We keep coming back to the Pyrenees. It is the mixture of old landscapes, nice villages and the possibility to bivouac in the mountains that attracts us, although the bivouacking is getting more and more restricted.
Transportation
The train system in France is excellent: we went in one day from Utrecht to Ax-les-Thermes and were there around dinner time. No delays and comfortable trains. There are buses in the Pyrenees but do not count on too frequent services. We got stuck in Bielsa on a Friday afternoon and the earliest bus was Monday morning. Bielsa is not the most exciting place to stay so we decided to hitch-hike Saturday morning to the nearest larger town (Ainsa) to take a bus. We have been hitch-hiking several times during this holiday and that works quite well! It has a certain charm to travel with public transportation instead of your own car, but you need to have the time and sometimes have a stoic attitude.
Tourism
We were in late season – August 10 to September 9 – and especially in August some places can still be quite crowded since the Spanish have holidays in August. What is especially annoying is the occupation of unattended refugios by youngsters. This was the case in Cabana de Sorda which is meant to be a place to stay one night and then move on, but the Cabana was occupied by a group of young people staying there for a few days and partying. Besides that, there was also a group of rather aggressive horses attacking the tents!
Nature and weather
The nature in the Pyrenees remains overwhelming. We went into the Posets Massif which we have tried several times before but had to cancel because of the bad weather. Now we succeeded, and indeed it did live up to our expectations! A very rugged and beautiful landscape. Not easy to cross with a heavy backpack but very rewarding. Along the way, you see eagles and vultures and bivouacking is the way to go there. Nature gets its own way and so we also experienced an earthquake while staying in a hotel in Benasque. The landlady was rather relaxed about it when telling us that this happens regularly.
Refugios and bivouac
Compared to years ago, bivouacking has been more restricted. One example is Refugio Saboredo which is outside the National Park Aigues Tortes, but it was still not allowed to camp close to the refugio. Although the refugio was fully booked, they were friendly and arranged an improvised place to sleep. They also explained that the bivouacking went astray: people stayed for a few days at those places and left them polluted. We also noticed that there were a lot more animals (cows and horses) than a few years ago, which meant that you must pay attention finding a good place to put up your tent avoiding the shit. This was really annoying at some places. Higher up in the mountains there are still very nice places to pitch your tent; we did that several times.
