The Pyrenees

by Hilaire Belloc

Of these eleven, the first four, St. Jean Pied-de-Port, Mauléon, Oloron, and Laruns, belong to the western section of the range, and are approached from Bordeaux. Another four, Arreau, Bagnères-de-Luchon, St. Girons, and Foix belong to the central and eastern section of the range, and are approached by way of Toulouse, while the two intermediate ones, Lourdes (and its extension up the valley) and Bagnères-de-Bigorre, may, according to the convenience of trains, be approached with equal facility from either direction.

There remains Villefranche, the chief station under the Canigou, and the centre for the extreme eastern end of the range. The approach to this short and distant part of the Pyrenees is through Perpignan.

By whichever road one approaches the Pyrenees, and from whatever town at their base one proposes to make the ascent of them, one leaves Paris by the Orleans line, choosing for preference the great new station on the Quai-d’Orsay, though if one is driving across Paris with no time to spare, it is better to catch the train at the Austerlitz station a mile or two further down the line where all the expresses stop, as the departure from that station is ten minutes later than from the Quai-d’Orsay. But the Austerlitz station is old-fashioned; all the conveniences of travel are gathered at the more recent terminus, and if one has any time to spare it is always from the Quai-d’Orsay that one should start.

Arrived whether at Bordeaux or at Toulouse, one changes from the Orleans system to the Midi. This is not an absolutely accurate way of putting it, because, as a fact, the Orleans only enjoys running powers to Toulouse, along the main express line, but this is roughly the best way of putting it to make the reader understand the way in which the systems join.

With these connexions, the first journey is made to Bordeaux, to Toulouse (or, in the exceptional case of the extreme east end of the Pyrenees, to Perpignan), and the journey forward from each of these towns is calculated upon another time table, and is often taken on a different train.

To reach St. Jean, one goes on from Bordeaux to Bayonne and changes there. To reach Mauléon, one goes on from Bordeaux to Puyoo and changes there; to reach Oloron or Laruns, one goes on from Bordeaux to Pau and changes there.

Roughly speaking, those who want to take the journey easily, without night travel, will find it necessary to sleep in Paris, to sleep again at Bordeaux (or somewhere further down the line, as at Bayonne or at Pau) and only on the third day to proceed to the towns from which they will begin to climb, whether that town be St. Jean, Mauléon, Oloron, or Laruns. For this purpose they must take the morning train which leaves Paris (Quai-d’Orsay) at an hour which changes but approximates eight to half-past, and gets to Bordeaux well before dinner. It is then possible to go on the same evening to Bayonne, and, if one goes first class, to get on the same night also to Puyoo or to Pau, but in all cases arrival at the foot of the mountains will not be possible until the next morning.

Those who are content to suffer night travel will find an excellent and convenient train leaving Paris in the evening, reaching Bordeaux in the early morning, and putting them at any one of the mountain towns at, or a little after, noon. Thus, a person leaving London upon Saturday morning, will, if he travels only by day, reach any one of the western approaches to the Pyrenees on the mid-day of Monday, but if he will consent to a journey by night, he will save exactly twenty-four hours and arrive at noon (or in the early afternoon) of Sunday. The gain of twenty-four hours, by an apparent sacrifice of only twelve, is due to the nature of the connexions between the small mountain lines and the main lines. His return tickets, going in the cheapest manner, second class from London to the mountains and back will vary according to the mountain town chosen, from a little under £10 to £12, of which the French second class return fare from Paris is about or a little over £4 and the rest second return London to Paris and incidental expenses.

The approach to the intermediary towns of Lourdes and Bagnères-de-Bigorre, is of the same sort and is usually better done through Bordeaux than through Toulouse, but one gets in a little later. Unless one takes the early night train from Paris just after eight one does not reach Lourdes until the late afternoon, nor Bagnères-de-Bigorre until night.