I've just returned from a 12 day family holiday to North East Spain, staying at a resort called Malgret de mar, followed by 3 days in Barcelona. Although there are many great birding areas in the region, we had picked a resort which in the middle of August was almost birdless and miles from anywhere good. However, it was within striking distance of the Eastern Pyrenees. It had been an almost lifetime ambition of mine to walk in the Pyrenees (that's walk, not just twitch the local specialties), and I saw the holiday as an opportunity to get up amongst the high mountains and sample the alpine atmosphere, see the flowers and mammals, and hopefully a few birds as well.
So for several weeks before the holiday I collected maps and guides and planned my route. I decided to drive to Ribes de Freser, and then catch the rack train to Nuria, a skiing lodge some 6,000 feet above sea level. I'd been as far as Nuria on a previous holiday, and knew that it can get a bit touristy but it does allow straight forward access to several mountains, which are in the region of 10,000 feet high. Since most of the tourists buzz like flies around the ski lodge, you're more or less on your own once you start walking.
I had been to Nuria once before, but because I'd had the family with me, I'd been unable to get anywhere near close to the high peaks, and had been forced to content myself with playing mini golf in spectacular scenery. This time I told my wife I was going on my own.
Then there were a couple of unexpected developments. Firstly, I desperately wanted to see Lammergeier, and I knew that Nuria was not the best place for them. I made a few enquiries, and discovered that there was a much better site a few miles to the west, at Coll de Pall in the Pre-Pyrenees. But does walking in the Pre-Pyrenees fulfill the ambition? Not really was the conclusion I kept coming to. The Pre-Pyrenees, spectacular though they are (and almost equally as high), are only the foothills. At Nuria I could walk into France. Even so, I wavered for a while with the thought of Lammergeier, but it was the second unexpected development that convinced me to stick with Nuria. My youngest son asked if he could come with me.
Josh is 13 years old, taller than me, very fit and athletic and has accompanied me on several mountain walks in Britain over the past year or two. He is diabetic, but I had no concerns about him being able to handle the walk. In fact I decided that it just wouldn't be fair to take him to Coll de Pall to chase Lammergeiers, probably spending most of our time in the car, or hanging about waiting. That's not what he wanted to do. So Nuria it was.
My alarm went off at 4:45am on 10th August 2007. We had just over a two hour drive to Ribes de Freser, and I wanted to catch the first train, which was due to leave at 7:30am. We got there at 7:15am, and were the first people on the train, though we were soon joined by many Nuria staff making their way to start work, as well as a few other walkers.
The rack railway winds its way through a steep and narrow gorge, before eventually emerging from a tunnel to be greeted by a truly alpine scene, a lake and skiing lodge surrounded by spectacular mountains, and alpine cows wearing bells. By now it was about 8:15am, and we were ready to start our walk. There were a handful of other walkers going off in different directions, but we were now alone. It would be at least three or four hours before the first tourists arrived, and by that time we would be no more than a speck of dust on the side of the mountain. In fact, we didn't meet a single other person for about another 3 hours.
The first section of the walk, about 3 miles in length, was also the hardest, along a stream called Torrent de Noucreus to a pass called Coll de Noucreus, literally "Pass of the crosses", a climb of about 2,800 feet above Nuria. Very soon after leaving Nuria you are above the tree line, but for about quarter of a mile there are scattered pine trees, and here I saw a stunning male Crossbill sitting on top of a pine, a first in Spain for me. Also in this area, a few Citril Finches and a couple of Water Pipits. Citril Finches are very under estimated birds. I think this is because most bird artists are hopeless at painting them. Take a look at Lars Jonsson's paintings to see how they really look. Beautiful birds. Once above the tree line, they became more common, and we saw about 50 in total, but they were never seen very far from the trees. At a point where a small wooden bridge crossed the stream we flushed a Dipper, another first in Spain for me. We rested here for a while, and looking back down the valley could see 2 distant Griffin Vultures already soaring, despite the fact it could have been not much later than about 9:15am and was still quite chilly, though cloudless.
Throughout the entire walk I was aware of the fabulous array of alpine flowers which were all around us. As we reached higher and higher altitudes, the species changed, but even on the very summits saxifrages, houseleeks and gentians could be found, and many other species which I just didn't have time to identify. Alpine flowers are a passion of mine, but I don't visit these places enough, or normally have the time to study them in detail to be any kind of expert.
Photos: Spring Gentian, Josh climbing Pic de Noufonts and the French Pyrenees from Pic de Noufonts