FRANCE
ESSENTIALS Tarbes
FRANCE 10 Miles CAVES OF GARGAS
Saint-Bertrand-de -Comminges
Arreau
RNATIONAL PARK É
PYRÉNÉES Piau Engaly N Pont du Prat É
LOURON VALLEY
MONTAGNE D’ARENG Jézeau
BASE NORDIQUE SHERPA
E SP AIN Getting there & around
the rock and sprayed pigment around them by blowing it from their mouths.” The handprints are all sizes, the marks of men, women and children. Many have stunted or missing fi ngers, and some researchers conclude they were lost through leprosy or ritual amputation. But I prefer to imagine the hands weren’t damaged at all, that instead the fi ngers were deliberately bent to create unique identifi ers — that this is a wall of signatures, of names calling through the mists of time. On my last day, I trek an upland trail through the Louron
Valley to see the Cascade de Pouy Millas. Penny had said it was a special, peaceful spot. At Pont du Prat, I join a forest path; underfoot, pine needles cushion my steps, while bunches of rowan berries hang above. Aſt er half an hour, the trees give way to a smooth rock ledge rock jutting over the edge of the gorge. I inch out, testing each step, and there’s the waterfall to my right. It burnishes the cliff face the glossiest of blacks, and brings out seams of orange. Moving back from the edge, I notice a series of huge,
fl attened boulders a few metres further along the trail that can take me higher still. Erosion has scored them with lines and crosses, so ordered and perfect they seem fashioned by a skilled hand. I clamber to the top using crevices as handholds, and straighten to admire the waterfall. And then I see the back of a man’s head. He’s standing at the foot of the boulders, staring into a pool beside the rushing head of the waterfall. He doesn’t notice me. I watch for a while before moving silently away, leaving him to cast his thoughts into the water, adding them to the thoughts of all the others who’ve ever stumbled upon this hidden place.
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nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel
ABOVE: Signs to various scenic spots on a walk to Cascade de Pouy-Millas
Airlines including British Airways and EasyJet fl y from London to Toulouse, from where it’s a 2h drive into the French Pyrenees. EasyJet also fl ies from Gatwick to Bordeaux (followed by a three-hour drive) and from Bristol to Biarritz (followed by a 2h drive).
ba.com
easyjet.com Average fl ight time: 1h40m Alternatively, take a cross-Channel ferry and drive through France with a stop-over en route. DFDS offers regular crossings to Calais from Dover. Brittany Ferries also runs overnight sailings from Plymouth and Portsmouth to Bilbao, from where it’s a four-hour drive.
dfds.com
brittany-ferries.co.uk Another option is to take the Eurostar to Paris and then an onwards sleeper train to Toulouse, where car hire is available.
eurostar.com
When to go
The experiences outlined are available from mid-June to the end of September. Temperatures regularly reach the mid-30Cs in the summer months, although it can be considerably cooler in the mountains.
Places mentioned
Base Nordique Sherpa.
sherpa-chien-traineau.fr Les Flocons Pyrénéens artisan chocolatier. lesfl
oconspyreneens.com Caves of Gargas.
grottesdegargas.fr
More info
Explore France.
uk.france.fr How to do it
ADVENTURE CREATORS’ tailor-made Heart of the Pyrenees Experience costs from €545 (£492) per person for seven nights. The bespoke itinerary features immersive experiences, and accommodation. Options include self-catering, guest houses and the new family-friendly, four-star Mercure Peyragudes Loudenvielle. Excludes travel.
adventurecreators.com
CASCADE DE POUY MILLAS
S
P
Y
ILLUSTRATION: JOHN PLUMER
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