The Pyrenees

by Hilaire Belloc

PREFACE

The only object of this book is to provide, for those who desire to do as I have done in the Pyrenees, a general knowledge of the mountains in which they propose to travel.

I have paid particular attention to make clear those things which I myself only learned slowly during several journeys and after much reading, and which I would like to have been told before I first set out. I could not pretend within the limits of this book, or with such an object in view, to write anything in the nature of a Guide, and indeed there are plenty of books of that sort from which one can learn most that is necessary to ordinary travel upon the frontier of France and Spain; but I proposed when I began these few pages to set down what a man might not find in such books: as—what he should expect in certain inns, by what track he might best see certain districts, what difficulties he was to expect upon the crest of the mountains, how long a time crossings apparently short might take him, what the least kit was which he could carry into the hills, how he had best camp and find his way and the rest, what maps were at his disposal, the advantages of each map, its defects, and so forth. The little of general matter which I have admitted into my pages—a dissertation upon the physical nature of the chain, and a shorter division upon its political character—I have strictly limited to what I thought necessary to that general understanding of a mountain without which travel upon it would be a poor pleasure indeed.

If I have admitted such petty details as the times of trains, and the cost of a journey from London, it is because I have found those petty details to be of the first importance to myself, as indeed they must be to all those who have but little leisure. I have in everything attempted to set down only that which would be really useful to a man on foot or driving in that country, and only that which he could not easily obtain in other books. Thus I have carefully set down directions as minute as possible for finding particular crossings and camping grounds, for the finding of which the ordinary Guide Book is of no service. My chief regret is that the book will necessarily be too bulky to carry in the pocket; for it is meant to be not so much a lively as an accurate companion to the general exploration of those high hills which have given me so much delight.

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION

This third edition of my book on the Pyrenees necessarily suffers somewhat from the fact that it is published after the interval of the Great War.

The book in its original form was written in the course of 1908-09, and contained a number of particular details on prices, etc., which the war has completely changed. These I have had to revise only approximately, for the value of the franc still fluctuates violently. But the present conditions of currency in Europe are not permanent. In other matters the book is as applicable to the present condition of the Pyrenees as it was to that thirteen or fourteen years ago. The road system is the same, and though one or two of the inns may have changed hands, the account of these I give holds in the main. There have been no new maps issued, either, since the date on which the book was written. I have not added anything on the present system of passports, because that also presumably will be out of date in a short time; but I may mention that at the moment of writing these lines (September, 1922), it is advisable to have one’s passport viséd to Spain before visiting the mountains. Even if the reader has no intention of crossing the frontier he may be compelled to do so under stress of weather, or he may easily do so by error in the confusion of the higher valleys, and in the first Spanish town he comes to his passport is sure to be demanded.

The train service differs little now from what it was before the war. The night and day services and the average number of hours required for approaching the mountains from Paris or London, are again much what they were fourteen years ago.

PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION

I write this Preface to the Fourth Edition after five years.

My last note upon this book was written, as the reader will see, for the Third Edition, in September, 1922. These lines are written in November, 1927.

When I wrote my Preface to the Third Edition, Europe, its currencies, and the rest, were still under the heavy disturbances of the Great War. But things are now more settled, notably currencies. Also a few more years of peace have given both French and Spaniards the opportunity for building new roads, and for extending the railway system.

In the notes I am about to add here I ought to make it clear that I am writing principally by information rather than by direct personal experience, and anyone who finds that some point ought to be corrected or something added, and who will communicate with the publishers, or with myself care of the publishers, will be doing the future readers of this book a great service. I am sure to be making some mistakes, and the less there are in any future edition the better.

I humbly beg the reader to remember that the book was written in the old days of peace, “before ever the sons of Achaia came to the land.” It was also written when I was a young man and could go over any number of miles on foot in any weather and over pretty well anything—even the worst steeps of the Canal Roya, though I have no claim to climbing. To-day I can do none of these things, and have to go by hearsay. I propose to divide what I have to say into (1) general remarks, (2) additions to the road system, (3) the (comparatively slight) changes in the railroad system (including the change in the value of money and present prices of tickets), (4) changes in inns (here I shall have to be very tentative, for I have to go mainly by reports), and (5) maps.

(1) General

The political situation has so developed that it is no longer advisable, as I formerly said, but necessary to have one’s passport viséd for Spain before starting for the Pyrenees, even if one has no intention of crossing the frontier. For, as I said when the book was written, there are occasions when the traveller on foot in the mountains may cross the frontier unwittingly, and have to deal with the authorities on the farther side. To this must be added the consideration that a stricter central government in Spain, coupled with occasional plots against it, has made the frontier authorities particularly vigilant. They may take from a traveller anything which looks like an offensive weapon—an acquaintance of mine was deprived, for instance, of a very large stick, and he might have fared worse with a very large knife. It is well to remember that when you enter Spain by this frontier you are coming in by its most remote, least peopled, and most difficult area, and that one must have nothing to explain if one can help it. I mean, of course, when you enter over the main range; for the two main roads and railways at either end of the chain by the sea-coasts of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean are common international highways.

Another point to remember, which is a small one but now and then, though very rarely, important to the traveller, is that the variation in the compass has changed since this book was written. It was written twenty years ago, and was published nearly nineteen years ago, and since then the variation of the compass has lessened (for this part of the world) by something like three degrees. The traveller must further remember that (though it is not very strictly enforced) there is a new law in France both for travellers proposing to reside a certain time in the country and (this is strictly enforced) a daily tax for travellers using foreign motor-cars in the country; while all the Spanish corresponding regulations have been tightened up. The wise thing to do, therefore, if you mean to spend more than a fortnight in these hills on either side of the border, is to inform yourself thoroughly upon arrival of what is required of you. You can do it in France easily enough; but as on the Spanish side the main towns are a long way from the range, you will do well, if you intend to spend any number of days to the south of the frontier, to find out at the Spanish Consulate in London or at your nearest large town what formalities may be needed.

On the effect of the change in prices I deal elsewhere. But there are two things to be remembered here, with one of which most people are familiar, but the other of which most people have not as yet appreciated. The first is that on the French as on the Spanish side, but much more on the French side than on the Spanish, the old unit of currency does not mean, in gold, what it meant when this book was written.

In France it means in gold only one-fifth at the present apparently stabilized rate of what it meant when I first put these pages together. We are on a gold basis in England. A franc used, before the war, to be nearly 10d. It is to-day almost exactly 2d. On the Spanish side the peseta fluctuates somewhat, but at the moment of writing it is well below thirty (twenty-eight odd), which means that the peseta, once nominally equal to the franc, is between 8d. and 9d., or rather more than four times the present value of the franc.

But the second point, which is much less generally appreciated, is even more important to retain. Prices in gold have changed. There are all sorts of views as to the real amount of the change; but I think we are not very far wrong in basing any calculation of expense upon a basis of doubling. At any rate, if you do that you will not be disappointed. The gold franc or gold peseta buys in 1927 more than half as much, but not much more than half as much, as it did before the war. In other words, the franc to-day is not in practice half of a fifth, that is, one-tenth, of what it was before the war, nor is the peseta in practice as little as fourpence halfpenny compared with prices before the war. You get more for your money than such a rough rule of thumb would warrant. But remember that you are getting things cheaper than the strict gold basis would allow. For instance, I know of one particular inn on the French side of the frontier, high up in the valleys (it is a very good one and a typical one), where they charge for food, including wine, and lodging, fifty to sixty francs a day. You would not have got the same thing for five or six francs in 1914; but you would have got it for seven or eight. My object in emphasizing this is to prevent the traveller from thinking that under modern conditions he is being bled. It is rather the other way. He is getting things somewhat cheaper still in these mountains than world prices would warrant. He must expect to pay on the very different scale I have indicated.

Lastly, let me add in connexion with prices that, for a variety of reasons which it would take too long to go into, he must expect a very distinct rise in general expenses as measured in English exchange when he passes from French into Spanish territory. He must allow for something like an increase of a third, and perhaps in the larger towns of a half of what he pays on the French side.

Further, when he is looking for anything like luxury, even in the humblest sense of that term, he must be prepared to pay (e.g. for foreign wines, or for well-appointed travel by car) nearly double on the Spanish side what he would have to pay on the French.

The traveller should remember that there has been a very great expansion of good roads on the Spanish side compared with what there was when this book was written, and with that has gone an almost universal system of motor-buses, which have quite changed travel on the southern side of the range. He will do well always to ask before trying to go by the slow and few trains what the motor-bus services are. Thus, in the old days when this book was written, a man had either to go on foot or by slow horse vehicles across Roncesvalles to Pamplona. To-day there is a first-rate service of rapid motor-buses, and he will find that to be the case pretty well everywhere between the Mediterranean end and the Atlantic.

(2) Roads

In the matter of new roads a great deal has been done since this book was written. First and most important, one can go by a good road now over the Bonaigua. I regret it, but so it is. The road does not, indeed, follow the old track of adventure from the Noguera to the Upper Garonne. It goes somewhat to the north of it. But it constitutes, what did not before exist, a proper crossing supplementary to the two roads of Sallent and Jaca. It leads down through the hitherto impassable centre of the range to Lerida, and makes of the Val d’Aran, which used to be a most secluded pocket, a thoroughfare.

Next, there is now a road which a motor car can follow from Seo de Urgel to Andorra the Old. In my time no wheeled vehicle had entered Andorra. They used to boast also that no man had ever been put to death there by process of law. I hope that progress has not changed that.

Next note that there is a road for motors now through Bourg Madame, through Puigcerdá to Seo, and so down into Spain, and further a first-class road from Puigcerdá to Barcelona over the Pass by Ripoll, which I think did not exist when I was a younger man. The main road from Burguete to Pamplona, cutting off the great corner at Aoiz and passing through Erro and Larrasoaña, has long been completed; it is now served by a good service of motor-buses.

Of secondary roads that up the valley of Salazar reaches as far north as Izalzu; that up the valley of Roncal as far as Uztarroz. So if you are crossing the Basque ridge anywhere between St. Jean Pied de Port and Tardets you will find the beginning of a road on the southern side at either of these points.

On the French side there are few important changes. I am afraid that the very difficult road overhanging the precipices between Argelès and Larunz has not been made less difficult. It is well called Mount Ugly. If you care for the experience, it is exciting enough. Nothing, I fear, could make this road easy without a high parapet at its worst stretch; and that might be a danger of a new kind, by giving the driver too much confidence.

There is some secondary extension of the road beyond Gavarnie up to the frontier. I see it marked: I have not myself tried it. You can get up from Tardets nowadays by a road both to Ste. Engrace and Larrau, and there is something of a road up the Arette from Aramitz. For the rest, I believe there is on the French side no change, but developments were proposed some little time ago, and if there have been any quite recent changes which any of my readers can acquaint me with they will oblige me by mentioning them for a further edition.

(3) Railroads

The railroad system is, for the practical purposes of travel, what it was when I wrote the book so many years ago. But we are on the eve of very important changes. One cannot yet travel by train under the Pass of the Somport and so directly to Saragossa from Toulouse or Bordeaux. But the tunnel has long been completed, the rails are being laid—indeed, perhaps at the moment of writing they may be already in position. I cannot find out from the authorities when they think the first train will go through. Perhaps they do not know themselves. It is amusing to hear that the tunnel is now continually used by foot-passengers, who are escorted in a gang and who (so I am assured) have their passports examined in the bowels of the earth, some thousands of feet below the summit of the main ridge.

The railway from Ax over the Hospitalet is in a more backward state—hardly more than surveyed—and I know not when it is designed to open. On the other hand, the through railway by the Cerdagne is now virtually completed; there are only a few hundred yards to be finished; one still has to go in a vehicle or walk from Puigcerdá station to Bourg Madame, a matter of a mile or so; but whenever the authorities choose one can have through traffic through this very fine piece of scenery round from Perpignan to Ripoll and Barcelona.

I append what may be of use, though of course it is a changeable thing, a note on the main trains for approaching the Pyrenees as the time-table now stands, with the prices under the new currency and their equivalents in English money; this time-table changes of course, and inquiry must always be made, but the main trains (e.g. the Sud Express) are much the same year after year.

The three main lines of approach to the Pyrenees remain what they were when this book was written, the western one by Bordeaux, the central one by Toulouse, the eastern one by Lyons, Nîmes, and Perpignan. Of these the first is the most rapid; and of the two routes to Bordeaux—the State Line and the Orleans Line—the latter is the quicker. The day train leaves at 8.8 in the morning from the Quai d’Orsay, and gets you to Pau, which is the jumping-off place for the Western Pyrenees, at 10.45 at night. The distance is a little over five hundred miles; the cost, with the franc apparently stabilized at 124 at the time of writing, is just over 250 francs second class, just over 370 francs first class, and not quite 165 third class, that is, about £1 7s. 6d. to £1 8s. English third class from Paris, about £2 2s. second class, and about £3 2s. first class. If you are making a very short stay in the Pyrenees it may pay you to take a return ticket, the duration of which varies on the French lines with the length of your journey. In this case it would give you about ten days, counting the day on which you leave Paris. There are all sorts of arrangements on the French lines for round trip tickets, family tickets, etc., at reduced prices, but on these one must get information specially from an agency or the French tourist office in London or the main stations in Paris.

Going first class and paying a supplementary price of about £1 4s. to £1 5s. and changing at Dax, into an ordinary first class, one can go from Paris by the Sud Express leaving the Quai d’Orsay at 10 a.m. and get to Pau at 8.30 in the evening.

If you are making for the extreme west of the range at St. Jean Pied de Port, the same trains get you, the one to Bayonne, where you must sleep, at 9.45 at night, and the other, the Sud Express, without changing, at 7.45 p.m.

Next morning there is a train on at 8, and another at 11.30, for St. Jean, the first getting in at 9.45, the other at 1.15. The distance from Bayonne to Paris is about 485 miles, and the cost therefore, rather less to Pau, being 350 francs (about) first class, 235 or 236 second class, and 154 third class.

The night trains by this line are the 7.10 (which has no third class), which gets you to Pau at 7.20 the next morning; there is a luxury train with supplementary payments for sleeping berth which gets you there no earlier, but has the advantage of giving you time to dine in Paris. It does not start till 8.40; however, it costs nearly £2 more than the first class fare to Pau. Another night train with third classes in it starts at 9.50, gets you to Bordeaux at 7 in the morning (where you have nearly half an hour for coffee) and to Pau for lunch just after noon.

The Central Line leading to Toulouse is a very slow one because it has to go over the central mountains of France. You start from the Quai d’Orsay also at 10.20 in the morning, and you do not get to Toulouse till just on 10.30 at night. The fares are 142 francs third class, 218 second class, and 324 first class.

The two night trains are, one at 7.50, the other at 9.15—the latter with sleepers if required; the first gets into Toulouse at 8.30 the next morning, the other at 9.15.

From Toulouse you have a choice of three ways: to the Central Pyrenees, to the Valley of the Ariège and Ax, which is to the west, and to Narbonne and so to Perpignan on the Mediterranean at the extreme east of the range.

The first is a distance of about 100 miles to Tarbes, or another 12 miles on to Lourdes.

The second, about 75 miles, but with only one fast train a day, a morning one, at 9, getting you to Ax at 11.40, in time for lunch; while the third one is the main through line with plenty of trains, but a distance of 125 miles. On the other hand, it has the fastest trains. For instance, you can leave Toulouse at 9.30 and be in Perpignan by 1.30.

As for the line by Lyons, it is a long way round and not to be taken unless you want to see anything on the way. On the other hand, it has the best service of fast trains. The best morning train is the 9 o’clock from P.L.M. station in Paris, which gets you to Avignon at 7.45 in the evening, and there you must sleep, going on next morning to Perpignan. You usually have to change at Tarascon. It is the better part of two days, for save in the case of one train, there is another change at Narbonne. There is no need to dwell on this line, as no one would take it for the Pyrenees unless they were visiting other places on the way, such as Nîmes or Narbonne. The cost also is about thirty per cent greater than by the more direct line.

(4) Inns

The little I have to say on the changes in the inns since the first edition of this book was published must be very tentative, as I have to depend upon reports of others, save for a certain amount of recent travel at the two ends of the range. Most of the old recommendations still stand. Gabas is what it always was, and the Golden Lion of Perpignan as admirable as it has been for these thirty years and more. The inn at Burguete and that of Val Carlos have been somewhat modernized since the new motor-bus service began, but they are still excellent. An inn I did not mention in the first edition on the Spanish side of the range, in Catalonia, is that of Ribas Prattes, standing over the torrent, and one where I, at least, have always been very comfortable. Since the opening of the new road and railway over the Sierra del Cadi it has become unfortunately rather famous, and it is not cheap; but the people treat you charmingly, and that is a great thing.

At Bourg Madame I have quite recently found myself very comfortable at Salvat. I am told that the principal inn at Andorra is rather more sophisticated since the motor road has been built to the town, but is still as good as it was in the old days. Of course the cooking and everything else is Catalan; and I am talking from hearsay, as I have not been to Andorra for many years.

As you stop at Bayonne on your way you will find good meals at the Grand Brasserie facing the end of the bridge, while the hotel for sleeping is the Capagorry; at least that is my favourite, though there is also the rather more expensive Grand Hotel.

Nearly all the places on which I have made inquiries seem to have maintained the old service intact. You still have the Mur in Jaca, and the more primitive but hospitable inn of Canfranc; and the little inn at Urdos, where I stopped some years ago, is passable enough, though I still recommend as a base the Hotel de la Poste lower down the valley at Bédous. By the way, if you do stop at Urdos, beware of the drinking water which for some reason is not very safe—or was not.

Before leaving these very brief notes I should like to emphasize again for travellers the change in prices. On the whole, they are lower, reckoning the real purchasing value of money, than they were in the old days.

Thus, the place I know best, and where I have stopped most often, is charging now as a regular pension per day in francs including wine, and counting in francs, six times what it charged before the war. Now the nominal value of the franc in gold is only a fifth of what it was before the war, and the purchasing power of gold is very nearly half, so a multiple of six means that you are getting your board and lodging really cheaper than you did in 1913; but I know it is difficult to persuade people of this, just as it is difficult to persuade people in England that railway fares and postage at home are really less than they were before the war. At any rate, those who may have had experience of the Pyrenees before the war may roughly multiply by six for the present price, at least in modest places; and in some cases by less. Of course in the very large hotels in places like Bagnères you may be charged anything. But they are places which I never go to and on which I therefore can give no advice.

It remains, by the way, as true as ever that on the French side of the range you must always ask the price of your room before taking it, and on the Spanish side be quite clear as to whether the price quoted is for the room and all the day’s meals including wine (as is the national custom) or for only a part. On both sides of the frontier service is usually included in the bill nowadays at 10 per cent on the total, and it is foolish to pay anything more.

(5) Maps

The war interfered with map-making in France so much that recovery is only beginning, and the revision of the main surveys is still in arrears. What I have said, however, in this book still stands for the most part.

I append a list of the maps recommended, with their prices, to be obtained from Messrs Sifton, Praed & Co., The Map House, 67, St. James’s Street, S.W. 1.

With regard to this list I would make the following comment:

(1) This is the standard French ordnance map, the one most necessary for the pedestrian, especially if he is dealing only with a limited area.

(2) This is the map for motoring and road work.

(3) This is the map for climbers, but unfortunately the first three sheets have been allowed to go out of print. I hear that there is some hope of a reprint being made, and on my next visit to the publishers I will urge them to advance it. The map was made years ago for Messrs. Barrere, and is very useful on account of its numerous contours.

(4) is to be reckoned with (3).

(5) This is the general map for a conspectus of the whole range.

(6) I have not seen this map, but it can be obtained from the firm mentioned above. It is I believe detailed and exceedingly useful, but as yet only applies to this small section of the mountain.

(7) The Michelin map is a motoring map, but contains a great deal of useful information, and is very accurate as to motoring roads.

(8) The Taride is a much rougher map, with general indications; not so accurate as the Michelin, but useful for long tours.

With this said I append the list.

(1) 1/100,000 France, covering the Pyrenees in 27 sheets. Price 1s. per sheet unmounted; mounted on cloth to fold for the pocket, 2s. 6d. per sheet.

(2) 1/200,000 France. 7 sheets. Price, 2s. each unmounted; mounted on cloth to fold, 4s. 6d. each. Sheet 69 mounted on cloth to fold, 4s.

(3) Schrader’s map of the Pyrenees Centrales par F. Schrader. Sheets 4, 5, 6 only available. The three northern sheets 1, 2, 3 are out of print.

(4) Schrader’s map “Massif de Gavarnie et du Mont Perdu,” Scale 1/2000. Paper, folded in cover. Price, 2s. 6d.

(5) Touring Club de France. Scale 1/400,000. Two sheets cover the whole of the Pyrenees. Mounted on cloth to fold for the pocket, 5s. each.

(6) Mapa Militar de Espana. Sheet 86 and part of 62. Seo de Urgel. This is the only sheet published so far of the Pyrenees. Price, 2s. 6d. unmounted; mounted on cloth to fold, 4s. 6d.

(7) Carte Routière Michelin. Scale 1/200,000. Two sheets cover the whole of the Pyrenees on the French side. Mounted to fold, 4s. each.

(8) Taride Road Maps. Scale 4 miles to 1 inch. Two sheets cover the whole of the Pyrenees. Paper, folded in cover, 2s. each. Mounted on cloth to fold, 5s. each.