French Pyrenees - Medium/High Level Walks

The French Pyrenees provide a continuous barrier between France and Spain stretching out in a West - East direction for 240 miles from the Atlantic coast at Bayonne to the Mediterranean coast at Perpignan. The north side of the mountain range is cleft by deep valleys, most of them going in a north-south direction. The climate is hot, with a lot of rain at the Atlantic end of the range and very little at the Mediterranean end.

On the French side, because of the rain, the western mountains have plenty of vegetation, making them very picturesque. The mountains get progressively barer and more rugged as you go eastward towards the Mediterranean in stark contrast to the Spanish side of the range, where they are dry and barren along their entire length.

The North side of the Pyrenees is watered by some large rivers, most notably, the Garonne, the Gave de Pau and the Ariège and the mountains are forested up to a certain altitude, giving way to 'alpine' meadows before bare rock is reached at the highest points.

Our trip is based at a mountain lodge in La Feniere near Luchon in the central Pyrenees with excellent access to mountain walking, where we provide a flexible approach offering five different day walks including ridges and summits at lower altitude, plus excursions into the high peaks in the shadow of Pico Aneto (the range's highest peak) where you will discover glacial lakes and more rugged terrain.

This excursion combines superb graded mountain walking in a spectacular part of the French Pyrenees and is easily manageable with a reasonable level of fitness. For those with previous mountain walking experience such as in the Lake District or Snowdonia this is an ideal holiday choice that will take you up a level to a higher altitude.