Number in series 26; Year of publication 1932 - Fell and Rock ...

Two SUMMERS IN THE PYRENEES 167The plan which we found practicable was to carry tents andblankets in rolls tied to D-rings on the shoulder straps of ourrucksacks, and, buying five days' food at a time in the highvillages of the Spanish side, to trek along the upper valleys,which on this side usually turn to run east and west just underthe main watershed, so that it is not difficult to reach the peakson either hand, while the number of passes which have to becrossed with a full load is reduced to a minimum. The weightwas considerable, but we were enthusiastic enough to add aformidable Canadian wood-axe by means of which whole foresttrees were added to the fire at night, nor was the food usuallyconfined to " chorizos"—the loathsome blood-fat-and-garlicsausage of the Spanish village. Thus equipped R. C. H. Cox,M. H. Slater, C. H. Thompson and I made our way fromGavarnie to Ax-les-Thermes by the following route: Port deGavarnie, Val d'Arazas, Col de Gaulis, Bielsa, Col de Gistain,Venasque, Col de Malibierne, Port de Viella, Viella, Port deBonaigo, Llavorsi, Col de San Juan, Seo d'Urgell, Andorra,Port d'Embalire. This route goes through the best of the Perdu,the Posets and the Maladetta groups and some parts of it give agood idea of the difficulties and pleasures of travel in the Pyrenees,notably that between Gavarnie and Bielsa.After camping for two days at Gavarnie on a little woodedbluff from which we could watch in seclusion the ebb and flowof that tide of Catholic humanity which makes the path to theCirque so strange and varied a spectacle between the hours often and five, we followed a good mule-track over the Port deGavarnie to Bujaruelo and through the gorge below it to thePuente de los Navarros. Here, a much rougher track climbs intothe Val d'Arazas on the left. Sunk deep in the earth beneathtowering cliffs of limestone, clothed in forests of silver birch,pine and fir, the Val d'Arazas sweeps to the east for twelve milesand opens out at its head into a wide amphitheatre ringed roundwith forbidding precipices which make the heart of anyonecarrying a heavy pack sink within him. In the centre of thecliffs there is a conspicuous gully overhung by the rock on theright. This has been provided with pitons and above it cairnslead to the grassy Col de Gaulis. The way is now barred by thedeep gorge of the Val d'Anisclo and there is no way of avoidinga descent of some 2,000 feet into it. A stream falls direct from