Walking in Roussillon

WALKING IN ROUSSILLON

High up on a mountain in the Eastern Pyrenees is the tiny hamlet of Evol. We installed ourselves here one October in a gîte which looked out towards the eastern chain of mountains where Canigou reigns.

This is Catalonia where the Catalan people of France and Spain are strongly bound together by their history, literature and language though they had a common ruler in the mid 17th century.

Even today, the border is almost a fiction to the extent that it influences their common cultural identity. The red and yellow flag flies proudly on both sides of the border and the Catalan language is maintained. Derived from Provençal and very similar to the Langue d’oc, Catalan is still spoken on an everyday basis on the Spanish side of the border. Though spoken less in France there is still active promotion of its use in street signs and place names. This is particularly so round Prades where the cellist Pablo Cassals settled after the Spanish Civil War, established an annual music festival and did much to maintain Catalan unity.

The main difference on the two sides of the frontier has been in their approach to an autonomous identity within the modern states of Spain and France. The Spanish fought strongly for independence and now have a strong national identity in the province of Catalunya. The French have been more pragmatic, satisfied to maintain their cultural identity within France.

Massif of Canigou © K&A Stillman

by Ann Pugh

In selecting a base in the Eastern Pyrenees (Languedoc-Roussillon), Evol had emerged as best suiting our requirements. The gîte was owned and operated by the local commune and was a modern extension to a very old building most of which lay in ruins. The nearest small town for everyday shopping and eating out was Ollette about ten minutes drive away and a little further away was the sizable market town of Prades. There were several old abbeys tucked away in isolated valleys and there was a wide range of walking opportunities, the most compelling being the climb to the summit of Canigou.

Evol had a population of 34 living in a cluster of buildings terraced into a steep hillside. There were no shops but a ruined feudal castle overlooked the town and the local church is famous for its 13th century retable, or altarpiece, which was painted for the owner of the chateau. There is also a very old wooden statue of the virgin which is taken on an outing several times a year – up to the chateau’s chapel where a mass is held and then back down to the church. The church had a very distinctive belfry with two bells side by side, guaranteed to help us keep good time.

The gîte was surrounded by a vast terrain where we could sit under the trees eating al fresco lunches. The whole area was an autumn cornucopia. In the ruined courtyard beside the gîte was a huge walnut tree shedding lots of nuts which could be collected to incorporate in salads. In the garden and alongside the road were fig trees loaded with plump juicy fruit. Around the chateau was wild thyme which found its way into several slow cooking daubes. We twice ate in Ollette where one night I had an excellent boudin noir en sauce d’orange.

The walking in this area was wonderful. The pièce de resistance was undoubtedly le Canigou which, at 2784m, is revered by all Catalans. First climbed in 1285 by King Pedro III of Aragon, it has been a favourite challenge ever since though not these days a particularly difficult walk. You see the peak from everywhere, much of the year covered in snow and in springtime a picture postcard with a foreground of pink blossoms. We made the climb early in our stay as it was going to be too tantalising to look at it every day knowing that the challenge still lay ahead.

Hamlet of Evol © K&A Stillman

Walking in France

Visit Roussillon

Languedoc-Roussillon Regional Tourism Committee:

http://www.sunfrance.com

Tourist information Centre of Perpignan:

http://www.perpignantourisme.com/

Tourist information Centre of Prades:

http://www.prades-tourisme.fr/

Tourist information Board of Pyrénées Orientales département:

http://www.tourisme-pyreneesorientales.com/

Summit of Canigou © K&A Stillman

Hamlet of Evol © K&A Stillman

There are several ways to reach the final climb to the summit. The GR 10 circuits round the base on its last big challenge before heading down to the coast and other minor trails split off it at various points to head for the top.

An easier option is to drive up towards the Chalet des Cortalets by way of a nail biting route on a steep and narrow unsealed road which hangs on to the cliff edge as it negotiates 31 hairpin bends with great drops looming into space on either side. With a 4 x4 vehicle you can drive all the way to the chalet, though we left our vehicle further down to make more of a walk of it.

From the chalet, at 2150m, a pathway winds round a mountain lake before beginning to climb along a long steep ridge and eventually reaching a jumble of scree where any trace of path has completely disappeared. You slip and slide up the slope before emerging on the summit where there is a huge metal cross and an amazing view across a desolate treeless landscape of precipitous ridges.

Beyond this it is possible to see to Marseilles 253 km away but it is seldom clear enough. We shared the summit with six other walkers and noticed that there were scraps of confetti lying in the cracks in the rocks. Not a bad place to choose for a wedding! On midsummer night they light a bonfire up here. You could have done a circuit, descending down through the craggy precipices but we took the shorter and easier option of returning the same way.

This is the valley of the Têt a little stream which has its source up on the Spanish border near Andorra and runs down to the Mediterranean near Argelès-Plage. High up in three of the side valleys are found the isolated monastries St Martin du Canigou, the Prieuré de Serrabone and St Michael de Cuxa. These are all worth a visit and once there you can extend the visit with walks further up into the surrounding foothills.

A little train called the Le Petit Train Jaune runs up the valley from the fortified town of Villefranche-de-Conflent to Bourg-Madame on the Spanish border. This is an exhilarating trip running along through meadows, crossing back and forward across the river on high and narrow viaducts, occasionally disappearing into tunnels to re-emerge in stunning mountain scenery. We left the train just before the top at a station called Saillagausse, and spent the day walking down to one of the others, Mont Louis, for the return journey.

We kept going back to an area just west of the Têt called the Fenouillèdes. This was dry winegrowing country with spiky limestone outcrops, rugged little gorges and hilltop towns. Local walking routes wound around this country though the only available maps weren’t very good and we kept getting lost. But you would never really get lost as one of the villages was always visible and it just took some improvisation cutting across the vineyards to find the route again.

The grapevines were turning to gorgeous hues of yellow and red and they were bringing in the vintage - this is the Côtes de Roussillon Villages, a region of uncelebrated but very drinkable wine. One day we discovered an old Roman aqueduct at Ansignan, set among the grapevines. Very little is known or written about this structure though it probably dates from 240-270 AD and is still in use.

On our final day we took lunch up into the mountains behind Evol. The road was narrow and potholed with terrifying drops but it led to a fabulous walk through pine trees and grasslands up to a lake known as the Gorg Negre.

Set in a dramatic cirque the lake was a deep and brilliant dark blue with the walls of the cirque forming a dramatic and lofty backdrop. Pink autumn crocus were springing up everywhere and you could only imagine what the flowers would have been like in the spring.

This is a wonderful area for walking only seen to its full advantage if staying there for a while. We felt we had only touched its potential.

To read an updated version of this walk and to discover other walks in France, go to www.mostlywalking.com