This & That: New friends

This & That

New friends

Today's weather in the Pyrenees has been fantastic, bright sunshine with virtually no wind. Given that we have only limited time on this trip we decided to stick to places that we know and like, so we headed off through Luz St. Sauveur to Barèges.

October is a quiet time in the Pyrenees, when local people take holidays between the summer rush and the winter snow season, and we should have learned from previous experience that otherwise busy towns can be very, very quiet in the autumn. Our hopes for a cup of coffee in Barèges were dashed by finding not one bar open anywhere in the town! Oh well, on over Col du Tourmalet (2115 m/6939 ft) to the ski town of La Mongie with fingers crossed for better luck.

The temperature varied around 10-12°C with remains of the winter's first snow flurries in evidence wherever there was shade, and even a couple of ice patches where a stream had leaked on to the road; overhead, however, pure Pyrenean sunshine.

After lunch in La Mongie - by the time we arrived we felt we deserved more than just coffee! - we drove back up towards the top of Col du Tourmalet before parking off the road and digging out the walking gear. Livestock in the Pyrenees are moved up from the valleys to higher pastures (French 'estives') in late May/early June and back down again in early October, so we were surprised to hear either cow or sheep bells from the hillside at the very end (26th) of October. Rounding a corner we came across a large flock of sheep (a small surprise) then a further flock of goats (large surprise).

That goats exist in the Pyrenees was not the surprise (after all, virtually every restaurant offers goats', cows' or sheeps' (or mixed) cheese); it's just that we have never seen goats loose on the mountainside before.

I was brought up with goats (not literally - we're not talking Jungle Book here) and I know that they are very friendly animals; however, as we walked past them to look at the view, they all wandered over to investigate.

Being approached by around two dozen animals of unknown temper was slightly unnerving, but they turned out to be as friendly as I had remembered.

We had walked as far as we had intended by that point and turned to go back to the car. And quite a procession it turned out to be: Anne and I in the lead ...... followed by an entire herd of goats. No word of dissuasion had any effect, and they solemnly followed us down the hillside, stopping whenever we stopped.

We joked that we would be accosted by an enraged French farmer and accused of goat rustling. No sooner had we said this than a little white van appeared, containing two French farmers out to view their stock.

We have come to realise that little white Renault vans are the trademark of the Pyrenean farmer; not tractors, not 4x4s, not something designed to drive up mountains, but little white vans. We suspect that Renault garages run advertising campaigns along the lines of "Farmers' Special!! Little white vans!! Prices slashed!!".

As we neared the car we saw a large flock of ravens quartering the hillside and diving down on food. Every time I see large black birds I have to resist hiding under a boulder and muttering 'Hide! Crebain!' (but you have to be an LOTR fan to appreciate that one!).

If you enjoyed this entry, send me a Comment. Nigel.