A few years ago in this area of the Ariege some bears were released back into the wild where they had freely roamed until they had been killed of several years previously. This, as was to be expected in a farming area, created tensions between those who favoured a return of the bears and those who feared their livelihood - and livestock - were at increased risk. This dispute has been most noticeable in the slogans painted on walls, bridges and even on the surface of local roads. 'Non!' and 'Oui a Ours!' are commonly seen here as well as more recent slogans saying 'Paix a Ours' or, in the local language of Occitan, 'Patz Ors.' I have never seen any of the bears while we have been visiting here and I am not sure there have been any incidents of lost livestock but it remains a hotly debated, publicly displayed topic of dispute.
What we do tend to witness, because of the timing of our annual visit in early June, is the annual transhummance when the local farmers gather their cows, sheep and horses in the local villages before moving them to the high pastures for the summer. This is always a festive event and on more than one occasion we have been going for a drive when we have found our car surrounded by cud-chewing pedestrians plodding bovinely to the nearest village. This can be quite tricky on some of the precipitous and narrow mountain roads!
Tony and Sue, our hosts, are members of a local dancing group which perform at such events. Dressed in appropriate local traditional attire, sometimes with clogs, and accompanied by local musicians, they perform ariegeoise country dances as well as dances from around the world. Having been feted with dancing, singing, speeches and drinks, the animals are then moved on, en masse to the high pastures - a walk of several hours in some cases, with the accompanying humans spending a night on the mountains with them.
It is a hard life, farming in the mountainous regions of the Pyrenees and while there are keenly debated and divisive arguments about the best way to preserve the local environment there are equally agreeable, unifying traditions which firmly bind the local people together in their common heritage.
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Mountains and Music.
After our late night at the festival we had a leisurely start to the next morning with breakfast in the hotel. Beside the obligatory breakfast juices stood a large tub with bottles of water chilling in it and beside that was another tub with red wine (possibly Sangria) chilling. If this is breakfast in Andorra I may have to move here!
There are a limited number of roads to take from Andorra la Vella- one from the north east (which we had taken from France to the town), one south (leading to Spain) and one to the northwest which leads...up into the mountains! The latter was our chosen route for the day. After a bit of a mix up getting out of la Vella (our sat nav didn't know the one-way system) we were on our way through beautiful little villages and up a wiggley road. The roads are very good in Andorra - a lot of money has been spent on infrastructure projects - but I did get the feeling that someone had slipped the Etch-a-Sketch road planner some good drugs while at the design stage. On the map from the tourist office parts of the road looked like a grey blob that eventually tailed off with a relatively straight bit.
At the end of the road were some spectacular views and the first snow we had stood on this year (it's been a mild winter back home). There was the possibility of a walk further around the mountain to the Tristaina lakes but we decided our priority was food not hiking at that point in time so we began our descent to a little auberge which advertised itself as having 'possibly the best menu in the country'. I don't know if it was the best but it was certainly hearty - and not for vegetarians! It was meat, meat and large chunks of meat. I had the 'local' soup to start which was ostensibly cabbage based but included sausage, black pudding, bacon and extra bacon. We both had suckling pig for our main course which was served trotters and all!
Sunday night at the festival had Maceo Parker and UB40 on the bill. Again, after some free rioja we had a great show standing very close to the stage. Maceo funked it up wonderfully and UB40 were very well received by the local crowd and played till 1.00am, ending with a great version of Red, Red Wine.
Our late night meant another leisurely morning the following day before check out and heading towards Sant Julia de Loria near the Spanish border. At Sant Julia there are two routes into the mountains, east or west. We had decided to go west but a sat nav error took us east and once decided on a route it is not easy to find a place to turn the car around. I said the roads were good; I didn't say they were wide!
Have I said I have a fear of heights? These roads were narrower than the roads in the north and even more precipitous. Hairpin bends with steep inclines on each corner had me clutching what Baby Bomber calls The Jesus Handle - the handgrgip on the car door that I hold in a vice like grip while squeaking 'Jeeessssuuus!' Nevertheless, we made it to the top where there was a medieval 'sanctuary'. It was closed! Andorrans don't seem to get the concept of having open churches.
The top of the mountain had spectacular views and we also noticed that, although it was a circular route on the map, Andorra's road's department either ran out of money or the will to continue at this point and hadn't bothered to tarmac the descending road. When I say they hadn't tarmacked I mean that some of it was barely tyre marks on either side of rocks. Sean gleefully announced that he had always wanted to try off-road driving. I did point out that for off-road driving you needed and off-road car and the one we had was not such a vehicle. It also had a large excess on the insurance from the hire company! The Jesus Handle was well used.
There are a limited number of roads to take from Andorra la Vella- one from the north east (which we had taken from France to the town), one south (leading to Spain) and one to the northwest which leads...up into the mountains! The latter was our chosen route for the day. After a bit of a mix up getting out of la Vella (our sat nav didn't know the one-way system) we were on our way through beautiful little villages and up a wiggley road. The roads are very good in Andorra - a lot of money has been spent on infrastructure projects - but I did get the feeling that someone had slipped the Etch-a-Sketch road planner some good drugs while at the design stage. On the map from the tourist office parts of the road looked like a grey blob that eventually tailed off with a relatively straight bit.
At the end of the road were some spectacular views and the first snow we had stood on this year (it's been a mild winter back home). There was the possibility of a walk further around the mountain to the Tristaina lakes but we decided our priority was food not hiking at that point in time so we began our descent to a little auberge which advertised itself as having 'possibly the best menu in the country'. I don't know if it was the best but it was certainly hearty - and not for vegetarians! It was meat, meat and large chunks of meat. I had the 'local' soup to start which was ostensibly cabbage based but included sausage, black pudding, bacon and extra bacon. We both had suckling pig for our main course which was served trotters and all!
Sunday night at the festival had Maceo Parker and UB40 on the bill. Again, after some free rioja we had a great show standing very close to the stage. Maceo funked it up wonderfully and UB40 were very well received by the local crowd and played till 1.00am, ending with a great version of Red, Red Wine.
Our late night meant another leisurely morning the following day before check out and heading towards Sant Julia de Loria near the Spanish border. At Sant Julia there are two routes into the mountains, east or west. We had decided to go west but a sat nav error took us east and once decided on a route it is not easy to find a place to turn the car around. I said the roads were good; I didn't say they were wide!
Have I said I have a fear of heights? These roads were narrower than the roads in the north and even more precipitous. Hairpin bends with steep inclines on each corner had me clutching what Baby Bomber calls The Jesus Handle - the handgrgip on the car door that I hold in a vice like grip while squeaking 'Jeeessssuuus!' Nevertheless, we made it to the top where there was a medieval 'sanctuary'. It was closed! Andorrans don't seem to get the concept of having open churches.
The top of the mountain had spectacular views and we also noticed that, although it was a circular route on the map, Andorra's road's department either ran out of money or the will to continue at this point and hadn't bothered to tarmac the descending road. When I say they hadn't tarmacked I mean that some of it was barely tyre marks on either side of rocks. Sean gleefully announced that he had always wanted to try off-road driving. I did point out that for off-road driving you needed and off-road car and the one we had was not such a vehicle. It also had a large excess on the insurance from the hire company! The Jesus Handle was well used.
A little Andorran interlude.
Tony and Sue, our hosts in France, live only a couple of hours from Spain and Andorra. On previous visits we have visited Spain but had never crossed over to Andorra despite being close to the border in Ax-les-Thermes. Therefore, we decided to traipse over the mountains this time to spend a couple of days in the Principality and as our visit coincided with the Andorran Red music Festival we decided we would also take in a couple of gigs while we were there.
When I say that Andorra is a couple of hours away I mean by road. It's probably 10 minutes as the crow flies but the Pyrenees get in the way and the roads get a bit zig-zaggy. At times it feels like the road infrastructure was designed by someone with an Etch-a-Sketch twiddling both knobs at the same time. Third gear (not an automatic hire car) was a rare luxury most of the way there. And of course getting to the top of a mountain means you have to go down the other side in an equally zig-zaggy fashion. Etch-a Sketch road planners work in both countries.
Immediately over the border is a 'town' called El Pas de la Casa. I say 'town' as it is a collection of buildings connected with streets but it is, in effect, a shopping mall. Andorra is not part of the EU and many French come over the border for bargains - although customs are reportedly strict in enforcing limits on what can be brought back into France (However, we were not stopped in either direction). We stopped for a coffee but gave the shopping a pass. After leaving El Pas de la Casa we stopped at a viewing point to get a photo of the beautiful mountainous terrain looking back into France but the wind nearly took us of our feet so, discretion being the better part of valour, we retreated to the car and descended the mountain on the Andorran side.
Andorra la Vella is not a large town - well it's not a large country! It is technically two towns I suppose as it is joined to the north with Escalades Engordany but it is reasonably easy to walk around the towns without needing to resort to transportation. It is, not surprisingly as it is slap bang in the middle of a mountain range, inclined to steep gradients which test the old leg muscles a bit. However, after a short walk up hill to Escalades Engordany we found a nice restaurant on a busy plazza from which we could watch the world go by as we ate our lunch. 'The world going by' at that time consisted of various humanoids under the age of 12 playing football in between Taekwondo competitions in a nearby venue.
The local language is Catalan although Spanish and French are widely spoken. I can get by in Spanish and French but Catalan stumped me even though there is a similarity to Spanish. I discovered that the 4th language is actually Russian so I was OK with that! Apparently many Russians live in Andorra and I saw several Russian shops in the city of Andorra la Vella. English is widely spoken, too, so we were able to get ourselves (mis) understood in several languages!
Our hotel was very nice although it turned out that the 'suite with hot-tub' that we had booked turned out to be a 'suite with whirlpool bath'. I was a tad disappointed as I was expecting to be able to sit in the hot-tub on the balcony, looking over a mountain scene, sipping champagne. It's just not the same in a bath. it was also the only hotel I have ever stayed in that had bathroom scales! If you are going to put bathroom scales in a hotel room then at least have the decency to make them lie and tell me I weigh less!
The music festical was billed as a music and wine event. The Saturday night lineup was Lisa Stansfield and Roger Hodgson of Supertramp and when we arrived at the venue - the roof of the former Council of Ministers building - we were kitted out with the obligatory festival wristband and 4 books of vouchers for free wine. Waaaay heeey! Sean went off and found a nice rioja and I thought I would try a white wine that looked young and fruity, given the vibrant label design on the bottles in the cooling tub. I pointed and held up one finger while saying 'uno, por favor' (I did say my Spanish was limited) to which the rather rotund man behind the table began waving jazz hands at me while muttering something unintelligible in Catalan. There is only one thing for a Brit to do in those circumstances - apologise profusely for any inconvenience caused and leave quickly. It will be the rioja, then.
The venue was small and there could only have been about 800 people. We were very close to the stage and both sets were very good. Roger Hodgson had the larger and louder audience and seemed to have a dedicated following that had come up from Barcelona. Some great oldies played and some new material. It was after 1.00am when we eventually got back to the hotel but we had had a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
When I say that Andorra is a couple of hours away I mean by road. It's probably 10 minutes as the crow flies but the Pyrenees get in the way and the roads get a bit zig-zaggy. At times it feels like the road infrastructure was designed by someone with an Etch-a-Sketch twiddling both knobs at the same time. Third gear (not an automatic hire car) was a rare luxury most of the way there. And of course getting to the top of a mountain means you have to go down the other side in an equally zig-zaggy fashion. Etch-a Sketch road planners work in both countries.
Immediately over the border is a 'town' called El Pas de la Casa. I say 'town' as it is a collection of buildings connected with streets but it is, in effect, a shopping mall. Andorra is not part of the EU and many French come over the border for bargains - although customs are reportedly strict in enforcing limits on what can be brought back into France (However, we were not stopped in either direction). We stopped for a coffee but gave the shopping a pass. After leaving El Pas de la Casa we stopped at a viewing point to get a photo of the beautiful mountainous terrain looking back into France but the wind nearly took us of our feet so, discretion being the better part of valour, we retreated to the car and descended the mountain on the Andorran side.
Andorra la Vella is not a large town - well it's not a large country! It is technically two towns I suppose as it is joined to the north with Escalades Engordany but it is reasonably easy to walk around the towns without needing to resort to transportation. It is, not surprisingly as it is slap bang in the middle of a mountain range, inclined to steep gradients which test the old leg muscles a bit. However, after a short walk up hill to Escalades Engordany we found a nice restaurant on a busy plazza from which we could watch the world go by as we ate our lunch. 'The world going by' at that time consisted of various humanoids under the age of 12 playing football in between Taekwondo competitions in a nearby venue.
The local language is Catalan although Spanish and French are widely spoken. I can get by in Spanish and French but Catalan stumped me even though there is a similarity to Spanish. I discovered that the 4th language is actually Russian so I was OK with that! Apparently many Russians live in Andorra and I saw several Russian shops in the city of Andorra la Vella. English is widely spoken, too, so we were able to get ourselves (mis) understood in several languages!
Our hotel was very nice although it turned out that the 'suite with hot-tub' that we had booked turned out to be a 'suite with whirlpool bath'. I was a tad disappointed as I was expecting to be able to sit in the hot-tub on the balcony, looking over a mountain scene, sipping champagne. It's just not the same in a bath. it was also the only hotel I have ever stayed in that had bathroom scales! If you are going to put bathroom scales in a hotel room then at least have the decency to make them lie and tell me I weigh less!
The music festical was billed as a music and wine event. The Saturday night lineup was Lisa Stansfield and Roger Hodgson of Supertramp and when we arrived at the venue - the roof of the former Council of Ministers building - we were kitted out with the obligatory festival wristband and 4 books of vouchers for free wine. Waaaay heeey! Sean went off and found a nice rioja and I thought I would try a white wine that looked young and fruity, given the vibrant label design on the bottles in the cooling tub. I pointed and held up one finger while saying 'uno, por favor' (I did say my Spanish was limited) to which the rather rotund man behind the table began waving jazz hands at me while muttering something unintelligible in Catalan. There is only one thing for a Brit to do in those circumstances - apologise profusely for any inconvenience caused and leave quickly. It will be the rioja, then.
The venue was small and there could only have been about 800 people. We were very close to the stage and both sets were very good. Roger Hodgson had the larger and louder audience and seemed to have a dedicated following that had come up from Barcelona. Some great oldies played and some new material. It was after 1.00am when we eventually got back to the hotel but we had had a thoroughly enjoyable evening.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Missed Connections.
It's that time of year again and even though we thought last year would possibly be our last trip to France our friends have not yet sold their house and so we have another chance to enjoy the valleys of the Ariege before they move back to Scotland and deny us the annual trek down to visit them! The journey was not going to go as planned, though.
Check-in and security were no problem but we noticed that there was a flight delay when we settled in the lounge to wait. Landing in Aberdeen was slow due to the fog and there was a bit of a queue of planes waiting to get in. The projected 30 minute delay would make our connection at Schiphol tight but was still possible. Once on board there was further delay as the queue of planes that had been waiting to land were now all waiting to take off adding another 30 minutes to travel time. Now the connection was beginning to look doubtful. Nevertheless, the pilot assured us he would be pressing the pedal to the metal and we would have the shortest flying time possible. He wasn't kidding! It was full speed ahead all the way and we hardly had time for our on-board snacks courtesy of KLM.
Most of the passengers were catching connecting flights so there was a long list of connection information for the cabin crew to read out. First there was a list of flights which couldn't be met and the passengers were given their new flight details. then came the announcement, 'passengers for Toulouse, please contact ground crew'. We looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. 'They are going to meet us at the gate with one of those buggies and whisk us across the airport to the connection gate!'
I have no idea if this was the original plan but it certainly wasn't what eventually transpired! Schiphol is huge - 5 runways, I think - and the Aberdeen flight invariably lands on one of the furthest from the gates. I actually suspect the furthest runway is in Belgium. So after the record breaking flight time and no nonsense landing we spent the next 15-20 minutes hurtling along the runways to get to the gate! No hope of catching the connection even if we put in Usain Bolt speeds across the airport (or Hamiltonesque formula One speeds in the expected concourse buggy) Alas, the buggy was simply a dream. There weren't even any ground crew to meet us with further information so we plodded (at a leisurely pace) to the transfer desk where we were re-booked on the next Toulouse flight...6 hours later. As the flight was extremely busy we were given the last two seats which were 10 rows apart!
Thankfully, Schiphol is one of the better airports to be stuck in for six hours. After a bite to eat and a little shopping we settled in a lounge for the duration. We sent a message to our hosts not to wait up for us and informed the hire care company of our delay and waited patiently. There really is nothing else that can be done in these circumstances and, for me, the journey is as much a part of travelling as arriving at the destination. But I am still a little disappointed that we didn't get the buggy ride...
Check-in and security were no problem but we noticed that there was a flight delay when we settled in the lounge to wait. Landing in Aberdeen was slow due to the fog and there was a bit of a queue of planes waiting to get in. The projected 30 minute delay would make our connection at Schiphol tight but was still possible. Once on board there was further delay as the queue of planes that had been waiting to land were now all waiting to take off adding another 30 minutes to travel time. Now the connection was beginning to look doubtful. Nevertheless, the pilot assured us he would be pressing the pedal to the metal and we would have the shortest flying time possible. He wasn't kidding! It was full speed ahead all the way and we hardly had time for our on-board snacks courtesy of KLM.
Most of the passengers were catching connecting flights so there was a long list of connection information for the cabin crew to read out. First there was a list of flights which couldn't be met and the passengers were given their new flight details. then came the announcement, 'passengers for Toulouse, please contact ground crew'. We looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. 'They are going to meet us at the gate with one of those buggies and whisk us across the airport to the connection gate!'
I have no idea if this was the original plan but it certainly wasn't what eventually transpired! Schiphol is huge - 5 runways, I think - and the Aberdeen flight invariably lands on one of the furthest from the gates. I actually suspect the furthest runway is in Belgium. So after the record breaking flight time and no nonsense landing we spent the next 15-20 minutes hurtling along the runways to get to the gate! No hope of catching the connection even if we put in Usain Bolt speeds across the airport (or Hamiltonesque formula One speeds in the expected concourse buggy) Alas, the buggy was simply a dream. There weren't even any ground crew to meet us with further information so we plodded (at a leisurely pace) to the transfer desk where we were re-booked on the next Toulouse flight...6 hours later. As the flight was extremely busy we were given the last two seats which were 10 rows apart!
Thankfully, Schiphol is one of the better airports to be stuck in for six hours. After a bite to eat and a little shopping we settled in a lounge for the duration. We sent a message to our hosts not to wait up for us and informed the hire care company of our delay and waited patiently. There really is nothing else that can be done in these circumstances and, for me, the journey is as much a part of travelling as arriving at the destination. But I am still a little disappointed that we didn't get the buggy ride...
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