Guide to Pyrenean Haute Route HRP trek through France and Spain

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Available as eBook

Cover

Paperback - PVC

Published

15 Mar 2012

Edition

Second

ISBN

9781852845551

ISBN (10)

1852845554

Size

17.2 x 11.6 x 2.1cm

Weight

420g

Pages

320

Originally Published

7 Apr 2009

The Pyrenean Haute Route

by Ton Joosten

Detailed guide to 800km trek along the Franco-Spanish border, from Hendaye to Banyuls-sur-Mer. The unwaymarked route is described in 45 days, with 500 GPS waymarks, information on villages, mountain huts, guesthouses, hotels and campsites and variant routes to avoid difficult sections. Also ascents of ten classic Pyrenean summits beside the route. More...

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Activities

trekking, backpacking, mountain-climbing, scrambling

Seasons

Best months: July and August. August can be extremely warm, however, and thunderstorms are an Read More... everyday hazard! In June most high mountain passes are still covered with snow but it's a good time for both the first section and, from mid-June on, the final section (if you avoid Pic Carlit). Late August and the first days of September often bring a short period of extremely bad weather but afterwards the first half of September can be exceptionally beautiful. There will be frost at night from the second half of September. Snowfall in the high mountains is not uncommon in September. Be ready for anything!

Centres

runs from Hendaye to Banyuls-sur-Mer, with nearest major towns: Bayonne, Pau, Tarbes, Foix, Read More... Perpignan and Toulouse

Difficulty

Each day walk and variant is graded on a scale of 1 to 4, from E for exceptionally challenging Read More... (moderate scrambling, exposure, glaciers) to 3 for short, easy, waymarked routes. Most are graded 2 and represent a good day's walk with significant ascent and descent but no major obstacles in good weather.

Must See

the 10 summits: Grande Fache, Vignemale, La Taillon, Pimene, Pic Perdiguere, Pico de Aneto, Read More... Montardo d'Aran, Mont Roig, Pic de Certascan and Pica d'Estats; the national parks: Parc National des Pyrénées Occidentales and Parc National d’Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici; mountain lakes, cirques, canyons, peaks and pine forests.

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Day 3

Arizkun to Les Aldudes

Route       via Burga (872m) and the Col de Berdaritz (685m)
Grade       2
Time         5hrs
Ascent      800m
Descent    500m
Map          IGN Carte, 1:25,000, 1346 OT, St Jean-Pied-de-Port (this map does not cover today’s entire route); Editorial Alpina, 1:40,000, Baztan–Bidasoa (Alduides–Baztan map)

An easy walk on paths and dirt roads. Navigation is not difficult in good weather.

0.00 Arizkun Take the road at the back of the fonda and walk to the NE part of the village. Past the church, in the highest part of Arizkun, turn right and follow a small concrete road (white–yellow marks). After a few minutes notice a house on your left. Ignore a dirt road coming from the right and turn right a few steps further on. Climb on a path alongside stone walls and a fence through a forest. Soon the path reaches its highest point and bends to the left. The level path arrives soon at the concrete road you have just left (it is possible to follow the concrete road all the way – it takes about 20mins but is a less attractive option). Turn right and follow the concrete road that climbs gently and ends at a cattle grid. Ignore a dirt road to a farm on your right and follow the dirt road. Ignore a road that branches off to the left and keep climbing. Just a few metres past the highest point you will meet a junction (GPS 624450/4779734). Turn left and follow the road that goes around a barn and a pasture. Climb steeply and notice a small white building on your left, about 100m away (GPS 624756/4779893). Now the dirt road makes a sharp turn to the right. Climb gently S on the dirt road. Ignore a road that branches off to the left and keep climbing untill you arrive on a sort of:

1.50 pass (695m, pasture on the right, GPS 624940/4778544). Take the right-hand dirt road at a junction and climb further until the dirt road ends (GPS 624834/4778077). Cross a fence and walk S through a pasture towards a crest, which is reached near a forest (GPS 624992/4777568). Cross another fence and try (no path, no marks) to follow the crest. Avoid some rocks, keeping right of them, and climb S through the wood to a rocky summit. Turn left, avoiding some rocks and cross an open spot with bracken. Enter a beech forest and climb a few metres to the summit of:

2.50 Burga (872m, GPS 625131/4776956), the highest point of the crest. The forest ends here and Burga offers fine views south. Turn left and go down on a path marked with some cairns alongside the forest, with a steep slope full of bracken on your right. Continue to a farm. Walk between the farm and a stone wall and continue in the same direction. Pass underneath a high-tension cable and follow a large track to the:

3.20 Col Basabar (685m, GPS 626128/4776160). Signpost. Cross a small road and ignore a dirt road that branches off to the right (white–yellow marks). Climb straight ahead on a dirt road SE for a few minutes (white and green marks). The road turns soon into a path. Enter a forest and arrive at a junction (730m, GPS 626593/4775860)). Turn right, leave the white and green marks and walk SSE on an almost level track. Ignore a path that branches off to the right and after a few minutes you’ll see today’s last pass in front of you: the Col de Berdaritz. Notice farm/fonda Urrasca in front of you (below). The path bends to the left and soon forks. Don’t turn left but follow the path that stays more or less level and walk between trees and bracken, crossing three streams (possibly dry in summer). Walk to the:

4.10 Col de Berdaritz (685m, border stone no 117, GPS 626996/4774463). Several dirt roads meet here. Turn right and take the grassy track (yellow marks) that goes down gently SSW. Enter a forest, cross a stream and follow the path that bends to the left. When you leave the forest you can see Les Aldudes deep down below in the Vallée des Aldudes. Turn left and go down SE on a dirt road that turns into a small tarmac road as you approach the village of Les Aldudes. Go all the way down, cross a stream, turn left and go to the centre of:

5.00 Les Aldudes (370m). Auberge Erreka Gorri (in the south section of the village) is not at all a bad place to stay. There are 80 beds in this former schoolhouse, but in July and August there will be lots of youngsters. Tel 05 59 37 56 58; www.errekagorri.com. Meals available. GPS 628149/4772575. Les Aldudes has a post office, bar/restaurant and a small food store (at the petrol station). No campsite.

If visibility is poor it makes sense to follow the GR11 all the way to the village of Elizondo (shops, several hotels and restaurants), 4.5km south of Arizkun. Follow the N 121b from there to Arizkun to join the Haute Route.