Blogging from the Pyrenees
Phil & Anna have been living in the Pyrenees for over 17 years and love the culture, wildlife and mountains here. We run Hike Pyrenees, which organises guided and self guided hiking holidays in the Pyrenees and other areas of Spain. Our blog tells about our adventures hiking, snowshoeing and skiing in the Pyrenees and we hope to explain some of the fascinating flora, fauna and history of the area. We hope you enjoy reading!
Valle de Tena Explorer: sunshine, wildflowers and mountain adventures
We had some great early season weather on our Valle de Tena Explorer trip last week. It’s always a delight to welcome people to our home village of Biescas. The wildflowers are simply stunning this season and at this time of year we’ve the trails to ourselves and the mountain tops are still white with snow.
Space Shuttle above Biescas
Just watched footage of the shuttle Atlantis take off which reminded me of some interesting pictures I took last summer of the space shuttle and the International Space Station orbiting above Biescas. I’d seen that they were due to pass over that evening about the…
The Bath Boys Hike the Pyrenees
Thanks to Len, Phil, Julian, Peter, Alan and Trevor – our first guests of the summer. They walked a new village to village itinerary staying each night in different villages in the Valle de Tena. Hope you had a great week guys. Bit unseasonly cold at the…
Blacks nature guides
I find Blacks Nature Guides really useful. Good mix of an identification fieldguide with interesting information about each species too. Wild Flowers of Britain and Europe covers most of the species we find here in the Pyrenees although misses some of the Pyrenean…
Gentians and Orchids – the Pyrenees spring to life
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. Elder flowered orchids…
Emperor Moth
Saw this beautiful, huge moth on the pavement right outside our front door the other morning. Found out it was an Emperor moth. Really large – about 5cm across and fantastic colour around the eye spots and the bright red flashes near the wingtips. He kindly…
Egyptian vulture & Northern wheatears
Saw my first Egyptian vulture of the year while out walking near the village of Piedrafita today. There very distictive with their black and white wings, yellow head a diamond shaped tail. These vultures migrate from northern Africa and the Middle East at the…
New Pyrenees weather forecast
Update: visit our new Pyrenees weather forecast page for up to date forecasts and information on the most accurate forecasts for the Pyrenees I find snow-forecast.com an excellent site with very reliable forecasts for the Pyrenees. They’ve just launched a…
Ophrys Orchids in the Pyrenees
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….
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The Ordesa NP
Guide to hiking the spectacular canyons of the Ordesa National Park
Pyrenees butterflies
Gallery of the spectacular butterflies and moths we have in the Pyrenees
Village to Village
Hotel to hotel hiking in the high Pyrenees
Geology of the Pyrenees
Discover how the Pyrenean range was formed
Hike the GR11
A practical guide to hiking the GR11
Wildflowers
Discover the spectacular flora of the Pyrenees
Bearded vulture
This huge bone eating vulture is one of the Pyrenees emblamatic species