Pyrenees 2. River Deep, Mountain High

 Pyrenees 2. River Deep, Mountain High

much of the land leading up to the mountains is heavily wooded like this

Pyrenean Saxifrage

 

For our first foray into the Pyrenean foothills we head up the Hecho Valley in bright sunshine.   To the south is lovely, to the north the weather is not as we’d hoped and as we climb we leave the sun and greet the rain.  We twist our way through a narrow gorge, the Boca de Infierno with sheer rock on our left, a road on which we’re pleased not to meet anything else, then a sheer drop down to a torrent of a river and a rock face up the other side.  The roof is made of clouds and there are a couple of small tunnels.   Then the landscape widens to an open area of grass with conifer woods to one side and the river now wide and shallow bubbling over a pebbly bed.    We decide to have a walk.  It’s cold and wet, we now have four layers of clothing including waterproofs plus gloves and hats .   We see a few orchids and some other decent plants and then the spectacular Pyrenean Saxifrage growing out of what seems like solid rock.  It has a dome of grey green leaves as big as half a football with a single hefty white flower spike.   Two Griffon Vultures drift overhead and then a real and rare treat with fairly pointed wings and the typical longish diamond-shaped tail, a Lammergeier.  This is an enormous vulture with a wingspan of up to 9 feet so we keep moving just in case.   We wrapped up this visit with some lovely Burnt-tip Orchids and decided to head back down, where it turned out the sun was still shining.   The contrast between the chill in the mountain rain and the heat once we dropped onto the lower ground was astounding and we were back to one layer of clothing straight away.

 

the black hole halfway up the left side is the road tunnel

 the route through the Infierno

not the weather we'd hoped for

Burnt-tip Orchid

Having spent the night in a site on the outskirts of Jaca we were planning to go much higher today past a place called El Formigal right up to the French border at Col de Portalet.  Every time we’ve driven up a valley into the mountains we’ve been alongside water, lots of it rushing down as snow meltwater from the peaks.  Often this is crashing over rocks making the whole area useless for a decent game of Pooh-sticks.  I once saw a translation from French into English to a phrase that no native English speaker would use but which describes perfectly what such a river bed looks like.  It was “a fantastic heap of fallen rockblocks”.  Perfect.  El Formigal and Portalet is a skiing area in winter but now in early summer it’s snowless, we’re well above the treeline and it’s sunny.  As you might expect there’s a cool breeze but it’s still very warm in the sun, it’s the transition between sun and shade that is so marked.   This is mountain pasture where we hope to spot some good plants.  But first, some tea. 

 

getting into the proper mountains at El Formigal

mixed Elder-flowered Orchids and some snow

Along the roadside there are patches of Elder-flowered Orchid, an unusual plant with two colour forms, one pale yellow and one purple.  They often grow together and look very different but they are the same species.  We’ve only once seen what looks like a colour mid-way between the two.  I hesitate to say hybrid because it’s two versions of the same plant so would that be a hybrid ?   We meet an English couple birdwatching who are looking for an Alpine Accentor.  This is quite specialised.  It’s a bird fractionally bigger than a Dunnock/Hedge Sparrow, slightly differently marked and only found between about 5,000 and 9,000 feet.  As we’re only at 5,500 feet they’re a bit low but will know more about it than us.  This spot turns out to be a highlight for us because after a bit of a wander away from the road we spot a patch of about fifty Pyrenean Fritillary.   Beautiful flowers as you’ll see from the photograph.   The whole Fritillary family are beautiful, including the butterflies !

 

Pyrenean Fritillary

Heather in a flowery meadow at about 5,500 feet

followed by High Tea

I’d forgotten just how late the Spanish organise their days.  We’ll wake up, possibly have a cup of tea in bed and then head over to the showers, often being the only ones about.  Sometimes we’ll be sat outside having breakfast before there’s much activity.   A Spanish lunch seems to start anytime from about 1.30 and don’t even bother to turn up at a restaurant for dinner before 9.00pm in most cases.  In this area supermarkets don’t open before 9.00am.   That said, most grocery type shops are fairly small, like a village store in England but the few supermarkets we’ve seen even in relatively small towns are very well stocked with fresh fish, butchery and cheese counters.  Food is certainly cheaper than in England.

 

Torla

The Pyrenees, being somewhat distant from the Alps and other mountain ranges of Europe has many species which have diverged from a common ancestor and are now considered separate species.  There are therefore many plants whose English name begins Pyrenean and whose scientific species name is pyrenaica.

 

the old bridge at Broto

and a view of Oto

We’ve seen quite a number of meadows and open grassland at various altitudes on this trip already and I have to say I’m disappointed with both the quantity and variety of what I’m seeing.  The great sweeps of flower covered hillsides I was expecting are not evident.   However, one major benefit of plant hunting in mountainous areas is the time-travel aspect of it.   It’s a regular occurrence to be seeing seedheads of a plant we recognise, narcissus for instance because we’re too late to see the flowers.  So we climb back into our time-travel machine, the van and drive up a couple of thousand feet of altitude, effectively turning back the clock a month to see large quantities of sweet smelling Poet’s Narcissus in full bloom.  It is obvious really.  Spring comes later at altitude and the plants flower later.  That works with plants which are kicked into action by temperature, not those which react more to the length of daylight.

 

beware of avalanches

prepare to be flooded 

We’ve noticed on continental campsites before just how different they are to British ones and it seems even more the case with Spanish sites.  A British site will have touring motorhomes and caravans and rarely something that looks more permanent.  Spanish sites are often ninety percent static caravans in various stages of decay with collections of stuff around them and all cheek by jowl.   On British sites we have to keep four metres between ‘outfits’ as they’re known, some of these Spanish ones barely have half a metre.  They’re clearly used now and again but generally just sit and moulder.  It means that an apparently full site has few people which suits us fine but my goodness they are eyesores.  Our current location is different and we’ve stayed here for four days.  It has beautiful views, few vans until the mountain runners turned up on our third day.  As I type this in the shade of the van, a cuckoo is calling at that occasional level that makes it appealing.  That and other bird song is about all there is to hear.  Very nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Covers 24 – 27 May 2022