Pyrenees and I was out hiking today in the Valle de Tena with a friend Gustavo. We chose the peak of Cochata which sits in the middle of the valley with great views in all directions. Although not high it’s quite a rocky peak and looks as if...
Recently I walked a week on the Camino de Santiago northern route from Hondarribia to Guernika. It was a fantastic 6 day hike with great views along the dramatic coastline. Lots of variety too as you pass through fishing villages, vineyards, along sandy beaches before...
At the weekend we had a ‘calcotada’ in Sardas. A calcotada is a traditional event where calcots are grilled or barbequed. A calcot is a type of green onion (to me more of a cross between an onion and a leek). The white edible part is elongated by...
Formigal in the Valle de Tena is a great ski resort that doesn’t get enough British skiers. I ski there most weeks and there’s some superb on and off-piste skiing to be found there. There’s not much information in English on the resort so I’ve...
Up at Formigal on Wednesday – great conditions with plenty of fresh snow. The Sextas area was as good as I’ve seen it this season and the fabulous Bosque run is open. Plenty of powder on some pistes particularly at Tres Hombres. A lot of wind slab...