The Pyrenees

by Hilaire Belloc

As for brandy, the people of the hills themselves discourage its use; it is, on the whole, best to have some with you, only you must not depend upon it; it is quite honestly, under the circumstances of climbing, what some foolish fanatics think it under all conditions, that is, a medicine. If you take it when you do not need it it will fatigue you, especially in high places. Such as you do take carry in a flask. The gourd, as I have said, spoils it utterly.

Here then you have the rules for equipment and for provision, and I will sum them up before continuing.

For equipment: Haversack or knapsack, a blanket, sandals, a gourd, a pannikin fitted with spirit lamp and spirit vessel, four pounds of bread for each man, a pound of sausage, a pint of methylated spirits, and matches; to which you may add, if you will, a length of candle, and one of those little mica lanterns which fold into the shape of a pocket-book, and three or four dozen capsules of Maggi. Fill your gourd with wine as full as it will hold, you will need it. So much for equipment and provision.

As for the packing of it I have already spoken of this in connexion with the knapsack. A few additional remarks may be of use. See that your bread is always covered from the air; to wrap it in paper is enough for this, and if it will fit into the sack so much the better. Work if possible a broad band of cloth into the straps where they catch the shoulder, keep the straps short so that the weight hangs high, carry the blanket loosely over either shoulder: it gives far less trouble thus carried than it does when it is rolled and tied over the chest. If you carry a knapsack, however, roll the blanket tight upon the top of it, it will then incommode you even less than when it is carried loosely. Wrap your matches as I have said in a waterproof cloth (if you have no knapsack), and wrap in the same the maps you need for each particular climb; forward the rest by post to the town for which you are making if it is in France; if it is in Spain, don’t, for they will not get there.

I had forgotten to mention that most useful thing, a pocket compass. Take a large cheap one, and allow for the variation when you put it on your map: but of using this and of several other little points I will speak later. I have dealt with what regards equipment: let me now speak of Camping.

Camping in the Pyrenees differs from camping under any other conditions that I know. The structure of the range, its climate, and even the political condition of the valleys, make it differ from camping in Ireland or in the Vosges, or in those few parts of England where the wealthy will allow plain men to indulge in this amusement. It is not the same as camping in the Alps, in Savoy, or in the Apennines, or in the Ardennes; and it is the particular conditions of camping in the Pyrenees which made me say just now that one can do without a tent.

Though geologists are careful to describe the very varied structure of the range, yet to the traveller one feature, peculiar to these among all mountains, perpetually appears common in every part of it, and that is the continual presence of overhanging rock. I can remember no considerable stretch in any main valley, not any in a crossing between two valleys, where you are not perpetually finding examples of this formation. It is this upon which one must first depend for shelter. Next to such overhanging rocks one must depend upon the great forests; lastly, upon the cabanes. But before speaking of their various advantages rules of time must be given, for upon the time of day chosen for the halt the success of a camp will depend.

I am speaking of course throughout these notes of the warm weather alone; that is, of the end of June, July, August, and the first part of September. Seasons vary, and there are years when the whole of September may be included. At the end of the season one may count, especially in the eastern part of the Pyrenees, upon a sufficient succession of fine nights to make camping possible; but if one comes upon a streak of bad weather it will last, especially in the western part, for three or four days, and it is better, if the people of the valley foresee such weather, to let it go over before taking the heights. Thunderstorms and very heavy rain may happen upon any night in these mountains. They are said (I do not know upon what authority) to be commoner upon the French than on the Spanish side. More dangerous than these, though less momentarily annoying, are the mists which gather quite suddenly in the higher parts of the range, and which as suddenly interfere with every form of travel.

It is absolutely necessary, unless one is quite certain of the finest weather, to cross the col or port, in the route one has traced out for the day, before that day is far advanced. The reason for this is twofold; first, that wood for a camp fire is not usually to be found upon the higher slopes, secondly that good water is not easily to be found there. It is further necessary to choose the place for one’s camp an hour or so before sunset, and it is wiser to make it even earlier. The disappointments which I remember within my own experience in this matter have nearly all proceeded from pushing on from a likely place discovered in the afternoon; one so pushes on in the hopes of finding a likelier spot before the end of the day. Such an extension of one’s journey is nearly always ended in a rough, unsuitable camp, sometimes without a fire, and under the most uncomfortable conditions. When therefore you have found in the course of the afternoon, the shelter of good rock, overhanging a dry place by the stream you are following, pitch upon it and do not regret the hours you appear to lose.