Through the Spanish Pyrenees: GR11 - A Trekking Guidebook

Walking the GR11 (La Senda) trek, as described in this guidebook, takes you through Spain's Pyrenees from the Atlantic at Iruns to the Mediterranean at Calaques, and is one of the world’s great trekking routes. Through wild country of great beauty and with good facilities and waymarking the 840km, 46 stages and 40,000m of ascent and descent make for a big but attractive undertaking.

The Spanish Pyrenees present a wonderland to the holidaymaker, whether backpacker, botanist, canoeist, cyclist, entomologist, ornithologist, mountain biker, skier, walker or simply anyone with a love of mountain scenery. Here, as an additional bonus, visitors can enjoy mountain landscape in a temperate climate. This guide addresses the needs of walkers on both day trips and longer expeditions. In recent years the mountain organisations and authorities in the administrative districts of Guipuzcoa, Navarra, Aragón, Andorra and Catalunya have got together with local villagers to arrange the waymarking of a coast-to-coast (Atlantic to Mediterranean) long-distance footpath designated the Gran Recorrido 11, GR11 for short or, affectionately, ‘La Senda’, to mirror the French counterpart GR10. This has opened up miles of waymarked footpaths and tracks in an ever-changing environment, often in remote and high areas, to numerous enthusiastic walkers of many nationalities, though the vastness swallows them up so that those seeking solitude will also not be disappointed.

ACCESS

The three main road routes from northern France towards the Pyrenees are Paris–Bordeaux, Paris–Toulouse and Paris–Perpignan. From these, roads reach the GR11. From west to east these are shown in the box on the following page.

French Rail, SNCF, run excellent services from Paris towards the Pyrenees. Train times and costs are available from their website at voyages-sncf.com. Tickets for very fast TGV trains, as well as sleeping accommodation in sleepers or couchettes, are available with the payment of a supplement. For a little extra, Eurostar/SNCF combined tickets from London St Pancras can be obtained. Then it is possible to reach the Pyrenees from London within 12hrs, using Eurostar and the TGV.

To obtain the best discounts, the SNCF part of the ticket must be booked as a return from a specified zone and location. This is fine for one- or two-week holidays, when it is easy to return to the same station from where one started, but for end-to-end walking of the GR11 you are obliged to book to, say, Bordeaux or Toulouse and then to buy single tickets for the remaining journeys. Please note that, for those returning from the end of the trek, it is best to book the return from Cerbère not Port Bou. There is only one through train a day from Port Bou but frequent ones to Cerbère, from where there are many departures northwards.

Bookings can be made at Rail Europe, who have a Travel Centre at 178 Piccadilly, London W1, tel: 0870 584 8848, www.raileurope.co.uk.

Access Routes for the GR11

Bayonne – Irún                             (day 1)
Bayonne – Irún – Vera
de Bidasoa                                    (day 2)
Bayonne – Cambo les Bains –
Puerto de Olsondo – Elizondo          (day 3)
Bayonne – St Etienne de Baigorry –
le col d’Ispeguy – Elizondo              (day 3)
Bayonne – St Etienne de Baigorry –
les Aldudes – P. de Urkiaga             (day 4)
Bayonne – St Jean Pied du Port –
Puerto de Ibañeta                          (day 5)
Orthez – Port de Larrau –
Ochagavia                                     (day 8)
Oloron Ste Marie – Arette – le col
de la Pierre St Martin – Isaba           (day 9)
Arette – le col de la St Pierre St
Martin – Zuriza                               (day 10)
Oloron Ste Marie – le col du
Somport – Candanchú                    (day 12)
Pau – Laruns – le col du Portalet –
Sallent de Gállego                          (day 13)
Lannemezan – St Lary Soulan –
Bielsa Tunnel – Bielsa – Pineta        (day 18)
Lannemezan – St Lary Soulan –
Bielsa Tunnel – Parzán                    (day 19)
Montrejeau – Viella –
Viella Tunnel                                  (day 23)
Viella – Puerto de la Bonaigua –
La Guingueta – Espot                      (day 26)
Foix – Andorra via Puerto
d’Envalira – Arans                           (day 32)
Foix – Andorra via Puerto d’Envalira –
Encamp                                         (day 33)
Foix – Latour de Carol –
Puigcerdà                                      (day 36)
Foix – Latour de Carol –
Planoles                                         (day 37)
Perpignan – Prats de Molló – Molló –
Beget                                             (day 40)
Perpignan – Coustouges – Maçanet
de Cabrenys – La Vajol                    (day 42)
Perpignan – Le Boulou – La Jonquera –
La Vajol                                          (day 43)
Perpignan – Banyuls sur Mer –

Coll de Banyuls – Mas d’en Pils          (day 44)
Perpignan – Banyuls sur Mer – El
Port de la Selva                               (day 46)

Below is a list of rail destinations, with connecting SNCF bus services in italics. All connect with Paris. Only those of interest to GR11 walkers have been included. Taxis can be taken to the road head and thence by foot over the appropriate pass to the GR11 if there is no through road.

In addition to the above there is also a connecting service between Latour de Carol/Enveitg and Perpignan. The first part of this, in the upper Tet valley, consists of the ‘Train Jaune’, a narrow-gauge railway, which can be used to gain access by taxi then foot over high passes to Núria and Setcases.

Rail Destinations and Linking Buses

Bayonne    –          Irún
Bayonne    –          St Jean Pied du Port
Pau           –          Oloron Ste Marie
                 –          le col du Somport
                 –          Canfranc
Pau            –          Oloron Ste Marie
                 –          Laruns
Lourdes      –          Cauterets
Lourdes      –          Gavarnie

Toulouse     –          Luchon
Toulouse     –          l’Hospitalet
                  –          Andorra la Vella
Toulouse     –          l’Hospitalet
                  –          Latour de
                              Carol/Enveitg
Perpignan    –          Banyuls sur Mer
                  –          Portbou    
                  –          LlançàOne of the simplest ways to reach the Pyrenees is by overnight coach from London Victoria. However, the    
                              Eurostar/ SNCF combined ticket costs little extra and is much quicker. Coach travel is still a viable alternative for
                              end-to-end walks. All coaches have onboard toilets, are non-smoking and have semi-reclining seats. A little care needs
                              to be taken to reduce the discomfort of travelling 20hrs or so in cramped conditions. Take something to cover your
                              eyes and something to stop your head rolling about. The coaches do stop for meals, but sufficient drinks and snacks
                              need to be carried for the whole trip. Eurolines, tel: 020 7730 8235, or National Express Coaches, 0870 580 8080,
                              www.eurolines.co.uk. Eurolines run coaches to the following destinations:
•    Bayonne
•    Pau
•    Lourdes
•    Toulouse (connection for Andorra)
•    Figueras
•    Gerona
•    Perpignan.

The western section can be reached by ferry from Plymouth to Santander and then by coach to Irún. This is especially useful to those living in the West Country. Contact Brittany Ferries, www.brittany-ferries.com.

The favourite way to travel now seems to be by air. It is possible to obtain flights to Bayonne/Biarritz, Tarbes (Lourdes), Toulouse, Pau, Perpignan, Gerona or Barcelona. These tend to be expensive unless part of a charter. No gas cans can be carried! However, RyanAir fly to Biarritz, Pau,  Perpignan, Gerona and Barcelona offering very cheap fares. You can book online at www.ryanair.com. Bmi fly to Toulouse, and bmibaby to Bordeaux and Perpignan. See www.flybmi.com and www.bmibaby.com.

GEOGRAPHY

The Pyrenean mountain chain can be said to have its beginnings as a rocky promontory on the Atlantic coast of Spain in the south-east corner of the Bay of Biscay and then to extend roughly east-south-east some 435km, as the crow flies, to another such headland on the north-west coast of the Mediter-ranean Sea. Any walkers’ route will almost double this distance.

From the western coast the range quickly rises to hills of Lake District proportions. Peña de Aia, at 806m, is but 12km in a straight line from Cabo Higuer. In the east, the rugged countryside is not quite so high. Sant Salvador, at 670m, is just under 3km from the coast at El Port de la Selva bay and just over 14km from Cap de Creus. The range rises to over 3000m in the central part, with wooded ridges soon running down northwards to the farmlands of France, while waves of seemingly endless sierras sweep south into Spain arrested only by the Ebro river valley of Rioja fame.

An exception to this general picture is the delightful high mountain area of the Neouvielle National Park in France, northeast from the Ordesa. However, it is not surprising that the range’s three highest summits are found on the Spanish side of the border. Monte Perdido at 3355m, Pico de Posets at 3368m and Pico de Aneto at 3404m therefore attract as much interest from those living north of the divide as from those in Spain.

Much of the central high ground and watershed is used as the international border between France and Spain. It will be noticed from maps that west of Andorra the high ground of the eastern section passes to the north of that coming from the west, thus forming the valley Vall d’Aran, which opens to the north-west into France. The two sections are joined at the eastern end of the valley by the high pass of Puerto de Bonaigua, used as a useful road to the south, complete with bus route.

Another interesting feature of note is that the meltwaters of the small Aneto glacier pass underground at the collapsed cave called Forau de Aiguallut (Trou de Toro) and find their way underground, through the intervening ridge, to Vall d’Aran to join the River Garonne flowing into France. This passes through Toulouse and turns to the west to flow into the Bay of Biscay beyond Bordeaux.

The Pyrenees, being of a lower altitude and latitude than the Alps, do not have large areas of permanent snow and ice to limit the activities of walkers. More terrain in this range is therefore open to walkers as opposed to alpinists.