GREAT DESTINATIONS ❘ THE PYRENEES
“MOUNTAIN SLOPES QUICKLY GIVE WAY TO HILLY RANGES, DEEP RIVER VALLEYS,
DRY ROCKY SCRUB AND THICK, LUSH FOREST.”
“T
here is nothing in France that quite matches the sweetness and diversity of the long Pyrenean border. Nowhere else are the pastoral and sylvan so happily mated, nowhere the villages so
compact of thrift and romance, the foreground so sweet, the distances so sublime and shining.” In the early years of the 1900s, American writer Edith Wharton spent many happy months driving all over France in a motor car – a new-fangled invention at that time. She was researching material for her new travel book, A Motor-Flight Through France – eventually published in 1908 – a key section of which detailed the pretty villages and countryside of the Pyrenees, as described above.
FRANCE’S WILD FRONTIER This southernmost sweep of France, where the country’s second biggest mountain range forms the frontier with Spain, is a region of wild, rugged terrain. Stretching east to west from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, it straddles six departments: Pyrénées- Orientales, Aude, Ariège, Haute-Garonne, Hautes- Pyrénées and Pyrénées-Atlantiques. As the elevation of the land drops on the French side of the Pyrenees, mountain slopes quickly give way to hilly ranges, deep river valleys, dry rocky scrub and thick, lush forest.
There are few large cities here, rather a glorious selection of towns and villages where the climate, the geography and the cultures differ enormously. Catalan, Occitan, Gascon, Cathar Country, Basque… it’s all there in its richness – perfect for a long and varied road trip. But which direction should you travel? East to west, or west to east? It really matters not. With international airports, both Perpignan (on the Med) and Biarritz (on the Atlantic) are good starting points, and offer plenty of car-hire facilities. For this guide, we set off from the east.
THE BLUEST OF SKIES Collioure, on the Côte Vermeille, just 26km from the Spanish border, is where our journey starts. Here, on a protected stretch of the Mediterranean, the lucky locals have one of the most pleasant climates in all of mainland France. Summers are hot, yes, but winters often remain mild. With midday temperatures nudging above 15°C, it’s not unusual to see people eating lunch al fresco in the December sunshine. In spring, you can ski in the nearby Pyrenees in the morning and swim in
110 ❘ FRANCE TODAY Aug/Sep 2022
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