There are several ways to get to the Pyrenees by plane.
Ryanair have now published their winter timetable, flying on Saturdays and Tuesdays from London Stansted to Lourdes and back again. Perfect for long weekend breaks in the snow!
EasyJet fly from Bristol and Gatwick to Toulouse.
There are other airports that service the French Pyrenees and, of course, there are always other options. Many of our guests enjoy catching the train (direct train from Paris to Lourdes), driving to us (an ideal way to carry all that ski gear), or doing a combination of different transport means.
Transfer times:
Lourdes airport to Bareges 45 minutes
Pau to Bareges 90 minutes
Toulouse to Bareges 2.5 hours
Biarritz to Bareges 2.5 hours
Last week our most international walking group yet (Dutch, French, British and Australian, with 4 languages between them), headed off on our three day Gavarnie and Ordesa trek.
The hike began at the Col des Tentes, above the Cirque de Gavarnie, in the French High Pyrenees.
We traversed on the French side above Gavarnie for about 2 hours, crossing a glacier before making the steep ascent to the Breche de Roland – the entry point to Spain.
Lunch time was spent sitting in the Breche, alternating our views back to Gavarnie and across the Spanish Plains.
Now firmly in Spain, we traversed the Mularis Plateau to our destination, Refugio de Goriz, at the head of the dramatic Ordesa Canyon.
After a lively night involving a Japanese film crew, some amateur martial arts, a lot of good rioja and some impromptu star gazing, we set off on Day 2 down the canyon.
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| In front of the Breche de Roland |
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| Clouds in the Cirque de Gavarnie |
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| Spain, as viewed from the Breche |
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| Mularis Plateau |
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| Refugio de Goriz above the Ordesa Canyon |
Day 2. Refugio de Goriz to Refugio Bujaruelo
Today we walked down the Ordesa Canyon. The photos don’t do it justice – it is truly spectacular. Although there were a few sore knees after the 1000m descent to the village of Torla.
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| Looking back to the refuge from the Ordesa Canyon |
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Day 3. Back to France
From Torla, we went straight up the valley, heading North and over the Col du Bujaruelo. The weather was amazing for our slow steady climb back up in to France and the chalet with its honesty bar, hot showers, and great food.
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| Our valley hike |
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| Not a bad spot for a photo |
As the Autumn colours start to come through, last week’s Discoverer guided walking holiday culminated in the three day trek round the Neouvielle Lakes. This mini-trek involves ascents of over 1000 metres, walking up to 15km a day, a couple of optional peak ascents, 2 nights in different refuges, and an impromptu lake-side fitness class…
We’ll let the photos speak for themselves.
Day 1. Weds 13 Sept.
Day 2. Thurs 14 Sept.
Day 3. Friday 15 Sept.
Summer 2013 has been a memorable one. We started with the unforgettable Tour de France week cycling holiday, where our cyclists and walkers alike were swept up in the excitement of watching professionals at the top of their game rush past us in a blur of wheels, colour and cheering. For those of you that may have missed it, did we mention there were three Brits on the podium? Just worth mentioning again! At the same time as the Tour whizzed through, our High Pyrenean Route (HRP) trekkers began their ascent in to the mountains, some of them only coming out again to collect more people on what could be a three week epic.
We then began our summer of multi-activity holidays, thrilling, scaring and encouraging all ages as they discovered new skills, new abilities and just how versatile and great the High Pyrenees are (on both the French and Spanish sides).
Thank you to everyone who has joined us this summer for walking, trekking, cycling, and multi-activity holidays. It’s been great to meet you all and we hope to welcome you back sometime soon.
Autumn is now slowly creeping in as the leaves are starting to turn but the sun has turned the heat up again. It is exceptionally gorgeous hiking weather and we’re pleased to welcome our Discoverer level hikers this week. They are heading out on a three day mini-trek to the Neouvielle Lake District on Wednesday for a three day mini-trek, led by MountainBug guide and Director, Rob Mason.
We’ve four more weeks of hiking and walking holidays left, and of course accommodation only options, so do get in touch if you want a last minute breath of fresh air in some stunning scenery.
Last week’s Multi-Activity guests had loads of fun and we even remembered to take our cameras with us to get some photos.There is a full gallery of them on our Facebook page and some from the week before (last week of August). We are currently compiling a Multi-Activity photo gallery, so please do email us your photos from your time here.
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| Chlorofil Tree-top park. Wheeeeeeeee! |
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| Family caving…bye bye daylight… |
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| Multi-Activity hike in the stunning Cirque de Troumouse |
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| Last week’s guests taking a breather near the Spanish border… |
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| …before carrying on in the high Pyrenean peaks |
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| Follow my leader, or better still, the guide |
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| Via Ferrata…time to face your fear of heights… |
We said goodbye to the last of our summer families on Saturday, sending some very tired but happy people on their way home.
After some dramatic thunder and lightning storms (only at night! Our activities were never affected by them.) the weather changed over the weekend and we are now having days that are a mixture of sun and cloud but with a significant temperature drop. “Il fait froid” is a common greeting round the village now, as we start putting our jeans and jumpers back on.
While chilly if you are sat in an office on the pc (!) it is ideal activity weather, as it is pleasant but you aren’t getting too hot or too cold. Our last Multi-Activity holiday of the season is underway and began with a cracking hike yesterday. The group drove up to 2200 (metres), a little bit of a cheat, and then walked in to Spain via the Col de Boucharo and took the lost path along the vire (a path notched in to the side of a cliff) to the Pic du Escuzana at 2848m . One guest even managed a bit of scree-running as an aside.
The group has a fun-filled week ahead of them, which we’re sure they’ll rise to the challenge of.
Soon our autumn hiking season begins in earnest. We still have a few spaces left on various guided walking holidays and expect to get some last-minute bookings while this perfect hiking weather continues.
The weather is also producing some moody, atmospheric sunsets but the local rumour is that summer isn’t over yet. The belief is the Pyrenees may give us one final hurrah and put us all back in shorts and t-shirts before the season is over.
We’re in the middle of our high season multi-activity holidays, keeping people on their toes, under-ground, up high, wet and speedy for a fun week.
Last week we had two different holidays running concurrently, with activities from MountainBiking (MBX) to canyoning to via ferrata to rock-climbing to rafting on the schedule. The ever popular Chlorofil, as usual surprised and challenged people with its high ropes, swings and climbs. MountainBug Director Martin went with the group last week and came back looking tired but happy.
Meanwhile, watch out Team GB…one group went rock-climbing last week, at the beautiful location of Lac de Glere (2100m). One of the girls impressed Henri, our veteran rock-climbing instructor, so much he declared “She is agile, like a cat”. She was indeed. The next Olympics are going to have rock-climbing in them…rest of the world, watch out! You heard it here first.
Other interesting occurrences last week were the multiple snake sightings. Unfortunately, team MountainBug saw none of them, but over half a dozen snakes, some up to 1 metre in size were seen by our guests in various locations over the week. Two guests (on two separate occasions) had a snake land at their feet. Literally. Both times the creatures fell out of trees. We’re pretty sure a species of snake that loses its balance is an evolutionary dead-end but interesting all the same. Luckily one of the guests it happened to is a reptile enthusiast – his only regret was not being able to get to his camera fast enough!
This week we have three trips running. Two multi-activity holidays, based from Bareges, and a two country canyoning trip, beginning in Bareges then moving to Spain tomorrow, with our capable canyoning guide, Thomas.
The warm weather continues with cool dips in lakes, rivers and the local outdoor pool a must, although it is threatening to break with a storm. There was a bit of lightening last night, but, in true Pyrenean style, it changed its mind before it became anything else, so the warm weather is continuing.
Not to be out-done by the London 2012 Olympics, Bareges hosted this year’s inter-commune games. With teams from the local fire-fighters and neighbouring villages of Betpouey and Sers, les anglaises de Bareges felt compelled to enter.
Unfortunately, Team GB only got to compete in one event, the tricky carry water while strapped to two snow-boards and your partner, because time ran out and we all had to run off to cook and welcome new guests. If we’d stayed, naturally, we’d have won 🙂
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| Chalet host Geoff & MountainBug Director Martin successfully navigate the tricky “round the fence” section |
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| On the home run now… |
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| The rest of Team GB are ready to refill the water |
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| Les Anglaises de Bareges. Some stereotypes are true. |
Our very popular Explorer – Valleys, Villages and Cirques walking holiday has two rooms only left in the chalet.
Running from the 25 August to the 1 September, we’ll spend a week walking in the mountains, up to 4 or 5 hours a day, enjoying the stunning Pyrenean scenery and local culture at an enjoyable pace.
Interestingly, the last week of August is always quiet out here in the Pyrenees…families prefer to stay at home, getting ready for the “Back to School” push and people without children believe that because it is still the school holidays, the area will be busy with families. We like this week, as normally there’s still the glorious summer weather, long days (it stays light until 21.00ish), and the mountains to ourselves and our guests.
Last week we had the frenetic pace of a full on multi-activity week and the more laid back pace of the Taster – Valleys and Views holiday.
While the multi-activity crew jumped off rocks into icy canyons, delved in to underground caves, rafted and hot-dogged down rivers, and flew like birds among other things, the Taster group enjoyed some gentle mountain walking and sight-seeing. Everyone enjoyed the sun and the aim of this week was to enjoy ourselves while not sweltering in over 30 degrees of heat. Luckily icy rivers, lakes and shady woods are in abundance here in the Pyrenees, so we all survived!
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| Relaxing by Lac D’Estaing on the Taster holiday |
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| Icy mountain lakes: ideal for chilling locally brewed beer |
This week sees more break-neck paces, with two multi-activity holidays running together. The temperatures are cooling down slightly but the great thing about Bareges is it is hot during the day then cools off at night, so you can get a good night’s sleep, ready for the next day!
September 1st to the 8th is our last multi-activity holiday of the season – and we’ve offering it at a discount.
For this out of school holidays special, we’ve dropped the price by 90€ per person to 895€ so you can enjoy a multi-activity holiday with us before autumn starts to creep in.
The itinerary that week is:
Saturday Arrival and Welcome Talk
Sunday Guided day hike
Monday Canyoning
Paragliding
Tuesday Rock-Climbing
Weds Free day
Thursday Adventure Caving
Friday Rafting
Via Ferrata
Please get in touch if you’d like to join us for this great week.
