We were woken by cow bells as a herd of bovines shuffled past, their bells ringing under their chins. It was a very nice wake up call.
It was very cold this morning, but a beautiful blue sky. We decided that we wouldn’t dash off and hit the road straightaway – instead we had showers and I did the weekly laundry run (though the dryer was a bit rubbish as our clothes came out a bit damp despite 45 minutes on a hot run). The Van looked like Widow Twanky’s.
So we sat outside, reading and enjoying the heat now the sun had popped out from behind a mountain. Cows caused a mini traffic jam on the main road and a mobile patisserie van turned up and we stocked up with bread products and had elevenses.
https://climbfinder.com/en/climbs/hourquette-d-ancizan
We left Camping IV Veziaux about 12:30 and followed a back road that took us up the Hourquette d’Ancizan pass, climbing up through green pastures and trees showing their autumnal colours. It was breathtaking. We reached the pass with far reaching views across far flung mountain ranges and peaks, a blanket of cloud starting to seep up the valleys. A few hardy cyclists joined us, alongside a few cars parked in row – it looked like people could hike from here and head up further.
We dropped down the other side, the road hugging the rocky side while on the other, tall deciduous trees hid the almost vertical drop, the road just about wide enough for two vehicles – it was much more scarier further down where the trees thinned out and you could actually see the bottom.
We hit the valley bottom at Guchen and followed the valley floor, gently rising through ski resort towns and villages. It was a classic V shaped valley with mountains looming over us. We picked up a Portuguese truck and was happy to sit behind him as we negotiated hairpin bends and tight curves – he knew this road and he was bigger than us. Even more startling was that cars were overtaking us and the lorry – we weren’t exactly glacial – and we hoped that nobody came the other way. The scenery was unbelievable – actually there’s not enough superlatives to describe the beauty and magnificence of this area. My many photos that I had taken, just didn’t capture the staggering scenery. You just have to be here.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_Aragnouet-Bielsa
We ended up at the Aragnouet- Bielsa tunnel, a two mile bore through the mountains which joins France and Spain. We had to wait about ten minutes as it seemed to have an one way system in operation, but we followed our lorry friend and popped out in Spain. A new country! A new language! The mountains here were even more fabulous as we dropped down a narrow valley. Gradually, the mountains gave way to hills which were still tall and magnificent, but the Pyrenees weren’t quite finished yet – we rounded a corner to be faced a vast craggy outcrop of rock, reminiscent of Devils Tower from the film, Close Encounters of the Third World.
We found our campsite, again in the middle of nowhere, the Ecocamping rurale Valle de la fueva, sitting on a plateau overlooking the craggy heights. It was like a geology lesson with all the different layers of rock, showing their formation over thousands of years of upheaval. We sat outside, the sun so strong that we sought shade. We met another British couple with a dog and while the humans chatted and exchanged information, the two dogs chased and played with each other. The Pup needed to burn off some energy.
We chilled and then wandered to the campsite’s little restaurant where we enjoyed paella outside as the sun settled behind the hills. The campsite’s resident cat kept wandering past which got Pup excited, but after a couple of passes, Pup ignored it completely. Darkness fell as we finished our meal which was fabulous and we wandered back to the Van to relax before bedtime. This was a lovely little campsite, maybe the best one so far.
