Steve Cracknell's Blog, page 4
June 14, 2016
Goodreads giveaway: Footprints on the mountains
June 7, 2016
Brown bear arrives in Catalan Pyrenees rewilding project
First picture of the Slovenian bear released 6 June 2016 in Catalonia A brown bear has just been released in Pallars Sobirà as part of the 2011 Pyrenean Strategy for Biodiversity Enhancement agreed by the French, Spanish and Andorran governments.
Goiat, at home in Slovenia before his long voyage to Catalonia The new arrival will go by the name of Goiat, which is the local word for young boy. Ten years old and weighing 205kg, he was released yesterday evening in the Isil Valley. . The team whi...
May 30, 2016
New train service into the Central Pyrenees
Canfranc Station – semi-derelict for 40 years but the prospects are brighter After 40 years of neglect the famous (infamous?) railway line from Pau to Canfranc is being renovated. At present the trains all stop at Oloron and a bus takes passengers across the border to Canfranc. But the French SNCF is in the process of testing the line as far as Bedous and a regular service will be inaugurated on 3 July 2016 (SNCF reservations are now possible).
Source: Vue sur les Pyrénées
May 28, 2016
Review of The Journey in Between: Walking el Camino de Santiago by Keith Foskett
The Senda Pirenaica crosses the Camino at the western end of the Pyrenees. I am returning there this year, staying in the Roncevaux/Orreaga Pilgrims’ Hostel so I have been reading about the ‘other’ trek.
Lintel of the entrance to the church in Roncevaux: despite its Christian origins many walkers on the Camino don’t have a religious motivation In The Journey in Between Keith Foskett delves into the mind of a long-distance walker and a walker’s obsessions: feet, food and the finishing line p...
May 26, 2016
Looking for ibex
Ibex kids in Andalucia. At last! Ever since ibex were reintroduced into the Pyrenees in 2014 I have been hoping to spot one on the horizon. Last year I contacted the Jordi Estèbe from the Parc naturel régional des Pyrénées Ariégioses and went with him to search for one. Despite knowing where the ibex was holed up, and despite both GPS and radio technology we failed to find him.
Looking for ibex in the Pyrenees But yesterday on holiday in Andalusia (Spain) walking above Lentegí (Almuñécar) the...
May 10, 2016
Rewilding in Catalonia: farmers demonstrate in Vielha
Pyrenean cow at Ulldeter: is this the future of livestock breeding? 94% of the damage attributed to bears affected sheep. It is not clear what is happening to Catalonia’s rewilding project. Despite decreasing damage to livestock, the farmers’ union is becoming increasingly agitated.
The Unió de pagesos is demanding “urgent and effective measures to reduce the damage caused to mountain flocks by bears and wild animals. We need to find equilibrium between livestock farming and biodiversity.”
La...
March 27, 2016
Free maps of the Pyrenees
Free GPS map (Topo Pirineos 6.1) with projected walk on a path shown in purple Print free trekking maps of the Pyrenees Go to Open Street Map, navigate to the sector, choose “Map for cyclists” and print.
If you want to plan your walk on your computer in more detail download
Again, download and install the files listed above. Try these out first and if you need “routing” (see below)...
February 19, 2016
Rewilding: A new bear for Catalonia
Brown bear – ursus arctos, ós bru (Catalan) oso pardo (Spanish)
Catalonia has just announced [TV interview in Catalan] [report in French] that it will release a male bear from Slovenia in the Pyrenees this May. The aim is to widen the bear population’s gene pool: at present most of the thirty bears have the dominant male Pyros as their father or grandfather (sometimes both). The project has been on the cards for many years but the PirosLife rewilding project is being cautious.
Vall Ferera,...
January 20, 2016
Pilgrims, golondrinas, refugees: crossing the Pyrenees
Before the 1970s only a handful of walkers had crossed the Pyrenees from E–W but hundreds of thousands had done it from N–S or S–N, and not just at the ends near the coast. Hannibal and Pompey; pilgrims on the Way of St James; Cathars; pedlars; shepherds; Napoleon’s armies; smugglers; Ramond, Russell, and other explorers; golondrinas; priests with Spanish religious statues; political refugees; the entire Spanish government with its paintings and gold; Jews an...
January 13, 2016
The Senda Pirenaica or Spanish GR11
The Senda is a long walk. Like its elder sister, the Pyrenean Way (GR10) in France, it runs from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean, taking in the entire length of the mountains. With over 950km to hike and around 42000m of climbing it is a serious trek. Kilian Jornet may well have brushed it off in eight days but ordinary humans will take at least six weeks.
Twisted geology above Góriz in Aragon Yet there’s more to the GR11 than the one and a half million footprints and the encounters w...
