Walking, hiking, trekking:
- Hiking here is fantastic!
- The GR10
- The Astau valley, Lac d'Oô and d'Espingo
- Hospice de France
- Mont Né
- The Lis valley and its lakes
- Pic de Bacanère
- Pic du Céciré
- Aneto, the highest mountain in the Pyrenees
- Useful links for hikers
- Flora and fauna
- The Thermal Health Centre, to recuperate before setting out again.
This is a less popular walk, but well worth it. Mont Né is 2147m with a view of the superb valley of Oueil. The word Né means black. The word Oueil is like oeil meaning eye, but as in "spring", like an eye in the middle of a field.
A car is essential if you don't want to exhaust yourself with a 15km walk to get there. You will pass the beautiful villages of Mayrègne, Caubous and Cirès, and on your left the superb forests of firs in which you can often see deer. You arrive at the bottom of the valley in Bourg d'Oueil, altitude 1336m.
Mont Né is a two hour walk. With no trees it offers a magnificent panorama. To avoid returning the same way there is an easy circuit. Take time to go to Lake Bareilles just after the col de Pierrefite. (a stone circle)
Val du Lis and its lakesphotographic guide
Val du Lis or Val du Lys (lily). The road signs say Lys, the detailed maps are marked Lis, the roadmaps both Lis and Lys. Lis comes from an old word meaning avalanche. (Consult our dictionary of Pyrenean words.)
Located 11km from the Hotel des Sports, there is a superb waterfall at the bottom of the Val du Lis. The waterfall of Hell! It makes an infernal noise and is only 100m from the carpark so easily accessible to everyone.
The first part of the walk (approximately 30 minutes) takes you to the Pit of Hell, a small stone bridge, with a waterfall above and below you. In two hours it is possible to do a circuit which leads to the refuge of Artigue, then returns to the carpark.
Another longer trek enables you to discover the lakes Vert, Bleu, Charles and Célinda. All these lakes are connected to underground pipes that feed the power station at the foot of the waterfall of Hell. It is a superb one day excursion.
Pic Bacanèrephotographic guide
Located on an alternative to the GR10, Pic Bacanère is easy to access.
It dominates the surroundings and offers an immense panorama at 2193m. It is on the border between France and Spain, and from there it is possible to admire Maladeta, Pic d'Aneto, Val d'Aran, also Céciré and the valley of Bagnères-de-Luchon.
It is a superb trek and usually has few people on it.
If you have a car, it is possible to park in Artigue, a small village 5km from the Hotel des Sports. From there you follow the GR10, and you will reach the peak in 2 to 3 hours.
This high peak border is splendid, full of superb flowers in summer, wild with few people, only cows and sheep.
A splendid circuit is possible for people with a vehicle (others can hitch-hike!) Take the forest road of Herran, as you enter Montauban de Luchon and you will reach a small carpark 10km from the Hotel des Sports at altitude 1420m. The peaks marking the border are between 1800m and 2020m. You can follow these peaks for as long as you want to, or as long as you can, then go down again on to the forest track to reach the carpark so doing a circuit. A real treat!
Dominates Bagneres-de-Luchon at 2423m.
It is simplest to take the cablecar from the centre of Bagnères-de-Luchon, a 10min walk from the Hotel des Sports. Ten minutes later you are in Superbagnères, altitude 1800m. There is still 600m to climb and the bad news is the cablecar does not go to the top! The good news is the GR10 does. The path has beautiful views of Val du Lis, and the mountain sides with sheep which seem to be stuck on vertical slopes. The rocky top is remarkable with superb views of Bagnères-de-Luchon and on the Hotel des Sports, if you look carefully!
It will take 2 to 3 hours to reach the top from the cablecar. Time to admire the landscape, eat a picnic (look out for hungry goats), and then it's time to think of going down again. Don't miss the last cablecar or you will add at least 2 hours more to your walk.
This is marvellous day out.
The photo at the top of each page is the Pic Céciré.
The top of the Pyrenees, Anetophotographic guide
Pic d'Aneto is not only the top of Spain, but the highest mountain in the Pyrenees. At 3424m it is not easily climbed as you will need crampons and ice axes. Even in mid summer it is necessary to cross a glacier to reach it. You can see it very well from the Port de Venasque.
Beware, it's not a short excursion and it's teeming with people! The refuge Renclusa is often the starting point of this trek. The telephone number: 00 34 974-552106.
You can also contact the Guides Office at Bagnères-de-Luchon which organises this trek several times each summer.
Here are some websites for information on trekking in the Pyrenees.
- The site of the French Federation of Pedestrian Excursion.
- A general site on the Pyrenees which is extremely interesting.
- Nothing better than the Vieux Campeur for equipment.
- The website of the national park in the heart of the Pyrenees.
- All refuges, shelters and huts in the Pyrenees.
- Personal sites devoted to the GR10 and the 3/4 of the GR10
If you know other sites worth noting, don't hesitate to let me know. Thank you in advance.
Fauna and flora of the Pyreneesphotographic guide
A walk is the ideal time to admire superb flowers and splendid trees.
You undoubtedly know it already, but please do not pick the flowers. To record all your discoveries it's worth taking a camera.
Please teach your children to respect the flowers, because the small members of your party have a tendency to "crack "Oh mum! look at the pretty flower" or what's left of it!
It' quite rare to see a vulture, but they are here on the peaks. Sadly I have never seen a bear, but I have seen some isards in the distance. While walking in forest you can see stags. They are very timid except at rutting time when they can be aggressive and dangerous so take care. Sometimes you will disturb a number of hinds with their young sunning themselves in a clearing. Time to pinch yourself to see if you are dreaming!
Apart from the photo guide which shows some typical things you will find, you can look at
- a site of superb photographs of flowers of the Pyrenees.
- another site devoted to the flowers and fauna of the Pyrenees.
If you know other sites worthy of interest, do not hesitate to tell me. Thank you in advance.