Holidays in Béarn: Fancy the GR 10, from the Basque Country to Béarn? Instructions
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Most hikers make the crossing from west to east, following the guidebook, with the sun in their face. Wouldn't it be better to opt for a departure from the Mediterranean to the ocean to have it at your back? Especially since, starting from the Basque Country, as is customary, the hilly landscape, easy to access at first glance, hides its game well. Don't be fooled by its easygoing appearance! Because the succession of climbs and descents through hills, plateaus and pastures is a real leg-breaker! Fortunately, the panorama makes you forget the first aches and blisters on your feet.
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On the third day, the magnificent site of the Occabé cromlechs, a prehistoric monument of planted stones arranged in a circle, reminds us that these places were already occupied 5,000 years ago! Further on, the Iraty forest, the largest beech forest in Europe, straddling France and Spain, offers magical atmospheres when the frequent mist rushes in like cotton wool, to the point of obstructing all visibility. Fortunately, the GR markers, composed of a white line and a red line, are never far away. Affixed sometimes to a tree trunk, sometimes to a rock, they mark the route and prevent you from getting lost.
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We enter Béarn through one of the most important limestone areas in the world for the length and depth of its chasms. It is called the Pierre Saint-Martin karst, the kingdom of speleologists. At the Pierre Saint-Martin pass, a boundary marker marks the border between France and Spain. Six hundred markers like this one are located in the mountains from the Atlantic to the sea, but this one, number 262, remains the most famous, because it is here that the oldest treaty in Europe is celebrated every year, the Junta de Roncal, a pact regulating the use of pastures and water sources between French and Spanish shepherds since July 13, 1375.
The next stage, which leads to the village of Lescun via the Pas de l'Osque and the Pas d'Azuns, is one of the most beautiful of the crossing, offering a splendid view of the first great Pyrenean peaks. The GR 10 runs along the Orgues de Camplong in the middle of the summer pastures where herds of cows and sheep graze. The huts are occupied in the summer by shepherds (see also p. 96-97), so don't expect to stop there. But it is possible to buy a piece of cheese or a tub of greuil, the equivalent of ricotta, made from cooked sheep's whey.
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The last stop in the Aspe Valley, before reaching the Ossau Valley, is the famous Chemin de la Mâture, carved into the rock on the side of a cliff, which should be taken without detour! At the Ayous Pass, you enter the Pyrenees National Park at the same time as you enter the Ossau Valley. The view of the eponymous peak, the valley's emblem, is breathtaking. There are two stages left before Gourette, the last stop before the Hautes-Pyrénées.
Already, other imposing peaks are peeking out in the distance, with the promise of even more different landscapes. The GR adventure is far from over.
