The Pyrenees Articles

Hiking in Ordesa

Safety in the mountains: Why we use Garmin inReach on all our walking holidays

When hiking in the Pyrenees, a sense of freedom and remoteness is part of the experience. Wide valleys, high passes and quiet trails are what draw people here. At the same time, these are serious mountains, where weather can change quickly and mobile phone coverage is not always reliable. A Garmin InReach allows you to call for help if something goes wrong and for people to see your location and keep an eye out for you.

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Cave paintings at Alquezar

Cave paintings at Alquezar

Cave paintings dating back to 3000-8000 BC and fossilised animal footprints from 33 million years ago made a this hike at Alquezar feel like a trip through time. The Sierra de Guara in the Pre-Pyrenees has loads of history as well as some great hiking, climbing and...

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Hiking the GR11: A Practical Guide

Hiking the GR11: A Practical Guide

I’ve just finished putting together a guide to the GR11. The GR paths are a network of extensive paths that criss-cross Europe, mostly in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain.  Here in the Spain, GR stands for ‘Gran Recorrido‘ and here in the Spanish...

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Discovering Ordesa

Discovering Ordesa

Things are now quietening down now for our season here in the Pyrenees, and last week, we ran our final Discover Ordesa week.  For those seeking a bit more peace and quiet in the hugely popular (and rightly so) Ordesa & Monte Perdido National Park, mid-September...

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Autumn Lady’s Tresses – Spiranthes Spiralis

Autumn Lady’s Tresses – Spiranthes Spiralis

I found an orchid that I’d not seen before earlier this week – an Autumn Lady’s Tresses (Spiranthes Spiralis). It’s a short orchid (around 15 cm) with tiny flowers (only around 6mm) that spiral around the stem in a very attractive way....

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Guiding the Faja de las Flores – Ordesa

Guiding the Faja de las Flores – Ordesa

The Faja de las Flores is a spectacular high level walk which traverses the northern cliffs of the canyon along a weaker sedimentary layer which is in-cut. ‘Faja’ means girdle in english and the faja paths in Ordesa traverse different parts of the canyon...

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A great season so far…

A great season so far…

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...

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Flowers in the Valle de Salazar

Flowers in the Valle de Salazar

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...

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Snakes in the Pyrenees

Snakes in the Pyrenees

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...

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