Across To Andorra
By J. W. Wright.
It is surprising how few Englishmen ever go to Andorra. Yet it is one of the most interesting little republics in Europe and as the following description will show, can be reached in four days’ journey from London. F. H. Slingsby and I started from London on Saturday, June 13th, I925. We travelled via Paris and Toulouse to Ax-les-Thermes, arriving at about midday on the Sunday. Here we unpacked, sorted and repacked our kit. We also bought sufficient food to last us for two or three days. We left Ax early on Monday morning, and travelled down to Les Cabanes by train. We started from Les Cabanes at about nine o’clock. In addition to food we were each carrying cooking kit, some spare clothes, a sleeping bag and a light tent (a total weight of about thirty pounds).
We had studied Belloc’s book “The Pyrenees” before leaving London, and had decided to cross over to Andorra by the eastern Aston Valley route. The track which follows the Aston on its (true) left bank is well marked, and leads up a deep valley, the lower reaches of which are thickly wooded. Higher the mountains are bare and rocky. We crossed over the second bridge, and then kept the stream on our right. From the point where the two Astons meet we followed the eastern stream. Near here we stopped for a bathe and a meal. By five o’clock we were near the limit of the tree zone and decided to camp there, rather than push on and run the risk of not being able to find enough wood for our fire. The site we chose was on the highest part of a small “jasse” with rocks on one side and the stream a few yards away on the other. During the evening there was a good deal of thunder and lightning, though we did not get any rain.
On the next morning we continued up the Aston valley keeping the stream on our right until after the junction described by Belloc: here the main stream comes in from the direction of the Pic Passade. (Belloc got lost somewhere near the source of this stream.) We followed the other stream to the left, finally fording it and continuing until another stream junction appeared. One torrent flowed down from a waterfall on our right, the other coming from the crags to our front. We followed the track past the waterfall and came to a bleak looking tarn called the Fontagente. We then made for a pass a little higher up, and so crossed the frontier between France and the Republic of The Valleys of Andorra. We followed a mule track down a small valley, and crossing a steep shoulder reached the small hamlet of Soldeu, the most northern Village in the Republic. We stayed the night in a small inn at Soldeu. The accommodation and food were simple, though quite good and the inn was very clean.
The route over from France was not as difficult to find as we had expected. The actual travelling time (exclusive of halts) was twelve hours. Therefore by leaving Les Cabanes at 4 a.m. and carrying light rucksacks (a little food but no camping kit) one ought to be able to cross the range in a day quite easily. It may be stated here as evidence of the industry of the Andorrans – produced by a life of hard struggle for existence – that we did not see any ground which was sufficiently large and level to allow of a tent being pitched on it, which was not under some form of cultivation.
On the next day we continued down the valley, following a mule track down a fine open gorge to the village of Encamps where we had lunch. In some of the smaller villages we noticed that the houses had no glass windows. We passed several flocks of sheep and goats being driven up to the high pasturage above the woods and cultivated ground. We reached the village of Escaldas in the early afternoon, and stayed for the night at the Hotel Pla. This is kept by an English-speaking family and is exceedingly comfortable. The motor road from Spain ends in this village, which is about one mile north of the capital village – Andorra Viella. The hotel at Escaldas is probably better than the one at Andorra Viella. We were the only two Englishmen in the country at the time.
On the next day we got an Andorran to take us over the Council House. Andorra is governed by a President, Vice-President and twenty-four councillors, four from each village. We were very much interested in a large oak chest in which the State papers are kept. This box has six locks and by each key-hole is the name of one of the villages. Andorra is a quasi-independent republic, but it acknowledges a suverainty both to France and Spain. It has its own flag, which incorporates the arms of the Bishop of Urgel and the Count of Foix.
We left Andorra Viella on Thursday afternoon in a motor bus for Seo d’Urgel (Spain). The journey took an hour or so and was uninteresting. We left Seo d’Urgel on Friday morning, walking in a N.W. direction. Soon we reached Castel Cuidad. For the next few miles we had some difficulty in finding the way over a broken table-land of bare shaly rock, where the only vegetation was a few scrub trees, and there was no water. For this there were two reasons:- firstly, the only map of this district which we were able to buy in London was on too small a scale to show the country in sufficient detail, and secondly, there were no definite tracks. By using a compass, and keeping as closely as we could to a magnetic bearing of 320 degrees, we reached our objective, Castelbo, in a low wooded valley. From there we still kept to the same bearing, which lead us through two woods and several farms. We asked the way from one farmer. He gave us a lengthy direction, the only word that I caught was “Arbores”. However F.H.S. managed to understand him, and learnt the fact that we followed up a path till we came to a place where we should see “some trees that had lost their bark”, then we turned to the right along a broad grass ride through the wood. Eventually we reached a new road, – still unmetalled, leading from Paralles to Sort. This brought us to the Hospice of St. Juan, overlooking the Magdalena valley. The hospice is not mentioned in Belloc’s book nor is it marked on the map. This was not a happy day to look back upon; it was very hot and we had very little food.
We spent a comfortable night here, and leaving early the next morning made our way down the Magdalena valley by a motor road to its junction with the Rio Naguerra. Our route lay up this valley, and stopping for lunch at Escalo, we reached Esterri in the early evening. The hotel has been brought up to date and is quite comfortable although rather noisy.
We left Esterri on Sunday morning, having first sent our camping kit on in a corn sack by a motor bus, and crossed the Porte de Bonaigo just before midday; an easy walk took us down to Viella where we spent the night. On arrival at Viella we found that the corn sack had not arrived, and we had to walk back to Salardu the next day to look for it. It had been thrown off the bus there by mistake. We discovered that the hotel at Salardu (between Bonaigo and Viella) is better than any in Viella.
The next day we went on to Luchon. As is usually the case we had very unsettled weather on the French side of the mountains. From Luchon we walked up to the Hospice de France (kept by Haurillons, the best guide in the district), where we had a lot of rain; but eventually we managed with Haurillons to get up the highest peak in the range – the Nethou (11,200 ft.). From the hospice we crossed over the Porte de Benasque to the Refuge Rencluse (originally a hermitage). We got up at three the next morning but the weather was too bad to start till 6 o’clock. It is a short climb and we reached the summit before midday. The glacier is not extensive and the snow conditions were excellent. On our way back to the Hospice de France we had a look at the Trou de Toro, a very big pot-hole swallowing the stream of the valley. We left next day for Luchon, whence it took us twenty-three hours to reach London.