The Pyrenees

by Hilaire Belloc

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.