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.
La Vuelta visits Biescas
On Sunday, La Vuelta cycle race is starting the stage in Biescas. It’s a gruelling days riding with the route heading north up the Valle de Tena over the Portalet pass into France and then tackling both the Col d’Aubisque and Col du Tourmalet. I’ve done the Col…
Family hike to Refugio Goriz
In the last week of the summer holidays, we had a family hiking trip up to Refugio Goriz in the Ordesa National Park where we camped for the night. Isabel and Christopher are only 9 and 6 so we cheated slightly and took the Ordesa 4×4 taxi up to Punta Acuta. From…
Cirque de Gavarnie and Pic de Gabiet (2716m)
Another fantastic hike with Juanma. This time we explored the area of Bujaruelo, crossing over into France for views of the Cirque de Gavarnie before tackling the spectacular border ridge and the spiky peak of Gabiet at 2716 metres. We started at the Refugio of San…
A night on a three thousand metre summit
Last week, Juanma and I had an adventure in the Ordesa National Park and bivvied on the summit of the three thousand metre Punta de las Olas. It was by far the highest I’ve ever bivvied and I have to admit to a little nervousness about being that high up without a…
The shortest hiking season ever!
Well, we started running hiking trips again in early July with the situation in Spain at the time improving greatly and travel within Europe starting up again. We had some brilliant hikes with our long-standing guests Anne and Danny here for a week’s private guiding…
Hiking Pico Bacias (2760m)
Last weekend I headed out to Pico Bacias, a wild rocky 2760 metre peak. I hadn’t done this hike for ages and I’d forgotten how great it is. The views over Vignemale and across to the three thousand metre peaks of the Ordesa National Park are just exceptional. Joining…
The Mozarabic churches of the Serrablo
The glacial valley of the Serrablo stretches south from Biescas and is home to many beautiful Romanesque or Mozarabic churches and to one of my favourite cycle routes. The quiet country lanes have virtually no traffic and lovely views. The cycling isn’t too strenuous,…
Out hiking again – Punta del Pacino
On Monday I finally got back out hiking in the mountains again and it felt wonderful! I went up Punta del Pacino with Ruby. It’s a special walk for me as it was the first route that Anna and I did in the Valle de Tena and the day that we realised we’d finally found…
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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