#vanlife — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #vanlife, aggregated by home.social.
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https://www.alojapan.com/1486349/camping-through-earthquakes-in-my-tiny-truck-house-spring-in-nagano-japan/ Camping Through Earthquakes in My Tiny Truck House | Spring in Nagano, Japan #asmr #camp #çampingStove #campingcar #carcamp #diy #Keitruck #minitruck #Nagano #NaganoDestinations #NaganoTour #NaganoTravel #NaganoTrip #NaganoVacation #relaxing #shidolab #SoloCamping #TinyHouse #Truckcamper #Vanlife #しどらぼ #ソロキャンプ #タイニーハウス #モバイルハウス #自作キャンピングカー #車中泊 #軽キャン #軽トラ #軽トラキャンピングカー #軽トラック #長野 Camping Through Earthquakes in My Tiny Truck House | Spring in N
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https://www.alojapan.com/1486349/camping-through-earthquakes-in-my-tiny-truck-house-spring-in-nagano-japan/ Camping Through Earthquakes in My Tiny Truck House | Spring in Nagano, Japan #asmr #camp #çampingStove #campingcar #carcamp #diy #Keitruck #minitruck #Nagano #NaganoDestinations #NaganoTour #NaganoTravel #NaganoTrip #NaganoVacation #relaxing #shidolab #SoloCamping #TinyHouse #Truckcamper #Vanlife #しどらぼ #ソロキャンプ #タイニーハウス #モバイルハウス #自作キャンピングカー #車中泊 #軽キャン #軽トラ #軽トラキャンピングカー #軽トラック #長野 Camping Through Earthquakes in My Tiny Truck House | Spring in N
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Streamtime!
#Outbound ist überraschend schon am Montag erschienen. 🤯 Heute haben @wortkunstfetzen und ich Zeit, in unser Campingabenteuer zu starten. Also anschnallen, Motor an, auf gehts!
Bis gleich!
:twitch: https://twitch.tv/janika_hoffmann
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Streamtime!
#Outbound ist überraschend schon am Montag erschienen. 🤯 Heute haben @wortkunstfetzen und ich Zeit, in unser Campingabenteuer zu starten. Also anschnallen, Motor an, auf gehts!
Bis gleich!
:twitch: https://twitch.tv/janika_hoffmann
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Streamtime!
#Outbound ist überraschend schon am Montag erschienen. 🤯 Heute haben @wortkunstfetzen und ich Zeit, in unser Campingabenteuer zu starten. Also anschnallen, Motor an, auf gehts!
Bis gleich!
:twitch: https://twitch.tv/janika_hoffmann
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Streamtime!
#Outbound ist überraschend schon am Montag erschienen. 🤯 Heute haben @wortkunstfetzen und ich Zeit, in unser Campingabenteuer zu starten. Also anschnallen, Motor an, auf gehts!
Bis gleich!
:twitch: https://twitch.tv/janika_hoffmann
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Streamtime!
#Outbound ist überraschend schon am Montag erschienen. 🤯 Heute haben @wortkunstfetzen und ich Zeit, in unser Campingabenteuer zu starten. Also anschnallen, Motor an, auf gehts!
Bis gleich!
:twitch: https://twitch.tv/janika_hoffmann
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Day 54 of Bordeaux/Bilbao rugby trip
10km west to Ea. Very small village with narrow streets and badly parked cars
DISASTER. 🚨 Torrential rain. Scraped low-hung balconies. Failure to ascend 25% waterfall concrete gradient out of village Towed up by local heroes plus police - no charge
Aborted plans. Choose SW 15km to Gernika free car park. Retreated to bar contemplating life choices..
..nah, still brilliant
Floods à la Noah. Still warm 17°C 🌨️🚐🍷
#vanlife #motorhomelife #leicestertigers #guernica -
Day 54 of Bordeaux/Bilbao rugby trip
10km west to Ea. Very small village with narrow streets and badly parked cars
DISASTER. 🚨 Torrential rain. Scraped low-hung balconies. Failure to ascend 25% waterfall concrete gradient out of village Towed up by local heroes plus police - no charge
Aborted plans. Choose SW 15km to Gernika free car park. Retreated to bar contemplating life choices..
..nah, still brilliant
Floods à la Noah. Still warm 17°C 🌨️🚐🍷
#vanlife #motorhomelife #leicestertigers #guernica -
Day 54 of Bordeaux/Bilbao rugby trip
10km west to Ea. Very small village with narrow streets and badly parked cars
DISASTER. 🚨 Torrential rain. Scraped low-hung balconies. Failure to ascend 25% waterfall concrete gradient out of village Towed up by local heroes plus police - no charge
Aborted plans. Choose SW 15km to Gernika free car park. Retreated to bar contemplating life choices..
..nah, still brilliant
Floods à la Noah. Still warm 17°C 🌨️🚐🍷
#vanlife #motorhomelife #leicestertigers #guernica -
Day 54 of Bordeaux/Bilbao rugby trip
10km west to Ea. Very small village with narrow streets and badly parked cars
DISASTER. 🚨 Torrential rain. Scraped low-hung balconies. Failure to ascend 25% waterfall concrete gradient out of village Towed up by local heroes plus police - no charge
Aborted plans. Choose SW 15km to Gernika free car park. Retreated to bar contemplating life choices..
..nah, still brilliant
Floods à la Noah. Still warm 17°C 🌨️🚐🍷
#vanlife #motorhomelife #leicestertigers #guernica -
Day 54 of Bordeaux/Bilbao rugby trip
10km west to Ea. Very small village with narrow streets and badly parked cars
DISASTER. 🚨 Torrential rain. Scraped low-hung balconies. Failure to ascend 25% waterfall concrete gradient out of village Towed up by local heroes plus police - no charge
Aborted plans. Choose SW 15km to Gernika free car park. Retreated to bar contemplating life choices..
..nah, still brilliant
Floods à la Noah. Still warm 17°C 🌨️🚐🍷
#vanlife #motorhomelife #leicestertigers #guernica -
https://www.laviezine.com/1571710/camping-la-verte-rive-domme-la-roque-gageac-french-road-trip-france-domme-vanlife/ Camping La Verte Rive, Domme, La Roque Gageac, French Road Trip #france #domme #vanlife ##budgettravel ##earlyretirement #DommeFranceTour #explore #hidden #PlacesToTravel #Retired #secret #SouthOfFranceDestinations #SouthOfFranceTour #SouthOfFranceTravel #SouthOfFranceTrip #SouthOfFranceVacation #travel #travelling #travelvlog #unusual
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https://www.laviezine.com/1571710/camping-la-verte-rive-domme-la-roque-gageac-french-road-trip-france-domme-vanlife/ Camping La Verte Rive, Domme, La Roque Gageac, French Road Trip #france #domme #vanlife ##budgettravel ##earlyretirement #DommeFranceTour #explore #hidden #PlacesToTravel #Retired #secret #SouthOfFranceDestinations #SouthOfFranceTour #SouthOfFranceTravel #SouthOfFranceTrip #SouthOfFranceVacation #travel #travelling #travelvlog #unusual
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https://www.laviezine.com/1571710/camping-la-verte-rive-domme-la-roque-gageac-french-road-trip-france-domme-vanlife/ Camping La Verte Rive, Domme, La Roque Gageac, French Road Trip #france #domme #vanlife ##budgettravel ##earlyretirement #DommeFranceTour #explore #hidden #PlacesToTravel #Retired #secret #SouthOfFranceDestinations #SouthOfFranceTour #SouthOfFranceTravel #SouthOfFranceTrip #SouthOfFranceVacation #travel #travelling #travelvlog #unusual
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Tried out a focaccia in the Omnia today. I think it's a keeper. Instruction video coming later this year.
#bread #focaccia #omnia #vanlife #campinglife #cooking #cookingm2 -
Tried out a focaccia in the Omnia today. I think it's a keeper. Instruction video coming later this year.
#bread #focaccia #omnia #vanlife #campinglife #cooking #cookingm2 -
Tried out a focaccia in the Omnia today. I think it's a keeper. Instruction video coming later this year.
#bread #focaccia #omnia #vanlife #campinglife #cooking #cookingm2 -
Tried out a focaccia in the Omnia today. I think it's a keeper. Instruction video coming later this year.
#bread #focaccia #omnia #vanlife #campinglife #cooking #cookingm2 -
Tried out a focaccia in the Omnia today. I think it's a keeper. Instruction video coming later this year.
#bread #focaccia #omnia #vanlife #campinglife #cooking #cookingm2 -
Interesting Kickstarter project for the off-grid crowd. PREP is a portable wind turbine — 250W, 6 lbs, backpack-sized. Automatically aligns to wind direction with a patent-pending finless yaw system.
Solar is great but doesn't work at night. This fills that gap: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/438191414/prep-portable-wind-power-system-for-life-off-grid?ref=7ir6uk
#OffGrid #WindPower #Kickstarter #Camping #Preparedness #RenewableEnergy #VanLife
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Interesting Kickstarter project for the off-grid crowd. PREP is a portable wind turbine — 250W, 6 lbs, backpack-sized. Automatically aligns to wind direction with a patent-pending finless yaw system.
Solar is great but doesn't work at night. This fills that gap: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/438191414/prep-portable-wind-power-system-for-life-off-grid?ref=7ir6uk
#OffGrid #WindPower #Kickstarter #Camping #Preparedness #RenewableEnergy #VanLife
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Interesting Kickstarter project for the off-grid crowd. PREP is a portable wind turbine — 250W, 6 lbs, backpack-sized. Automatically aligns to wind direction with a patent-pending finless yaw system.
Solar is great but doesn't work at night. This fills that gap: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/438191414/prep-portable-wind-power-system-for-life-off-grid?ref=7ir6uk
#OffGrid #WindPower #Kickstarter #Camping #Preparedness #RenewableEnergy #VanLife
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Interesting Kickstarter project for the off-grid crowd. PREP is a portable wind turbine — 250W, 6 lbs, backpack-sized. Automatically aligns to wind direction with a patent-pending finless yaw system.
Solar is great but doesn't work at night. This fills that gap: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/438191414/prep-portable-wind-power-system-for-life-off-grid?ref=7ir6uk
#OffGrid #WindPower #Kickstarter #Camping #Preparedness #RenewableEnergy #VanLife
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https://www.wacoca.com/tour/973243/ 【北海道 – 車中泊旅Vlog】#6 – 最北端の銭湯・出会って5秒で合唱 – ライダーハウス みどり湯 #4k #JapanVlog #nvan #osmopocket3 #稚内 ##NVAN #NーVAN #Nバン #VANLIFE #エヌバン #サロベツ原野ツアー #バンライフ #北海道 #北海道ツアー #北海道地方 #北海道地方ツアー #夏の北海道 #車中泊
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https://www.wacoca.com/tour/973243/ 【北海道 – 車中泊旅Vlog】#6 – 最北端の銭湯・出会って5秒で合唱 – ライダーハウス みどり湯 #4k #JapanVlog #nvan #osmopocket3 #稚内 ##NVAN #NーVAN #Nバン #VANLIFE #エヌバン #サロベツ原野ツアー #バンライフ #北海道 #北海道ツアー #北海道地方 #北海道地方ツアー #夏の北海道 #車中泊
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https://www.wacoca.com/tour/973243/ 【北海道 – 車中泊旅Vlog】#6 – 最北端の銭湯・出会って5秒で合唱 – ライダーハウス みどり湯 #4k #JapanVlog #nvan #osmopocket3 #稚内 ##NVAN #NーVAN #Nバン #VANLIFE #エヌバン #サロベツ原野ツアー #バンライフ #北海道 #北海道ツアー #北海道地方 #北海道地方ツアー #夏の北海道 #車中泊
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https://www.wacoca.com/tour/973243/ 【北海道 – 車中泊旅Vlog】#6 – 最北端の銭湯・出会って5秒で合唱 – ライダーハウス みどり湯 #4k #JapanVlog #nvan #osmopocket3 #稚内 ##NVAN #NーVAN #Nバン #VANLIFE #エヌバン #サロベツ原野ツアー #バンライフ #北海道 #北海道ツアー #北海道地方 #北海道地方ツアー #夏の北海道 #車中泊
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https://www.wacoca.com/tour/973243/ 【北海道 – 車中泊旅Vlog】#6 – 最北端の銭湯・出会って5秒で合唱 – ライダーハウス みどり湯 #4k #JapanVlog #nvan #osmopocket3 #稚内 ##NVAN #NーVAN #Nバン #VANLIFE #エヌバン #サロベツ原野ツアー #バンライフ #北海道 #北海道ツアー #北海道地方 #北海道地方ツアー #夏の北海道 #車中泊
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Passenger – Check out the new poster and featurette for the new highway horror film here https://bit.ly/4nl5DYN
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Passenger – Check out the new poster and featurette for the new highway horror film here https://bit.ly/4nl5DYN
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Passenger – Check out the new poster and featurette for the new highway horror film here https://bit.ly/4nl5DYN
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"Between them, the bus has become something more than shelter, a way of living deliberately within borrowed time."
Joshua Jackson for RE:PUBLIC and The Guardian: https://www.republic.land/a-new-kind-of-van-life/
#Longreads #VanLife #Nomads #Desert #Arizona #Housing #BLM #PublicLands
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"Between them, the bus has become something more than shelter, a way of living deliberately within borrowed time."
Joshua Jackson for RE:PUBLIC and The Guardian: https://www.republic.land/a-new-kind-of-van-life/
#Longreads #VanLife #Nomads #Desert #Arizona #Housing #BLM #PublicLands
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"Between them, the bus has become something more than shelter, a way of living deliberately within borrowed time."
Joshua Jackson for RE:PUBLIC and The Guardian: https://www.republic.land/a-new-kind-of-van-life/
#Longreads #VanLife #Nomads #Desert #Arizona #Housing #BLM #PublicLands
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"Between them, the bus has become something more than shelter, a way of living deliberately within borrowed time."
Joshua Jackson for RE:PUBLIC and The Guardian: https://www.republic.land/a-new-kind-of-van-life/
#Longreads #VanLife #Nomads #Desert #Arizona #Housing #BLM #PublicLands
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"Between them, the bus has become something more than shelter, a way of living deliberately within borrowed time."
Joshua Jackson for RE:PUBLIC and The Guardian: https://www.republic.land/a-new-kind-of-van-life/
#Longreads #VanLife #Nomads #Desert #Arizona #Housing #BLM #PublicLands
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Andorra and Occitanie
For this mission our focus had been on Spain and Portugal, but we took the opportunity to briefly transit Andorra and to visit those western parts of Occitanie we didn’t have time for on our previous trip into France.
Coordinates
- Andorra la Vella
- Escaldes-Engordany
- Engolasters
- Canillo
- Col du Puymorens
- Llívia
- Mont-Louis
- Villefranche-de-Conflent
- Tautavel
- Cucugnan
- Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse
- Bugarach
- Carcassonne
- Trèbes
- Lagrasse
- Gruissan
- Frontignan
- Béziers
- Mont Aigoual
- Le Truel
- Le Rozier
- Sainte-Enimie
Andorra
Andorra in a nutshell
Andorra isn’t an EU country (so there was a border crossing from Spain and no EU roaming—46€ per SMS—just robbery!), but it uses the Euro by agreement. It has a similar GDP per capita to NZ, with a population of ~80,000 who speak Catalan as a first language (most of whom also speak Spanish and/or French). Andorra is a co-principality (with largely ceremonial co-princes being the President of France and Spain’s Bishop of Urgel), governed as a parliamentary democracy.
🧭 Exploring
Andorra la Vella, the capital, put on a damp and cold welcome after weeks of sunshine in Spain and Portugal (📷1). It does have geothermal waters (Caldea in contiguous Escaldes-Engordany is one of Europe’s largest thermal spa complexes) but isn’t regarded as a traditional spa town. We found it:
- Like Spain, but less dry and warm—possibly unfair given our limited transit.
- Like France, but without old stones—much of Barri Antic appears comparatively modern (📷2) and there are no Roman ruins (although Casa de la Vall, a former parliament building, dates from 1580)
- Like Monaco, but without yachts—although a fast-flowing river runs through this valley-confined city (📷3)
- Like Dubai, but without sand—although money passes through fingers here similarly in this shopping mecca, due to low taxes (📷4).
A machete with your charge cable?
We are at a loss to explain why most electronic stores also sell “personal weapons” (knives, guns, etc…). We find this both weird and scary!
🤔 Curiosity
Andorra is more than a country of one city: ~94% of the land and ~73% of the population are outside Andorra la Vella. Vall del Madriu-Perafita-Claror | Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley is Andorra’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed as a cultural landscape. We accessed it via the official “Volta a Ràmio” trail. From parking above the village of Engolasters it was a steep 35min climb through pine forest to Coll de Jovell at 1,780m, from where we began descending into the glacier-formed valley. At the 2km mark we reached Ràmio in the valley’s bottom end (📷1). The valley makes up ~9% of Andorra and is regarded as a time capsule for traditional mountain usage with limited modern development. Ràmio gave us a first glimpse into how people shaped the high Pyrenees over centuries through pastoralism, farming and communal land management (📷2). The trail continued up the valley, mostly alongside the Riu Madriu to the constant roar of white water, with ever-present granite underfoot/ in dry-stone walls and the scent of damp moss and pine needles in the air. At just over 4km/ 2h 10min into the hike we came to Refugi de Fontverd, not unlike a NZ-style DOC hut, at 1,875m elevation (📷3). We returned to the Coll via a higher path, which gave us superior views back up the valley (📷4). The 9km loop hike took us 4h 15min.
As we drove back down from Engolasters we stopped to snap the top end of Escaldes-Engordany, which illustrates its rather dramatic valley confinement (📷1). A switchback sequence took us to Mirador Roc del Quer near Canillo, where we appreciated the views in several directions, such as this (📷2), without paying 6€ pp to stand on a suspended platform. Just beyond Canillo we stopped again at Sant Joan de Caselles, said to be a fine example of old Andorran architecture (📷3) and inside, one of the best preserved Romanesque interiors; the door was however bolted. We exited Andorra by heading for Col de Puymorens at 1,915m in the French Pyrénées (📷4); you can avoid the pass via a tolled tunnel.
Occitanie
A piece of Spain—inside France!
After reaching Occitanie we transited the Spanish/ Catalonian enclave of Llívia, a town of some 13 square kilometres that was excluded from transfer to France in the Treaty of the Pyrénées (1659) because the said border agreement only specified the transfer of “villages”!
🧭 Exploring
We parked for our first night in Occitanie in Mont-Louis, beneath the walls of the town (📷1); at ~1,600m elevation it’s France’s highest fortified town and together with the c. 1679 citadel—an active commando training facility—is part of the “Fortifications of Vauban” UNESCO listing. Villefranche-de-Conflent is another of 12 UNESCO-listed fortified sites designed by military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, together representing a coherent defensive system across France. It’s considerably more tourist-oriented; we took the opportunity to walk the restored late 17th C. ramparts (📷2) and stroll through the town’s medieval streets (📷3). Next up was Musée de Préhistoire de Tautavel | Tautavel Prehistory Museum, featuring rather dated and underwhelming exhibits (cf. Altamira) around findings from La Caune de l’Arago | the Arago Cave. People seasonally camped here from ~690,000 years ago, as imagined in this unconvincing “facsimile” cave set 500,000 years ago (📷4). All displayed human bones (including the signature “Tautavel Man”, possibly a Homo erectus subspecies, compiled from fragments of ~20 individuals) are moulds. We also drove to the actual limestone cave in nearby Gouleyrous gorge, situated in the middle of a cliff, but you can’t access it.
Château de Quéribus at Cucugnan (📷1) and nearby Château de Peyrepertuse at Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse (📷2) are two of eight “Royal Fortresses of Languedoc” aspiring to UNESCO World Heritage status. Languedoc was shaped by Roman rule, became a centre of medieval Occitan culture, was devastated by the Albigensian Crusade before being integrated into the French kingdom. Château de Peyrepertuse sits on a limestone ridge at 800m elevation and is first mentioned in records from 1020 CE (📷3); this view is from parking close to the ticket gate (we decided not to go inside). It came into royal possession in 1240 CE, its former owner William of Peyrepertuse having been excommunicated for supporting the Cathars (a medieval Christian sect in southern Europe who believed in strict division between a good spiritual realm and an evil material world, leading the Pope to label them heretics). After the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees the castle lost its strategic importance; it was finally abandoned during the French Revolution. There’s free access to a lookout platform from which you can see the ruin of Château de Quéribus and beyond it, the Mediterranean Sea (📷4).
Upon leaving Château de Peyrepertuse bound for Carcassonne we took the D14, a narrow winding backroad between hills cloaked in forest and meadows, intermittently punctuated with small villages. One such village is Bugarach, on the outskirts of which is a 700m path to Pont Romain, a single-arch stone bridge across a limestone basin on the Roman road linking the village to Rennes-les-Bains (📷1). Although the original was probably Gallo-Roman, it was destroyed in 1992 by flooding but faithfully restored the following year. What caught our eye was the trailside orchids, three of which were new to us. All native, first up is Neotinea ustulata | the burnt-tip orchid, which can be found up to 2,400m elevation in the mountains of central and southern Europe (📷2). The aptly-named Serapias lingua | tongue orchid is found throughout the Mediterranean (📷3). Ophrys scolopax | the woodcock orchid is recognisably a bee orchid given its morphology (📷4); it can be found in both the Mediterranean and Middle East. We also re-identified Orchis mascula | the early-purple orchid (📷5).
Cité de Carcassonne is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed as an outstanding example of a medieval fortified town (📷1). First fortified in the Gallo-Roman period ~3rd–4th C. CE, it underwent extensive restorations in the 19th C. Set upon a hill overlooking the modern urban sprawl, the compact site is protected by ~3km of double walls and 52 defensive towers (📷2); it’s 19 € pp to walk the ramparts/ visit the restored château, but free to walk between the rows (without climbing on the outer battlements). The enclosed town is very touristy, filled with trinket shops and eateries, but also offers some architectural curiosities (📷3). Later, at nearby Trèbes, we walked alongside Canal du Midi, a ~360km network of navigable waterways linking the Atlantic (via Garonne) to the Mediterranean using locks, aqueducts, bridges and reservoirs. The canal is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, created through the vision of Pierre-Paul Riquet during 1667–94. The Trèbes Orbiel aqueduct (📷4) was designed by Vauban in 1688 and the town’s staircase lock dates from ~1674.
Lagrasse is listed among Les Plus Beaux Villages de France | the Most Beautiful Villages of France; S had enjoyed her visit ~20 years ago and wanted to return to this relatively quiet locale, surrounded by hills on the Orbieu River (📷1). It developed around Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Lagrasse, a Benedictine abbey founded during the 8th C. (📷2), becoming an important religious and economic hub. The village is compact, with stone houses/ artisan shops (in Jul/ Aug it is filled with tourists) and a medieval open-air market hall (📷3). On the path between camp and village we also discovered a new-to-us native orchid, Serapias vomeracea | the long-lipped serapias (📷4).
Bonus pictures of pretty Lagrasse. A monk in the courtyard of Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Lagrasse; it’s still an active religious site (📷1). A grey heron fishing in the Orbieu River (📷2). The 40m high fortified bell tower (clocher fortifié) of the abbey church, featuring buttresses with curved flyers; it was heavily modified in the late Middle Ages when the monastery was adapted for defense during periods like the Hundred Years’ War (📷3). Entrance on Rue de la Porte d’Eau, through which typical stone buildings can be seen (📷4). A view from the old bridge, looking back towards the hill on which we camped (📷5). A random village door (📷6). Anacamptis pyramidalis | the pyramidal orchid, with the monastery in the background (📷7).
Our “small of the day” was captured when S went to empty the toilet cassette—not when you expect to hear “Quick, bring the camera!” This is a native moth, Arctia villica | the cream-spot tiger (📷1). We made our way to Salins de Saint-Martin outside of Gruissan on the Gulf of Lion, although being too early for florid algal blooms, colour differences between salt ponds were subtle (📷2). We followed the marked path 2.1km out to Plage de la Vieille Nouvelle (📷3). En route we did identify a number of birds, mostly at a distance: Phoenicopterus roseus | greater flamingo; Anarhynchus alexandrinus | Kentish plover; Chlidonias hybrida | whiskered tern; Motacilla flava | western yellow wagtail; and Milvus migrans | the black kite. Later we stopped in Béziers, where we watched as boats navigated “Les 9 écluses de Fonseranes”, one of the most impressive engineering features of the Canal du Midi (📷4). Originally a sequence of nine locks (a “staircase”) completed in 1697, seven are typically in use, raising or lowering vessels ~21.5 meters over a short distance.
Etang Des Mouettes is a a coastal lagoon in Frontignan, formerly a salt production pond with over 600 years of service, now gradually rewilding (📷1). On our dawn walk we found a heron stalking in the shallows (📷2), but there wasn’t enough light to be sure of the species. As the sun rose it illuminated flocks of Phoenicopterus roseus | greater flamingo traversing the pond, with their distinctive long necks, large kinked bills, trailing long pink legs and striking deep pink/ black underside wing plumage (📷3). A look at Frontignan Plage before departing the Mediterranean shore (📷4).
We drove to the Mont Aigoual summit at 1,565m elevation in Parc national des Cévennes | Cevennes National Park; the park is recognized as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Our route up via Nant and Dourbies was long, winding and frankly tedious, so despite views towards the coast (📷1) and further inland (📷2) we felt less appreciative than we should have. We decided against our intended hike in 7°C and headed down via Gorges de la Jonte. En route the road verge was decorated with numerous native Dactylorhiza sambucina | the elder-flowered orchid, in shades of yellow, deep purple and pink (we first saw it in Theth, Albania). As is common practice, some of the formations in the gorge are named; this is Arcade des Bergers | Shepherds’ Arcade (📷3). The hamlet of Le Truel, where terraces once held vineyards, orchards and vegetable gardens, while sheep and goats grazed sloping pastures (📷4). Gyps fulvus | griffon vultures soar from the cliffs above, seemingly untroubled by the loss of a traditional way of life.
Gorges du Tarn, also within Parc nationaldes Cévennes, is a canyon carved by the Tarn ~50km long and up to 500m deep. Large parts of the gorge are also included within the UNESCO-listed “Causses and the Cévennes, Mediterranean agro-pastoral Cultural Landscape”. We began the scenic drive at Le Rozier, working our way west to east via cliffs and tunnels, with frequent stops at viewpoints towards Sainte-Enimie. Hameau semi-troglodyte d’Eglazines | the “semi-troglodyte hamlet of Eglazines” was first to catch our eye (📷1). Although not as high, the hamlet of La Sablière is on the opposite bank of the Tarn, so access/ supplies is via a cableway (📷2). The larger settlement of La Malène is billed as a Petite Cité de Caractère | “Little City of Character” (📷3). Sainte-Enimie is listed as one of the “Most Beautiful Villages in France”; this view is from the river beach (📷4).
From Sainte-Enimie we entered “Home” into the nav system and headed out of Occitaine. After 8,217km this tour was complete. Related missions logs are as follows:
- France into Basque Country
- Northwestern Spain
- Northern Portugal
- Central Portugal
- Lisbon and northern Alentejo
- Extremadura to the heart of Spain
- The wild reaches of Aragón
Plans for our next trip are uncertain as we await easing of global disruption.
#2026 #andorra #camperVan #europe #france #hiking #nationalPark #nature #nomad #occitanie #roadTrip #romans #spain #travel #unesco #vanLife -
Andorra and Occitanie
For this mission our focus had been on Spain and Portugal, but we took the opportunity to briefly transit Andorra and to visit those western parts of Occitanie we didn’t have time for on our previous trip into France.
Coordinates
- Andorra la Vella
- Escaldes-Engordany
- Engolasters
- Canillo
- Col du Puymorens
- Llívia
- Mont-Louis
- Villefranche-de-Conflent
- Tautavel
- Cucugnan
- Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse
- Bugarach
- Carcassonne
- Trèbes
- Lagrasse
- Gruissan
- Frontignan
- Béziers
- Mont Aigoual
- Le Truel
- Le Rozier
- Sainte-Enimie
Andorra
Andorra in a nutshell
Andorra isn’t an EU country (so there was a border crossing from Spain and no EU roaming—46€ per SMS—just robbery!), but it uses the Euro by agreement. It has a similar GDP per capita to NZ, with a population of ~80,000 who speak Catalan as a first language (most of whom also speak Spanish and/or French). Andorra is a co-principality (with largely ceremonial co-princes being the President of France and Spain’s Bishop of Urgel), governed as a parliamentary democracy.
🧭 Exploring
Andorra la Vella, the capital, put on a damp and cold welcome after weeks of sunshine in Spain and Portugal (📷1). It does have geothermal waters (Caldea in contiguous Escaldes-Engordany is one of Europe’s largest thermal spa complexes) but isn’t regarded as a traditional spa town. We found it:
- Like Spain, but less dry and warm—possibly unfair given our limited transit.
- Like France, but without old stones—much of Barri Antic appears comparatively modern (📷2) and there are no Roman ruins (although Casa de la Vall, a former parliament building, dates from 1580)
- Like Monaco, but without yachts—although a fast-flowing river runs through this valley-confined city (📷3)
- Like Dubai, but without sand—although money passes through fingers here similarly in this shopping mecca, due to low taxes (📷4).
A machete with your charge cable?
We are at a loss to explain why most electronic stores also sell “personal weapons” (knives, guns, etc…). We find this both weird and scary!
🤔 Curiosity
Andorra is more than a country of one city: ~94% of the land and ~73% of the population are outside Andorra la Vella. Vall del Madriu-Perafita-Claror | Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley is Andorra’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed as a cultural landscape. We accessed it via the official “Volta a Ràmio” trail. From parking above the village of Engolasters it was a steep 35min climb through pine forest to Coll de Jovell at 1,780m, from where we began descending into the glacier-formed valley. At the 2km mark we reached Ràmio in the valley’s bottom end (📷1). The valley makes up ~9% of Andorra and is regarded as a time capsule for traditional mountain usage with limited modern development. Ràmio gave us a first glimpse into how people shaped the high Pyrenees over centuries through pastoralism, farming and communal land management (📷2). The trail continued up the valley, mostly alongside the Riu Madriu to the constant roar of white water, with ever-present granite underfoot/ in dry-stone walls and the scent of damp moss and pine needles in the air. At just over 4km/ 2h 10min into the hike we came to Refugi de Fontverd, not unlike a NZ-style DOC hut, at 1,875m elevation (📷3). We returned to the Coll via a higher path, which gave us superior views back up the valley (📷4). The 9km loop hike took us 4h 15min.
As we drove back down from Engolasters we stopped to snap the top end of Escaldes-Engordany, which illustrates its rather dramatic valley confinement (📷1). A switchback sequence took us to Mirador Roc del Quer near Canillo, where we appreciated the views in several directions, such as this (📷2), without paying 6€ pp to stand on a suspended platform. Just beyond Canillo we stopped again at Sant Joan de Caselles, said to be a fine example of old Andorran architecture (📷3) and inside, one of the best preserved Romanesque interiors; the door was however bolted. We exited Andorra by heading for Col de Puymorens at 1,915m in the French Pyrénées (📷4); you can avoid the pass via a tolled tunnel.
Occitanie
A piece of Spain—inside France!
After reaching Occitanie we transited the Spanish/ Catalonian enclave of Llívia, a town of some 13 square kilometres that was excluded from transfer to France in the Treaty of the Pyrénées (1659) because the said border agreement only specified the transfer of “villages”!
🧭 Exploring
We parked for our first night in Occitanie in Mont-Louis, beneath the walls of the town (📷1); at ~1,600m elevation it’s France’s highest fortified town and together with the c. 1679 citadel—an active commando training facility—is part of the “Fortifications of Vauban” UNESCO listing. Villefranche-de-Conflent is another of 12 UNESCO-listed fortified sites designed by military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, together representing a coherent defensive system across France. It’s considerably more tourist-oriented; we took the opportunity to walk the restored late 17th C. ramparts (📷2) and stroll through the town’s medieval streets (📷3). Next up was Musée de Préhistoire de Tautavel | Tautavel Prehistory Museum, featuring rather dated and underwhelming exhibits (cf. Altamira) around findings from La Caune de l’Arago | the Arago Cave. People seasonally camped here from ~690,000 years ago, as imagined in this unconvincing “facsimile” cave set 500,000 years ago (📷4). All displayed human bones (including the signature “Tautavel Man”, possibly a Homo erectus subspecies, compiled from fragments of ~20 individuals) are moulds. We also drove to the actual limestone cave in nearby Gouleyrous gorge, situated in the middle of a cliff, but you can’t access it.
Château de Quéribus at Cucugnan (📷1) and nearby Château de Peyrepertuse at Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse (📷2) are two of eight “Royal Fortresses of Languedoc” aspiring to UNESCO World Heritage status. Languedoc was shaped by Roman rule, became a centre of medieval Occitan culture, was devastated by the Albigensian Crusade before being integrated into the French kingdom. Château de Peyrepertuse sits on a limestone ridge at 800m elevation and is first mentioned in records from 1020 CE (📷3); this view is from parking close to the ticket gate (we decided not to go inside). It came into royal possession in 1240 CE, its former owner William of Peyrepertuse having been excommunicated for supporting the Cathars (a medieval Christian sect in southern Europe who believed in strict division between a good spiritual realm and an evil material world, leading the Pope to label them heretics). After the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees the castle lost its strategic importance; it was finally abandoned during the French Revolution. There’s free access to a lookout platform from which you can see the ruin of Château de Quéribus and beyond it, the Mediterranean Sea (📷4).
Upon leaving Château de Peyrepertuse bound for Carcassonne we took the D14, a narrow winding backroad between hills cloaked in forest and meadows, intermittently punctuated with small villages. One such village is Bugarach, on the outskirts of which is a 700m path to Pont Romain, a single-arch stone bridge across a limestone basin on the Roman road linking the village to Rennes-les-Bains (📷1). Although the original was probably Gallo-Roman, it was destroyed in 1992 by flooding but faithfully restored the following year. What caught our eye was the trailside orchids, three of which were new to us. All native, first up is Neotinea ustulata | the burnt-tip orchid, which can be found up to 2,400m elevation in the mountains of central and southern Europe (📷2). The aptly-named Serapias lingua | tongue orchid is found throughout the Mediterranean (📷3). Ophrys scolopax | the woodcock orchid is recognisably a bee orchid given its morphology (📷4); it can be found in both the Mediterranean and Middle East. We also re-identified Orchis mascula | the early-purple orchid (📷5).
Cité de Carcassonne is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed as an outstanding example of a medieval fortified town (📷1). First fortified in the Gallo-Roman period ~3rd–4th C. CE, it underwent extensive restorations in the 19th C. Set upon a hill overlooking the modern urban sprawl, the compact site is protected by ~3km of double walls and 52 defensive towers (📷2); it’s 19 € pp to walk the ramparts/ visit the restored château, but free to walk between the rows (without climbing on the outer battlements). The enclosed town is very touristy, filled with trinket shops and eateries, but also offers some architectural curiosities (📷3). Later, at nearby Trèbes, we walked alongside Canal du Midi, a ~360km network of navigable waterways linking the Atlantic (via Garonne) to the Mediterranean using locks, aqueducts, bridges and reservoirs. The canal is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, created through the vision of Pierre-Paul Riquet during 1667–94. The Trèbes Orbiel aqueduct (📷4) was designed by Vauban in 1688 and the town’s staircase lock dates from ~1674.
Lagrasse is listed among Les Plus Beaux Villages de France | the Most Beautiful Villages of France; S had enjoyed her visit ~20 years ago and wanted to return to this relatively quiet locale, surrounded by hills on the Orbieu River (📷1). It developed around Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Lagrasse, a Benedictine abbey founded during the 8th C. (📷2), becoming an important religious and economic hub. The village is compact, with stone houses/ artisan shops (in Jul/ Aug it is filled with tourists) and a medieval open-air market hall (📷3). On the path between camp and village we also discovered a new-to-us native orchid, Serapias vomeracea | the long-lipped serapias (📷4).
Bonus pictures of pretty Lagrasse. A monk in the courtyard of Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Lagrasse; it’s still an active religious site (📷1). A grey heron fishing in the Orbieu River (📷2). The 40m high fortified bell tower (clocher fortifié) of the abbey church, featuring buttresses with curved flyers; it was heavily modified in the late Middle Ages when the monastery was adapted for defense during periods like the Hundred Years’ War (📷3). Entrance on Rue de la Porte d’Eau, through which typical stone buildings can be seen (📷4). A view from the old bridge, looking back towards the hill on which we camped (📷5). A random village door (📷6). Anacamptis pyramidalis | the pyramidal orchid, with the monastery in the background (📷7).
Our “small of the day” was captured when S went to empty the toilet cassette—not when you expect to hear “Quick, bring the camera!” This is a native moth, Arctia villica | the cream-spot tiger (📷1). We made our way to Salins de Saint-Martin outside of Gruissan on the Gulf of Lion, although being too early for florid algal blooms, colour differences between salt ponds were subtle (📷2). We followed the marked path 2.1km out to Plage de la Vieille Nouvelle (📷3). En route we did identify a number of birds, mostly at a distance: Phoenicopterus roseus | greater flamingo; Anarhynchus alexandrinus | Kentish plover; Chlidonias hybrida | whiskered tern; Motacilla flava | western yellow wagtail; and Milvus migrans | the black kite. Later we stopped in Béziers, where we watched as boats navigated “Les 9 écluses de Fonseranes”, one of the most impressive engineering features of the Canal du Midi (📷4). Originally a sequence of nine locks (a “staircase”) completed in 1697, seven are typically in use, raising or lowering vessels ~21.5 meters over a short distance.
Etang Des Mouettes is a a coastal lagoon in Frontignan, formerly a salt production pond with over 600 years of service, now gradually rewilding (📷1). On our dawn walk we found a heron stalking in the shallows (📷2), but there wasn’t enough light to be sure of the species. As the sun rose it illuminated flocks of Phoenicopterus roseus | greater flamingo traversing the pond, with their distinctive long necks, large kinked bills, trailing long pink legs and striking deep pink/ black underside wing plumage (📷3). A look at Frontignan Plage before departing the Mediterranean shore (📷4).
We drove to the Mont Aigoual summit at 1,565m elevation in Parc national des Cévennes | Cevennes National Park; the park is recognized as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Our route up via Nant and Dourbies was long, winding and frankly tedious, so despite views towards the coast (📷1) and further inland (📷2) we felt less appreciative than we should have. We decided against our intended hike in 7°C and headed down via Gorges de la Jonte. En route the road verge was decorated with numerous native Dactylorhiza sambucina | the elder-flowered orchid, in shades of yellow, deep purple and pink (we first saw it in Theth, Albania). As is common practice, some of the formations in the gorge are named; this is Arcade des Bergers | Shepherds’ Arcade (📷3). The hamlet of Le Truel, where terraces once held vineyards, orchards and vegetable gardens, while sheep and goats grazed sloping pastures (📷4). Gyps fulvus | griffon vultures soar from the cliffs above, seemingly untroubled by the loss of a traditional way of life.
Gorges du Tarn, also within Parc nationaldes Cévennes, is a canyon carved by the Tarn ~50km long and up to 500m deep. Large parts of the gorge are also included within the UNESCO-listed “Causses and the Cévennes, Mediterranean agro-pastoral Cultural Landscape”. We began the scenic drive at Le Rozier, working our way west to east via cliffs and tunnels, with frequent stops at viewpoints towards Sainte-Enimie. Hameau semi-troglodyte d’Eglazines | the “semi-troglodyte hamlet of Eglazines” was first to catch our eye (📷1). Although not as high, the hamlet of La Sablière is on the opposite bank of the Tarn, so access/ supplies is via a cableway (📷2). The larger settlement of La Malène is billed as a Petite Cité de Caractère | “Little City of Character” (📷3). Sainte-Enimie is listed as one of the “Most Beautiful Villages in France”; this view is from the river beach (📷4).
From Sainte-Enimie we entered “Home” into the nav system and headed out of Occitaine. After 8,217km this tour was complete. Related missions logs are as follows:
- France into Basque Country
- Northwestern Spain
- Northern Portugal
- Central Portugal
- Lisbon and northern Alentejo
- Extremadura to the heart of Spain
- The wild reaches of Aragón
Plans for our next trip are uncertain as we await easing of global disruption.
#2026 #andorra #camperVan #europe #france #hiking #nationalPark #nature #nomad #occitanie #roadTrip #romans #spain #travel #unesco #vanLife -
Andorra and Occitanie
For this mission our focus had been on Spain and Portugal, but we took the opportunity to briefly transit Andorra and to visit those western parts of Occitanie we didn’t have time for on our previous trip into France.
Coordinates
- Andorra la Vella
- Escaldes-Engordany
- Engolasters
- Canillo
- Col du Puymorens
- Llívia
- Mont-Louis
- Villefranche-de-Conflent
- Tautavel
- Cucugnan
- Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse
- Bugarach
- Carcassonne
- Trèbes
- Lagrasse
- Gruissan
- Frontignan
- Béziers
- Mont Aigoual
- Le Truel
- Le Rozier
- Sainte-Enimie
Andorra
Andorra in a nutshell
Andorra isn’t an EU country (so there was a border crossing from Spain and no EU roaming—46€ per SMS—just robbery!), but it uses the Euro by agreement. It has a similar GDP per capita to NZ, with a population of ~80,000 who speak Catalan as a first language (most of whom also speak Spanish and/or French). Andorra is a co-principality (with largely ceremonial co-princes being the President of France and Spain’s Bishop of Urgel), governed as a parliamentary democracy.
🧭 Exploring
Andorra la Vella, the capital, put on a damp and cold welcome after weeks of sunshine in Spain and Portugal (📷1). It does have geothermal waters (Caldea in contiguous Escaldes-Engordany is one of Europe’s largest thermal spa complexes) but isn’t regarded as a traditional spa town. We found it:
- Like Spain, but less dry and warm—possibly unfair given our limited transit.
- Like France, but without old stones—much of Barri Antic appears comparatively modern (📷2) and there are no Roman ruins (although Casa de la Vall, a former parliament building, dates from 1580)
- Like Monaco, but without yachts—although a fast-flowing river runs through this valley-confined city (📷3)
- Like Dubai, but without sand—although money passes through fingers here similarly in this shopping mecca, due to low taxes (📷4).
A machete with your charge cable?
We are at a loss to explain why most electronic stores also sell “personal weapons” (knives, guns, etc…). We find this both weird and scary!
🤔 Curiosity
Andorra is more than a country of one city: ~94% of the land and ~73% of the population are outside Andorra la Vella. Vall del Madriu-Perafita-Claror | Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley is Andorra’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed as a cultural landscape. We accessed it via the official “Volta a Ràmio” trail. From parking above the village of Engolasters it was a steep 35min climb through pine forest to Coll de Jovell at 1,780m, from where we began descending into the glacier-formed valley. At the 2km mark we reached Ràmio in the valley’s bottom end (📷1). The valley makes up ~9% of Andorra and is regarded as a time capsule for traditional mountain usage with limited modern development. Ràmio gave us a first glimpse into how people shaped the high Pyrenees over centuries through pastoralism, farming and communal land management (📷2). The trail continued up the valley, mostly alongside the Riu Madriu to the constant roar of white water, with ever-present granite underfoot/ in dry-stone walls and the scent of damp moss and pine needles in the air. At just over 4km/ 2h 10min into the hike we came to Refugi de Fontverd, not unlike a NZ-style DOC hut, at 1,875m elevation (📷3). We returned to the Coll via a higher path, which gave us superior views back up the valley (📷4). The 9km loop hike took us 4h 15min.
As we drove back down from Engolasters we stopped to snap the top end of Escaldes-Engordany, which illustrates its rather dramatic valley confinement (📷1). A switchback sequence took us to Mirador Roc del Quer near Canillo, where we appreciated the views in several directions, such as this (📷2), without paying 6€ pp to stand on a suspended platform. Just beyond Canillo we stopped again at Sant Joan de Caselles, said to be a fine example of old Andorran architecture (📷3) and inside, one of the best preserved Romanesque interiors; the door was however bolted. We exited Andorra by heading for Col de Puymorens at 1,915m in the French Pyrénées (📷4); you can avoid the pass via a tolled tunnel.
Occitanie
A piece of Spain—inside France!
After reaching Occitanie we transited the Spanish/ Catalonian enclave of Llívia, a town of some 13 square kilometres that was excluded from transfer to France in the Treaty of the Pyrénées (1659) because the said border agreement only specified the transfer of “villages”!
🧭 Exploring
We parked for our first night in Occitanie in Mont-Louis, beneath the walls of the town (📷1); at ~1,600m elevation it’s France’s highest fortified town and together with the c. 1679 citadel—an active commando training facility—is part of the “Fortifications of Vauban” UNESCO listing. Villefranche-de-Conflent is another of 12 UNESCO-listed fortified sites designed by military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, together representing a coherent defensive system across France. It’s considerably more tourist-oriented; we took the opportunity to walk the restored late 17th C. ramparts (📷2) and stroll through the town’s medieval streets (📷3). Next up was Musée de Préhistoire de Tautavel | Tautavel Prehistory Museum, featuring rather dated and underwhelming exhibits (cf. Altamira) around findings from La Caune de l’Arago | the Arago Cave. People seasonally camped here from ~690,000 years ago, as imagined in this unconvincing “facsimile” cave set 500,000 years ago (📷4). All displayed human bones (including the signature “Tautavel Man”, possibly a Homo erectus subspecies, compiled from fragments of ~20 individuals) are moulds. We also drove to the actual limestone cave in nearby Gouleyrous gorge, situated in the middle of a cliff, but you can’t access it.
Château de Quéribus at Cucugnan (📷1) and nearby Château de Peyrepertuse at Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse (📷2) are two of eight “Royal Fortresses of Languedoc” aspiring to UNESCO World Heritage status. Languedoc was shaped by Roman rule, became a centre of medieval Occitan culture, was devastated by the Albigensian Crusade before being integrated into the French kingdom. Château de Peyrepertuse sits on a limestone ridge at 800m elevation and is first mentioned in records from 1020 CE (📷3); this view is from parking close to the ticket gate (we decided not to go inside). It came into royal possession in 1240 CE, its former owner William of Peyrepertuse having been excommunicated for supporting the Cathars (a medieval Christian sect in southern Europe who believed in strict division between a good spiritual realm and an evil material world, leading the Pope to label them heretics). After the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees the castle lost its strategic importance; it was finally abandoned during the French Revolution. There’s free access to a lookout platform from which you can see the ruin of Château de Quéribus and beyond it, the Mediterranean Sea (📷4).
Upon leaving Château de Peyrepertuse bound for Carcassonne we took the D14, a narrow winding backroad between hills cloaked in forest and meadows, intermittently punctuated with small villages. One such village is Bugarach, on the outskirts of which is a 700m path to Pont Romain, a single-arch stone bridge across a limestone basin on the Roman road linking the village to Rennes-les-Bains (📷1). Although the original was probably Gallo-Roman, it was destroyed in 1992 by flooding but faithfully restored the following year. What caught our eye was the trailside orchids, three of which were new to us. All native, first up is Neotinea ustulata | the burnt-tip orchid, which can be found up to 2,400m elevation in the mountains of central and southern Europe (📷2). The aptly-named Serapias lingua | tongue orchid is found throughout the Mediterranean (📷3). Ophrys scolopax | the woodcock orchid is recognisably a bee orchid given its morphology (📷4); it can be found in both the Mediterranean and Middle East. We also re-identified Orchis mascula | the early-purple orchid (📷5).
Cité de Carcassonne is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed as an outstanding example of a medieval fortified town (📷1). First fortified in the Gallo-Roman period ~3rd–4th C. CE, it underwent extensive restorations in the 19th C. Set upon a hill overlooking the modern urban sprawl, the compact site is protected by ~3km of double walls and 52 defensive towers (📷2); it’s 19 € pp to walk the ramparts/ visit the restored château, but free to walk between the rows (without climbing on the outer battlements). The enclosed town is very touristy, filled with trinket shops and eateries, but also offers some architectural curiosities (📷3). Later, at nearby Trèbes, we walked alongside Canal du Midi, a ~360km network of navigable waterways linking the Atlantic (via Garonne) to the Mediterranean using locks, aqueducts, bridges and reservoirs. The canal is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, created through the vision of Pierre-Paul Riquet during 1667–94. The Trèbes Orbiel aqueduct (📷4) was designed by Vauban in 1688 and the town’s staircase lock dates from ~1674.
Lagrasse is listed among Les Plus Beaux Villages de France | the Most Beautiful Villages of France; S had enjoyed her visit ~20 years ago and wanted to return to this relatively quiet locale, surrounded by hills on the Orbieu River (📷1). It developed around Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Lagrasse, a Benedictine abbey founded during the 8th C. (📷2), becoming an important religious and economic hub. The village is compact, with stone houses/ artisan shops (in Jul/ Aug it is filled with tourists) and a medieval open-air market hall (📷3). On the path between camp and village we also discovered a new-to-us native orchid, Serapias vomeracea | the long-lipped serapias (📷4).
Bonus pictures of pretty Lagrasse. A monk in the courtyard of Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Lagrasse; it’s still an active religious site (📷1). A grey heron fishing in the Orbieu River (📷2). The 40m high fortified bell tower (clocher fortifié) of the abbey church, featuring buttresses with curved flyers; it was heavily modified in the late Middle Ages when the monastery was adapted for defense during periods like the Hundred Years’ War (📷3). Entrance on Rue de la Porte d’Eau, through which typical stone buildings can be seen (📷4). A view from the old bridge, looking back towards the hill on which we camped (📷5). A random village door (📷6). Anacamptis pyramidalis | the pyramidal orchid, with the monastery in the background (📷7).
Our “small of the day” was captured when S went to empty the toilet cassette—not when you expect to hear “Quick, bring the camera!” This is a native moth, Arctia villica | the cream-spot tiger (📷1). We made our way to Salins de Saint-Martin outside of Gruissan on the Gulf of Lion, although being too early for florid algal blooms, colour differences between salt ponds were subtle (📷2). We followed the marked path 2.1km out to Plage de la Vieille Nouvelle (📷3). En route we did identify a number of birds, mostly at a distance: Phoenicopterus roseus | greater flamingo; Anarhynchus alexandrinus | Kentish plover; Chlidonias hybrida | whiskered tern; Motacilla flava | western yellow wagtail; and Milvus migrans | the black kite. Later we stopped in Béziers, where we watched as boats navigated “Les 9 écluses de Fonseranes”, one of the most impressive engineering features of the Canal du Midi (📷4). Originally a sequence of nine locks (a “staircase”) completed in 1697, seven are typically in use, raising or lowering vessels ~21.5 meters over a short distance.
Etang Des Mouettes is a a coastal lagoon in Frontignan, formerly a salt production pond with over 600 years of service, now gradually rewilding (📷1). On our dawn walk we found a heron stalking in the shallows (📷2), but there wasn’t enough light to be sure of the species. As the sun rose it illuminated flocks of Phoenicopterus roseus | greater flamingo traversing the pond, with their distinctive long necks, large kinked bills, trailing long pink legs and striking deep pink/ black underside wing plumage (📷3). A look at Frontignan Plage before departing the Mediterranean shore (📷4).
We drove to the Mont Aigoual summit at 1,565m elevation in Parc national des Cévennes | Cevennes National Park; the park is recognized as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Our route up via Nant and Dourbies was long, winding and frankly tedious, so despite views towards the coast (📷1) and further inland (📷2) we felt less appreciative than we should have. We decided against our intended hike in 7°C and headed down via Gorges de la Jonte. En route the road verge was decorated with numerous native Dactylorhiza sambucina | the elder-flowered orchid, in shades of yellow, deep purple and pink (we first saw it in Theth, Albania). As is common practice, some of the formations in the gorge are named; this is Arcade des Bergers | Shepherds’ Arcade (📷3). The hamlet of Le Truel, where terraces once held vineyards, orchards and vegetable gardens, while sheep and goats grazed sloping pastures (📷4). Gyps fulvus | griffon vultures soar from the cliffs above, seemingly untroubled by the loss of a traditional way of life.
Gorges du Tarn, also within Parc nationaldes Cévennes, is a canyon carved by the Tarn ~50km long and up to 500m deep. Large parts of the gorge are also included within the UNESCO-listed “Causses and the Cévennes, Mediterranean agro-pastoral Cultural Landscape”. We began the scenic drive at Le Rozier, working our way west to east via cliffs and tunnels, with frequent stops at viewpoints towards Sainte-Enimie. Hameau semi-troglodyte d’Eglazines | the “semi-troglodyte hamlet of Eglazines” was first to catch our eye (📷1). Although not as high, the hamlet of La Sablière is on the opposite bank of the Tarn, so access/ supplies is via a cableway (📷2). The larger settlement of La Malène is billed as a Petite Cité de Caractère | “Little City of Character” (📷3). Sainte-Enimie is listed as one of the “Most Beautiful Villages in France”; this view is from the river beach (📷4).
From Sainte-Enimie we entered “Home” into the nav system and headed out of Occitaine. After 8,217km this tour was complete. Related missions logs are as follows:
- France into Basque Country
- Northwestern Spain
- Northern Portugal
- Central Portugal
- Lisbon and northern Alentejo
- Extremadura to the heart of Spain
- The wild reaches of Aragón
Plans for our next trip are uncertain as we await easing of global disruption.
#2026 #andorra #camperVan #europe #france #hiking #nationalPark #nature #nomad #occitanie #roadTrip #romans #spain #travel #unesco #vanLife -
Andorra and Occitanie
For this mission our focus had been on Spain and Portugal, but we took the opportunity to briefly transit Andorra and to visit those western parts of Occitanie we didn’t have time for on our previous trip into France.
Coordinates
- Andorra la Vella
- Escaldes-Engordany
- Engolasters
- Canillo
- Col du Puymorens
- Llívia
- Mont-Louis
- Villefranche-de-Conflent
- Tautavel
- Cucugnan
- Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse
- Bugarach
- Carcassonne
- Trèbes
- Lagrasse
- Gruissan
- Frontignan
- Béziers
- Mont Aigoual
- Le Truel
- Le Rozier
- Sainte-Enimie
Andorra
Andorra in a nutshell
Andorra isn’t an EU country (so there was a border crossing from Spain and no EU roaming—46€ per SMS—just robbery!), but it uses the Euro by agreement. It has a similar GDP per capita to NZ, with a population of ~80,000 who speak Catalan as a first language (most of whom also speak Spanish and/or French). Andorra is a co-principality (with largely ceremonial co-princes being the President of France and Spain’s Bishop of Urgel), governed as a parliamentary democracy.
🧭 Exploring
Andorra la Vella, the capital, put on a damp and cold welcome after weeks of sunshine in Spain and Portugal (📷1). It does have geothermal waters (Caldea in contiguous Escaldes-Engordany is one of Europe’s largest thermal spa complexes) but isn’t regarded as a traditional spa town. We found it:
- Like Spain, but less dry and warm—possibly unfair given our limited transit.
- Like France, but without old stones—much of Barri Antic appears comparatively modern (📷2) and there are no Roman ruins (although Casa de la Vall, a former parliament building, dates from 1580)
- Like Monaco, but without yachts—although a fast-flowing river runs through this valley-confined city (📷3)
- Like Dubai, but without sand—although money passes through fingers here similarly in this shopping mecca, due to low taxes (📷4).
A machete with your charge cable?
We are at a loss to explain why most electronic stores also sell “personal weapons” (knives, guns, etc…). We find this both weird and scary!
🤔 Curiosity
Andorra is more than a country of one city: ~94% of the land and ~73% of the population are outside Andorra la Vella. Vall del Madriu-Perafita-Claror | Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley is Andorra’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed as a cultural landscape. We accessed it via the official “Volta a Ràmio” trail. From parking above the village of Engolasters it was a steep 35min climb through pine forest to Coll de Jovell at 1,780m, from where we began descending into the glacier-formed valley. At the 2km mark we reached Ràmio in the valley’s bottom end (📷1). The valley makes up ~9% of Andorra and is regarded as a time capsule for traditional mountain usage with limited modern development. Ràmio gave us a first glimpse into how people shaped the high Pyrenees over centuries through pastoralism, farming and communal land management (📷2). The trail continued up the valley, mostly alongside the Riu Madriu to the constant roar of white water, with ever-present granite underfoot/ in dry-stone walls and the scent of damp moss and pine needles in the air. At just over 4km/ 2h 10min into the hike we came to Refugi de Fontverd, not unlike a NZ-style DOC hut, at 1,875m elevation (📷3). We returned to the Coll via a higher path, which gave us superior views back up the valley (📷4). The 9km loop hike took us 4h 15min.
As we drove back down from Engolasters we stopped to snap the top end of Escaldes-Engordany, which illustrates its rather dramatic valley confinement (📷1). A switchback sequence took us to Mirador Roc del Quer near Canillo, where we appreciated the views in several directions, such as this (📷2), without paying 6€ pp to stand on a suspended platform. Just beyond Canillo we stopped again at Sant Joan de Caselles, said to be a fine example of old Andorran architecture (📷3) and inside, one of the best preserved Romanesque interiors; the door was however bolted. We exited Andorra by heading for Col de Puymorens at 1,915m in the French Pyrénées (📷4); you can avoid the pass via a tolled tunnel.
Occitanie
A piece of Spain—inside France!
After reaching Occitanie we transited the Spanish/ Catalonian enclave of Llívia, a town of some 13 square kilometres that was excluded from transfer to France in the Treaty of the Pyrénées (1659) because the said border agreement only specified the transfer of “villages”!
🧭 Exploring
We parked for our first night in Occitanie in Mont-Louis, beneath the walls of the town (📷1); at ~1,600m elevation it’s France’s highest fortified town and together with the c. 1679 citadel—an active commando training facility—is part of the “Fortifications of Vauban” UNESCO listing. Villefranche-de-Conflent is another of 12 UNESCO-listed fortified sites designed by military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, together representing a coherent defensive system across France. It’s considerably more tourist-oriented; we took the opportunity to walk the restored late 17th C. ramparts (📷2) and stroll through the town’s medieval streets (📷3). Next up was Musée de Préhistoire de Tautavel | Tautavel Prehistory Museum, featuring rather dated and underwhelming exhibits (cf. Altamira) around findings from La Caune de l’Arago | the Arago Cave. People seasonally camped here from ~690,000 years ago, as imagined in this unconvincing “facsimile” cave set 500,000 years ago (📷4). All displayed human bones (including the signature “Tautavel Man”, possibly a Homo erectus subspecies, compiled from fragments of ~20 individuals) are moulds. We also drove to the actual limestone cave in nearby Gouleyrous gorge, situated in the middle of a cliff, but you can’t access it.
Château de Quéribus at Cucugnan (📷1) and nearby Château de Peyrepertuse at Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse (📷2) are two of eight “Royal Fortresses of Languedoc” aspiring to UNESCO World Heritage status. Languedoc was shaped by Roman rule, became a centre of medieval Occitan culture, was devastated by the Albigensian Crusade before being integrated into the French kingdom. Château de Peyrepertuse sits on a limestone ridge at 800m elevation and is first mentioned in records from 1020 CE (📷3); this view is from parking close to the ticket gate (we decided not to go inside). It came into royal possession in 1240 CE, its former owner William of Peyrepertuse having been excommunicated for supporting the Cathars (a medieval Christian sect in southern Europe who believed in strict division between a good spiritual realm and an evil material world, leading the Pope to label them heretics). After the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees the castle lost its strategic importance; it was finally abandoned during the French Revolution. There’s free access to a lookout platform from which you can see the ruin of Château de Quéribus and beyond it, the Mediterranean Sea (📷4).
Upon leaving Château de Peyrepertuse bound for Carcassonne we took the D14, a narrow winding backroad between hills cloaked in forest and meadows, intermittently punctuated with small villages. One such village is Bugarach, on the outskirts of which is a 700m path to Pont Romain, a single-arch stone bridge across a limestone basin on the Roman road linking the village to Rennes-les-Bains (📷1). Although the original was probably Gallo-Roman, it was destroyed in 1992 by flooding but faithfully restored the following year. What caught our eye was the trailside orchids, three of which were new to us. All native, first up is Neotinea ustulata | the burnt-tip orchid, which can be found up to 2,400m elevation in the mountains of central and southern Europe (📷2). The aptly-named Serapias lingua | tongue orchid is found throughout the Mediterranean (📷3). Ophrys scolopax | the woodcock orchid is recognisably a bee orchid given its morphology (📷4); it can be found in both the Mediterranean and Middle East. We also re-identified Orchis mascula | the early-purple orchid (📷5).
Cité de Carcassonne is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed as an outstanding example of a medieval fortified town (📷1). First fortified in the Gallo-Roman period ~3rd–4th C. CE, it underwent extensive restorations in the 19th C. Set upon a hill overlooking the modern urban sprawl, the compact site is protected by ~3km of double walls and 52 defensive towers (📷2); it’s 19 € pp to walk the ramparts/ visit the restored château, but free to walk between the rows (without climbing on the outer battlements). The enclosed town is very touristy, filled with trinket shops and eateries, but also offers some architectural curiosities (📷3). Later, at nearby Trèbes, we walked alongside Canal du Midi, a ~360km network of navigable waterways linking the Atlantic (via Garonne) to the Mediterranean using locks, aqueducts, bridges and reservoirs. The canal is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, created through the vision of Pierre-Paul Riquet during 1667–94. The Trèbes Orbiel aqueduct (📷4) was designed by Vauban in 1688 and the town’s staircase lock dates from ~1674.
Lagrasse is listed among Les Plus Beaux Villages de France | the Most Beautiful Villages of France; S had enjoyed her visit ~20 years ago and wanted to return to this relatively quiet locale, surrounded by hills on the Orbieu River (📷1). It developed around Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Lagrasse, a Benedictine abbey founded during the 8th C. (📷2), becoming an important religious and economic hub. The village is compact, with stone houses/ artisan shops (in Jul/ Aug it is filled with tourists) and a medieval open-air market hall (📷3). On the path between camp and village we also discovered a new-to-us native orchid, Serapias vomeracea | the long-lipped serapias (📷4).
Bonus pictures of pretty Lagrasse. A monk in the courtyard of Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Lagrasse; it’s still an active religious site (📷1). A grey heron fishing in the Orbieu River (📷2). The 40m high fortified bell tower (clocher fortifié) of the abbey church, featuring buttresses with curved flyers; it was heavily modified in the late Middle Ages when the monastery was adapted for defense during periods like the Hundred Years’ War (📷3). Entrance on Rue de la Porte d’Eau, through which typical stone buildings can be seen (📷4). A view from the old bridge, looking back towards the hill on which we camped (📷5). A random village door (📷6). Anacamptis pyramidalis | the pyramidal orchid, with the monastery in the background (📷7).
Our “small of the day” was captured when S went to empty the toilet cassette—not when you expect to hear “Quick, bring the camera!” This is a native moth, Arctia villica | the cream-spot tiger (📷1). We made our way to Salins de Saint-Martin outside of Gruissan on the Gulf of Lion, although being too early for florid algal blooms, colour differences between salt ponds were subtle (📷2). We followed the marked path 2.1km out to Plage de la Vieille Nouvelle (📷3). En route we did identify a number of birds, mostly at a distance: Phoenicopterus roseus | greater flamingo; Anarhynchus alexandrinus | Kentish plover; Chlidonias hybrida | whiskered tern; Motacilla flava | western yellow wagtail; and Milvus migrans | the black kite. Later we stopped in Béziers, where we watched as boats navigated “Les 9 écluses de Fonseranes”, one of the most impressive engineering features of the Canal du Midi (📷4). Originally a sequence of nine locks (a “staircase”) completed in 1697, seven are typically in use, raising or lowering vessels ~21.5 meters over a short distance.
Etang Des Mouettes is a a coastal lagoon in Frontignan, formerly a salt production pond with over 600 years of service, now gradually rewilding (📷1). On our dawn walk we found a heron stalking in the shallows (📷2), but there wasn’t enough light to be sure of the species. As the sun rose it illuminated flocks of Phoenicopterus roseus | greater flamingo traversing the pond, with their distinctive long necks, large kinked bills, trailing long pink legs and striking deep pink/ black underside wing plumage (📷3). A look at Frontignan Plage before departing the Mediterranean shore (📷4).
We drove to the Mont Aigoual summit at 1,565m elevation in Parc national des Cévennes | Cevennes National Park; the park is recognized as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Our route up via Nant and Dourbies was long, winding and frankly tedious, so despite views towards the coast (📷1) and further inland (📷2) we felt less appreciative than we should have. We decided against our intended hike in 7°C and headed down via Gorges de la Jonte. En route the road verge was decorated with numerous native Dactylorhiza sambucina | the elder-flowered orchid, in shades of yellow, deep purple and pink (we first saw it in Theth, Albania). As is common practice, some of the formations in the gorge are named; this is Arcade des Bergers | Shepherds’ Arcade (📷3). The hamlet of Le Truel, where terraces once held vineyards, orchards and vegetable gardens, while sheep and goats grazed sloping pastures (📷4). Gyps fulvus | griffon vultures soar from the cliffs above, seemingly untroubled by the loss of a traditional way of life.
Gorges du Tarn, also within Parc nationaldes Cévennes, is a canyon carved by the Tarn ~50km long and up to 500m deep. Large parts of the gorge are also included within the UNESCO-listed “Causses and the Cévennes, Mediterranean agro-pastoral Cultural Landscape”. We began the scenic drive at Le Rozier, working our way west to east via cliffs and tunnels, with frequent stops at viewpoints towards Sainte-Enimie. Hameau semi-troglodyte d’Eglazines | the “semi-troglodyte hamlet of Eglazines” was first to catch our eye (📷1). Although not as high, the hamlet of La Sablière is on the opposite bank of the Tarn, so access/ supplies is via a cableway (📷2). The larger settlement of La Malène is billed as a Petite Cité de Caractère | “Little City of Character” (📷3). Sainte-Enimie is listed as one of the “Most Beautiful Villages in France”; this view is from the river beach (📷4).
From Sainte-Enimie we entered “Home” into the nav system and headed out of Occitaine. After 8,217km this tour was complete. Related missions logs are as follows:
- France into Basque Country
- Northwestern Spain
- Northern Portugal
- Central Portugal
- Lisbon and northern Alentejo
- Extremadura to the heart of Spain
- The wild reaches of Aragón
Plans for our next trip are uncertain as we await easing of global disruption.
#2026 #andorra #camperVan #europe #france #hiking #nationalPark #nature #nomad #occitanie #roadTrip #romans #spain #travel #unesco #vanLife -
Andorra and Occitanie
For this mission our focus had been on Spain and Portugal, but we took the opportunity to briefly transit Andorra and to visit those western parts of Occitanie we didn’t have time for on our previous trip into France.
Coordinates
- Andorra la Vella
- Escaldes-Engordany
- Engolasters
- Canillo
- Col du Puymorens
- Llívia
- Mont-Louis
- Villefranche-de-Conflent
- Tautavel
- Cucugnan
- Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse
- Bugarach
- Carcassonne
- Trèbes
- Lagrasse
- Gruissan
- Frontignan
- Béziers
- Mont Aigoual
- Le Truel
- Le Rozier
- Sainte-Enimie
Andorra
Andorra in a nutshell
Andorra isn’t an EU country (so there was a border crossing from Spain and no EU roaming—46€ per SMS—just robbery!), but it uses the Euro by agreement. It has a similar GDP per capita to NZ, with a population of ~80,000 who speak Catalan as a first language (most of whom also speak Spanish and/or French). Andorra is a co-principality (with largely ceremonial co-princes being the President of France and Spain’s Bishop of Urgel), governed as a parliamentary democracy.
🧭 Exploring
Andorra la Vella, the capital, put on a damp and cold welcome after weeks of sunshine in Spain and Portugal (📷1). It does have geothermal waters (Caldea in contiguous Escaldes-Engordany is one of Europe’s largest thermal spa complexes) but isn’t regarded as a traditional spa town. We found it:
- Like Spain, but less dry and warm—possibly unfair given our limited transit.
- Like France, but without old stones—much of Barri Antic appears comparatively modern (📷2) and there are no Roman ruins (although Casa de la Vall, a former parliament building, dates from 1580)
- Like Monaco, but without yachts—although a fast-flowing river runs through this valley-confined city (📷3)
- Like Dubai, but without sand—although money passes through fingers here similarly in this shopping mecca, due to low taxes (📷4).
A machete with your charge cable?
We are at a loss to explain why most electronic stores also sell “personal weapons” (knives, guns, etc…). We find this both weird and scary!
🤔 Curiosity
Andorra is more than a country of one city: ~94% of the land and ~73% of the population are outside Andorra la Vella. Vall del Madriu-Perafita-Claror | Madriu-Perafita-Claror Valley is Andorra’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed as a cultural landscape. We accessed it via the official “Volta a Ràmio” trail. From parking above the village of Engolasters it was a steep 35min climb through pine forest to Coll de Jovell at 1,780m, from where we began descending into the glacier-formed valley. At the 2km mark we reached Ràmio in the valley’s bottom end (📷1). The valley makes up ~9% of Andorra and is regarded as a time capsule for traditional mountain usage with limited modern development. Ràmio gave us a first glimpse into how people shaped the high Pyrenees over centuries through pastoralism, farming and communal land management (📷2). The trail continued up the valley, mostly alongside the Riu Madriu to the constant roar of white water, with ever-present granite underfoot/ in dry-stone walls and the scent of damp moss and pine needles in the air. At just over 4km/ 2h 10min into the hike we came to Refugi de Fontverd, not unlike a NZ-style DOC hut, at 1,875m elevation (📷3). We returned to the Coll via a higher path, which gave us superior views back up the valley (📷4). The 9km loop hike took us 4h 15min.
As we drove back down from Engolasters we stopped to snap the top end of Escaldes-Engordany, which illustrates its rather dramatic valley confinement (📷1). A switchback sequence took us to Mirador Roc del Quer near Canillo, where we appreciated the views in several directions, such as this (📷2), without paying 6€ pp to stand on a suspended platform. Just beyond Canillo we stopped again at Sant Joan de Caselles, said to be a fine example of old Andorran architecture (📷3) and inside, one of the best preserved Romanesque interiors; the door was however bolted. We exited Andorra by heading for Col de Puymorens at 1,915m in the French Pyrénées (📷4); you can avoid the pass via a tolled tunnel.
Occitanie
A piece of Spain—inside France!
After reaching Occitanie we transited the Spanish/ Catalonian enclave of Llívia, a town of some 13 square kilometres that was excluded from transfer to France in the Treaty of the Pyrénées (1659) because the said border agreement only specified the transfer of “villages”!
🧭 Exploring
We parked for our first night in Occitanie in Mont-Louis, beneath the walls of the town (📷1); at ~1,600m elevation it’s France’s highest fortified town and together with the c. 1679 citadel—an active commando training facility—is part of the “Fortifications of Vauban” UNESCO listing. Villefranche-de-Conflent is another of 12 UNESCO-listed fortified sites designed by military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, together representing a coherent defensive system across France. It’s considerably more tourist-oriented; we took the opportunity to walk the restored late 17th C. ramparts (📷2) and stroll through the town’s medieval streets (📷3). Next up was Musée de Préhistoire de Tautavel | Tautavel Prehistory Museum, featuring rather dated and underwhelming exhibits (cf. Altamira) around findings from La Caune de l’Arago | the Arago Cave. People seasonally camped here from ~690,000 years ago, as imagined in this unconvincing “facsimile” cave set 500,000 years ago (📷4). All displayed human bones (including the signature “Tautavel Man”, possibly a Homo erectus subspecies, compiled from fragments of ~20 individuals) are moulds. We also drove to the actual limestone cave in nearby Gouleyrous gorge, situated in the middle of a cliff, but you can’t access it.
Château de Quéribus at Cucugnan (📷1) and nearby Château de Peyrepertuse at Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse (📷2) are two of eight “Royal Fortresses of Languedoc” aspiring to UNESCO World Heritage status. Languedoc was shaped by Roman rule, became a centre of medieval Occitan culture, was devastated by the Albigensian Crusade before being integrated into the French kingdom. Château de Peyrepertuse sits on a limestone ridge at 800m elevation and is first mentioned in records from 1020 CE (📷3); this view is from parking close to the ticket gate (we decided not to go inside). It came into royal possession in 1240 CE, its former owner William of Peyrepertuse having been excommunicated for supporting the Cathars (a medieval Christian sect in southern Europe who believed in strict division between a good spiritual realm and an evil material world, leading the Pope to label them heretics). After the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees the castle lost its strategic importance; it was finally abandoned during the French Revolution. There’s free access to a lookout platform from which you can see the ruin of Château de Quéribus and beyond it, the Mediterranean Sea (📷4).
Upon leaving Château de Peyrepertuse bound for Carcassonne we took the D14, a narrow winding backroad between hills cloaked in forest and meadows, intermittently punctuated with small villages. One such village is Bugarach, on the outskirts of which is a 700m path to Pont Romain, a single-arch stone bridge across a limestone basin on the Roman road linking the village to Rennes-les-Bains (📷1). Although the original was probably Gallo-Roman, it was destroyed in 1992 by flooding but faithfully restored the following year. What caught our eye was the trailside orchids, three of which were new to us. All native, first up is Neotinea ustulata | the burnt-tip orchid, which can be found up to 2,400m elevation in the mountains of central and southern Europe (📷2). The aptly-named Serapias lingua | tongue orchid is found throughout the Mediterranean (📷3). Ophrys scolopax | the woodcock orchid is recognisably a bee orchid given its morphology (📷4); it can be found in both the Mediterranean and Middle East. We also re-identified Orchis mascula | the early-purple orchid (📷5).
Cité de Carcassonne is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed as an outstanding example of a medieval fortified town (📷1). First fortified in the Gallo-Roman period ~3rd–4th C. CE, it underwent extensive restorations in the 19th C. Set upon a hill overlooking the modern urban sprawl, the compact site is protected by ~3km of double walls and 52 defensive towers (📷2); it’s 19 € pp to walk the ramparts/ visit the restored château, but free to walk between the rows (without climbing on the outer battlements). The enclosed town is very touristy, filled with trinket shops and eateries, but also offers some architectural curiosities (📷3). Later, at nearby Trèbes, we walked alongside Canal du Midi, a ~360km network of navigable waterways linking the Atlantic (via Garonne) to the Mediterranean using locks, aqueducts, bridges and reservoirs. The canal is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, created through the vision of Pierre-Paul Riquet during 1667–94. The Trèbes Orbiel aqueduct (📷4) was designed by Vauban in 1688 and the town’s staircase lock dates from ~1674.
Lagrasse is listed among Les Plus Beaux Villages de France | the Most Beautiful Villages of France; S had enjoyed her visit ~20 years ago and wanted to return to this relatively quiet locale, surrounded by hills on the Orbieu River (📷1). It developed around Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Lagrasse, a Benedictine abbey founded during the 8th C. (📷2), becoming an important religious and economic hub. The village is compact, with stone houses/ artisan shops (in Jul/ Aug it is filled with tourists) and a medieval open-air market hall (📷3). On the path between camp and village we also discovered a new-to-us native orchid, Serapias vomeracea | the long-lipped serapias (📷4).
Bonus pictures of pretty Lagrasse. A monk in the courtyard of Abbaye Sainte-Marie de Lagrasse; it’s still an active religious site (📷1). A grey heron fishing in the Orbieu River (📷2). The 40m high fortified bell tower (clocher fortifié) of the abbey church, featuring buttresses with curved flyers; it was heavily modified in the late Middle Ages when the monastery was adapted for defense during periods like the Hundred Years’ War (📷3). Entrance on Rue de la Porte d’Eau, through which typical stone buildings can be seen (📷4). A view from the old bridge, looking back towards the hill on which we camped (📷5). A random village door (📷6). Anacamptis pyramidalis | the pyramidal orchid, with the monastery in the background (📷7).
Our “small of the day” was captured when S went to empty the toilet cassette—not when you expect to hear “Quick, bring the camera!” This is a native moth, Arctia villica | the cream-spot tiger (📷1). We made our way to Salins de Saint-Martin outside of Gruissan on the Gulf of Lion, although being too early for florid algal blooms, colour differences between salt ponds were subtle (📷2). We followed the marked path 2.1km out to Plage de la Vieille Nouvelle (📷3). En route we did identify a number of birds, mostly at a distance: Phoenicopterus roseus | greater flamingo; Anarhynchus alexandrinus | Kentish plover; Chlidonias hybrida | whiskered tern; Motacilla flava | western yellow wagtail; and Milvus migrans | the black kite. Later we stopped in Béziers, where we watched as boats navigated “Les 9 écluses de Fonseranes”, one of the most impressive engineering features of the Canal du Midi (📷4). Originally a sequence of nine locks (a “staircase”) completed in 1697, seven are typically in use, raising or lowering vessels ~21.5 meters over a short distance.
Etang Des Mouettes is a a coastal lagoon in Frontignan, formerly a salt production pond with over 600 years of service, now gradually rewilding (📷1). On our dawn walk we found a heron stalking in the shallows (📷2), but there wasn’t enough light to be sure of the species. As the sun rose it illuminated flocks of Phoenicopterus roseus | greater flamingo traversing the pond, with their distinctive long necks, large kinked bills, trailing long pink legs and striking deep pink/ black underside wing plumage (📷3). A look at Frontignan Plage before departing the Mediterranean shore (📷4).
We drove to the Mont Aigoual summit at 1,565m elevation in Parc national des Cévennes | Cevennes National Park; the park is recognized as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Our route up via Nant and Dourbies was long, winding and frankly tedious, so despite views towards the coast (📷1) and further inland (📷2) we felt less appreciative than we should have. We decided against our intended hike in 7°C and headed down via Gorges de la Jonte. En route the road verge was decorated with numerous native Dactylorhiza sambucina | the elder-flowered orchid, in shades of yellow, deep purple and pink (we first saw it in Theth, Albania). As is common practice, some of the formations in the gorge are named; this is Arcade des Bergers | Shepherds’ Arcade (📷3). The hamlet of Le Truel, where terraces once held vineyards, orchards and vegetable gardens, while sheep and goats grazed sloping pastures (📷4). Gyps fulvus | griffon vultures soar from the cliffs above, seemingly untroubled by the loss of a traditional way of life.
Gorges du Tarn, also within Parc nationaldes Cévennes, is a canyon carved by the Tarn ~50km long and up to 500m deep. Large parts of the gorge are also included within the UNESCO-listed “Causses and the Cévennes, Mediterranean agro-pastoral Cultural Landscape”. We began the scenic drive at Le Rozier, working our way west to east via cliffs and tunnels, with frequent stops at viewpoints towards Sainte-Enimie. Hameau semi-troglodyte d’Eglazines | the “semi-troglodyte hamlet of Eglazines” was first to catch our eye (📷1). Although not as high, the hamlet of La Sablière is on the opposite bank of the Tarn, so access/ supplies is via a cableway (📷2). The larger settlement of La Malène is billed as a Petite Cité de Caractère | “Little City of Character” (📷3). Sainte-Enimie is listed as one of the “Most Beautiful Villages in France”; this view is from the river beach (📷4).
From Sainte-Enimie we entered “Home” into the nav system and headed out of Occitaine. After 8,217km this tour was complete. Related missions logs are as follows:
- France into Basque Country
- Northwestern Spain
- Northern Portugal
- Central Portugal
- Lisbon and northern Alentejo
- Extremadura to the heart of Spain
- The wild reaches of Aragón
Plans for our next trip are uncertain as we await easing of global disruption.
#2026 #andorra #camperVan #europe #france #hiking #nationalPark #nature #nomad #occitanie #roadTrip #romans #spain #travel #unesco #vanLife -
The wild reaches of Aragón
About half the size of Portugal, we knew very little of Spain’s Aragón region. That was about to change as our road from Extremadura led us through its northern reaches bound for the co-principality of Andorra.
Coordinates
- Alhama de Aragón
- Nuévalos
- Zaragoza
- Castejón de Monegros
- Sariñena
- Alquézar
- Rodellar
- Barbastro
- Torla-Ordesa
- Viacamp
- Estopiñán del Castillo
Into Aragón
From Aranjuez we began our journey northeast towards Zaragoza, noting changes in the landscape once we had escaped the spaghetti junctions, slow traffic and industrialized zones in Madrid’s orbit. We saw red earth in the hills near Medinaceli (📷1) and green fields further along the A-2 near Arcos de Jalón (📷2), both in the Castile and León region. Crossing into Aragón we came to the spa town of Alhama de Aragón, a name derived from Arabic, although its thermal springs were known in Roman times (📷3). A bridge crossing on Embalse de la Tranquera | Tranquillity Reservoir, which certainly lives up to its name, as we approached pitch in Nuévalos (📷4).
Monasterio de Piedra near Nuévalos is a former monastery (now part ruin and part hotel) and Romantic landscaped park containing trees, waterfalls and caves along the Piedra River; this is Cascada la Caprichosa (📷1). The combination of Cascade Cola de Caballo (📷2) with Gruta Iris behind its curtain (📷3), reached via a staircase cut into the cliff, was easily the highlight. Some of the scenery was decidedly more tranquil, but no less dramatic (📷4). Visiting the ruin of Santa Maria de Piedra is included in the entry ticket; it was occupied by Cistercian monks from 1218 CE for 617 years, until confiscated by the Spanish Government in 1835 and coming into private ownership. Within the ruin there’s a museum about wine making and exhibit on the introduction of chocolate to Europe. Note that the site only reopened a year ago after severe flood damage in late 2024; it’s mass tourism-oriented, so an early start helps avoid the crowds.
Zaragoza
After leaving Nuévalos we enjoyed seeing semi-arid agricultural landscapes (📷1) before joining motorways bound for the metropolitan sprawl of Zaragoza. Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar is the city’s defining landmark, a huge baroque basilica with domes overlooking the Ebro, seen here behind 15th C. bridge of Puente de Piedra (📷2); the Romans had also bridged the Ebro here when the town was known as Caesaraugusta. The 11th C. Islamic Aljafería Palace is part of the Mudéjar Architecture of Aragón UNESCO listing (📷3); it was unfortunately closed for siesta when we arrived—having been caught out a few times by this already! La Seo Cathedral | Cathedral of the Saviour is also part of the UNESCO listing, being built atop the Roman forum and serving as a mosque—evident in its exterior Mudéjar wall (📷4)—before expansion as a Christian cathedral; the interior (€) mixes Romanesque, Gothic, Mudéjar, Renaissance and Baroque styles.
Los Monegros
The Ruta Jubierre | Jubierre track is an unpaved route that leads into the Barrancos de Jubierre, a badlands area within Aragón’s semi-arid Los Monegros region (it’s not technically a desert). We began from the southern end near the village of Castejón de Monegros, heading northward to exit onto the A-131 towards Sariñena. To visit Tozal Solitario, an isolated rock formation, we wisely left the van on the main track and walked to the formation (📷1). Tozal de Colásico is larger and can be seen without leaving the main track (📷2); you can also drive right up to it. Tozales de Los Pedregales is a collection of four eroded clay formations and ravines reached via a short but well-marked hike (📷3); this is formation no. 4. Tozal de la Cobeta is apparently the most photographed formation (📷4); we drove off the main track right up to this one, avoiding a hot 6km return hike. It took us ~3h to make the drive at ~30km/h max and to take short hikes to the formations. It had been dry so the dirt was very compacted and we had no concerns about clearance in our 2WD camper; we used the width of the road to avoid ruts and corrugations, as traffic was light. There was no avoiding the dust though!
Parque Natural Sierra y Cañones de Guara
The pretty but touristy village of Alquézar lies within Parque Natural Sierra y Cañones de Guara | Natural Park of the Sierra and Canyons of Guara; it’s crowned by Colegiata de Santa María la Mayor and Castillo Torre (📷1). The 6 € pp 3km Pasarelas de Alquézar descend from the ticket gate at the town hall into the adjacent Río Vero canyon, where we noted native Ramonda myconi | the Pyrenean violet in flower (📷2). We gained access to the clear-running river at Cueva Picamartillo (📷3) before taking the first of several gangways suspended over the riverbed (📷4).
Continuing in the pasarelas, the hand of man is evident in the canyon, with industrial remnants including a weir and canal that was part of a small hydroelectric plant completed in 1913 (📷1); it reused an old mill and today’s visitor trail began as service paths. The dramatic limestone canyon itself however is of natural karst geology and the metal gangways purpose-built for tourism (📷2). Aphyllanthes monspeliensis | the blue aphyllanthes is endemic to the western Mediterranean (📷3). A look back towards town from Mirador del Vero as a thunderstorm approaches; you can see more of the gangways on the riverside cliffs (📷4). This was a 6.3km/ 2h 20min loop walk from the campsite.
Our next hike in Parque Natural Sierra y Cañones de Guara was the S-3 Circular, anticlockwise, from the trailhead at Rodellar. We descended into Barranco del Mascún | the Mascún River gorge, noting rock climbers scaling sheer cliffs on both sides of the valley and gradually improving our view of the first of several rock windows we’d see on the trail (📷1). On reaching the riverbed we joined the Camino de Otín. There’s a nice view back to the window from near Surgencia de Mascún | the spring where Río Mascún stops being underground (📷2); shortly after the spring the intimidating Espolón de la Virgen via ferrata begins. Native Helianthemum apenninum | white rock-rose seemed to like living in the valley floor (📷3). We had views to Torre de Santiago for some time before reaching the formation (📷4).
Ascending the S-3 trail beside Torre de Santiago (📷1). We found the lengthy and uneven climb from the riverbed to Mirador del Mascún (📷2) rather tough, but greatly enjoyed ever-changing perspectives on the Torre. Native Polygala calcarea | the chalk milkwort favoured living at elevation (📷3). At the abandoned village of Otín we turned towards Dolmen de la Losa Mora, ~5,000 years old (📷4). The trail was less dramatic but pleasant, until we began the descent back to the Río Mascún via the Andrebot ravine—here the path was formed of loose limestone and slow-going (use poles to reduce tumble risk). From the spring we backtracked up to Rodellar. The loop over 15km took us 5.5h. At camp we checked in with “I need a place to sleep, a beer & a hot shower—in any order!”
Parque Natural Ordesa y Monte Perdido
Pradera de Ordesa (parking near Torla-Ordesa) to the Cola de Caballo waterfall is a popular out-and-back trail in Parque Natural Ordesa y Monte Perdido | Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park. The Senda a la Cola de Caballo trail runs beside the Río Arazas, although the first section is under forest cover with limited views (📷1). After ~100min on trail things get more open and we found ourselves admiring spring greens next to clear mountain waters and impressive walls of rock in both downstream (📷2) and upstream (📷3) directions. The trail offers a number of waterfall waypoints, but they’re not all easy to see well due to vegetation overgrowth or flooded miradors; this is part of Gradas de Soaso, a sequence of steps (📷4).
After ~2h on trail the landscape changed again, to a bleaker grassy expanse as we got nearer to the head of the valley (📷1). Water streamed off the cliffs, forming rivulets that found their way to the river, although not before leaving the ground boggy in many places (📷2). Our first new flower of the day was a native in the daisy family, Tussilago farfara | the colt’s foot (📷3). At 9km/ 3h on trail we reached the signature Cascada Cola de Caballo | horse trail waterfall, which felt somewhat anticlimactic (📷4).
Our second new flower was native Narcissus pseudonarcissus | the wild daffodil, which seemed to favour growing within the protective cocoon offered by another (perfectly named) spiny native, Echinospartum horridum (📷1). Vultures circled overhead; we think we heard marmots whistling and the herd of native Rupicapra pyrenaica | Pyrenean chamois we’d seen on the way in had drawn closer to the river as we turned back (📷2). Cascada del Estrecho was our favourite waterfall; we detoured from the main path to its mirador on the return leg (📷3). Instead of rejoining the main path we crossed the river, which afforded new views en route to the parking area (📷4). 19km/ 5.5h return.
A scenic drive out of the mountains from pitch in Broto to the town of Barbastro, where chores awaited. Here’s the view from Mirador de Jánovas, between the villages of Fiscal and Boltaña (📷1). Embalse de Mediano contained stands of flooded trees (📷2) and the threat of rain made for moody reflections (📷3). Embalse de El Grado I, the neighbouring reservoir, was looking very emerald from the van door as we stopped for lunch.
Montfalcó
Despite some reports, the 15km from the N-230 to public parking at Montfalcó (near Viacamp) weren’t at all challenging in a 2WD, with mostly good surface—but narrow in places. Mirador de Montfalcó overlooks Pantà de Canelles | Embalse de Canelles, but also offered a first glimpse of the Noguera Ribagorzana river that divides Aragón’s Montsec de L’Estall to the west (left bank) from Catalonia’s Montsec d’Ares on the eastern shore (📷1). These karst escarpments are part of the outer mountains of the Central Pyrenees, formed from Cretaceous and Jurassic materials.
We’d come to hike the Camino Natural de Montfalcó al Congost de Mont-rebei | Natural Path from Montfalcó to the Congost de Mont-rebei. Here’s a view from the first pasarela | catwalk up a 30m escarpment, with 139 steps over 90m in length (📷2). The second pasarela is longer at 120m, with 215 steps ascending a 44m high escarpment (📷3). This is where you question how comfortable you are in the knowledge it was likely engineered by the lowest bidder… Sarcocapnos enneaphylla, native to southwestern Europe and northern Africa, is however quite at home on limestone escarpments (📷4).
From the second pasarela we could anticipate the upcoming descent to the suspension bridge spanning the 35m gap between Aragón and Catalonia (📷1). From said bridge at Congost del Seguer, looking into the gorge of Mont-rebei, we could readily appreciate the depth of canyon the river had cut here (📷2); the cliffs reach over 500m high. Camino Natural de Montfalcó al Congost de Mont-rebei ascends a short way on the Catalonian side to intersect the Camí de Mont-rebei, itself a segment of the long-distance GR-1 (Sendero Histórico). As we climbed to join it we got a good look back at the second pasarela we’d used on the opposite bank (📷3). We also looked down of course (the path is uneven here) and avoided trampling this big darkling beetle (📷4); Blaps lusitanica can release a foul-smelling secretion from glands at its rear when threatened.
Our original goal had been a mirador in the Mont-rebei Gorge, from which we could look back the way we had come (📷1) and also in the onward direction (📷2). Having met a Spanish couple who told us they were continuing in order to pick up a kayak and return by water, we decided to do the same. We thus continued beyond the mirador on Camí de Mont-rebei, a spectacular cliffside trail through the gorge known for its narrow path carved into rock walls above the river (📷3). After ~10km/ 3h 40min of hiking we arrived at a beach where, luckily, there was a spare double kayak available (we’d tried phoning, but had signal issues). Our 8km/ 1h 40min paddle back through the gorge (📷4) to a pier below Albergue de Montfalcó was followed by a 2km 4×4 transfer up the steep hill, where we paid for the rental—and our knees expressed their gratitude!
Muralla de Finestres
Roques de la Vila is a geological formation also popularly known as Muralla (China) de Finestres | the (Chinese) Wall Of Finestres. We followed online and local advice to park at Puente de Penavera, a bridge northeast of Estopiñán del Castillo, given the state of the dirt road. The 6.4km drive from our pitch in town took ~30 minutes. Although we sighted the formation ~4.5km into the hike, we first came to the former settlement of Finestres (📷1). It was depopulated in 1960 due to the filling of the Canelles reservoir; only one house, Casa Coix, is seasonally inhabited. A short and easy signposted walk links the village centre to Ermita de San Marcos | the Hermitage of Saint Mark; this is the best spot for panoramic views of the ~840m long formation (📷2). Folding of strata ~100 million years ago and subsequent erosion have created two primary parallel lines of vertical limestone that resemble a wall (📷3). Some of the formation is now partially submerged in the reservoir (📷4).
Between the two lines of strata sits the 11–12th C. Romanesque Esglèsia de Sant Vicenç | Ermita San Vicente | Church of Saint Vincent, seen here from the more challenging path to reach it (📷1); poles are useful. On this part of the hike you cross over one of the walls and reach water level, where we noted this particular slab, nicely illustrating the process of continuing erosion (📷2). The hermitage is partially formed from limestone and the sanctuary is largely intact (📷3); the remnants of Castillo de Finestras, a medieval Moorish castle upon which the hermitage was built, are also evident. From this vantage point there’s an impressive view down the middle of the formation (📷4). The 15km/ 4.5h return hike was mostly exposed.
After this hike it was farewell Aragón; it certainly made an impression and is an area we’d happily return to.
#2026 #aragón #camperVan #catalonia #europe #hiking #nationalPark #nature #nomad #roadTrip #romans #spain #travel #unesco #vanLife -
The wild reaches of Aragón
About half the size of Portugal, we knew very little of Spain’s Aragón region. That was about to change as our road from Extremadura led us through its northern reaches bound for the co-principality of Andorra.
Coordinates
- Alhama de Aragón
- Nuévalos
- Zaragoza
- Castejón de Monegros
- Sariñena
- Alquézar
- Rodellar
- Barbastro
- Torla-Ordesa
- Viacamp
- Estopiñán del Castillo
Into Aragón
From Aranjuez we began our journey northeast towards Zaragoza, noting changes in the landscape once we had escaped the spaghetti junctions, slow traffic and industrialized zones in Madrid’s orbit. We saw red earth in the hills near Medinaceli (📷1) and green fields further along the A-2 near Arcos de Jalón (📷2), both in the Castile and León region. Crossing into Aragón we came to the spa town of Alhama de Aragón, a name derived from Arabic, although its thermal springs were known in Roman times (📷3). A bridge crossing on Embalse de la Tranquera | Tranquillity Reservoir, which certainly lives up to its name, as we approached pitch in Nuévalos (📷4).
Monasterio de Piedra near Nuévalos is a former monastery (now part ruin and part hotel) and Romantic landscaped park containing trees, waterfalls and caves along the Piedra River; this is Cascada la Caprichosa (📷1). The combination of Cascade Cola de Caballo (📷2) with Gruta Iris behind its curtain (📷3), reached via a staircase cut into the cliff, was easily the highlight. Some of the scenery was decidedly more tranquil, but no less dramatic (📷4). Visiting the ruin of Santa Maria de Piedra is included in the entry ticket; it was occupied by Cistercian monks from 1218 CE for 617 years, until confiscated by the Spanish Government in 1835 and coming into private ownership. Within the ruin there’s a museum about wine making and exhibit on the introduction of chocolate to Europe. Note that the site only reopened a year ago after severe flood damage in late 2024; it’s mass tourism-oriented, so an early start helps avoid the crowds.
Zaragoza
After leaving Nuévalos we enjoyed seeing semi-arid agricultural landscapes (📷1) before joining motorways bound for the metropolitan sprawl of Zaragoza. Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar is the city’s defining landmark, a huge baroque basilica with domes overlooking the Ebro, seen here behind 15th C. bridge of Puente de Piedra (📷2); the Romans had also bridged the Ebro here when the town was known as Caesaraugusta. The 11th C. Islamic Aljafería Palace is part of the Mudéjar Architecture of Aragón UNESCO listing (📷3); it was unfortunately closed for siesta when we arrived—having been caught out a few times by this already! La Seo Cathedral | Cathedral of the Saviour is also part of the UNESCO listing, being built atop the Roman forum and serving as a mosque—evident in its exterior Mudéjar wall (📷4)—before expansion as a Christian cathedral; the interior (€) mixes Romanesque, Gothic, Mudéjar, Renaissance and Baroque styles.
Los Monegros
The Ruta Jubierre | Jubierre track is an unpaved route that leads into the Barrancos de Jubierre, a badlands area within Aragón’s semi-arid Los Monegros region (it’s not technically a desert). We began from the southern end near the village of Castejón de Monegros, heading northward to exit onto the A-131 towards Sariñena. To visit Tozal Solitario, an isolated rock formation, we wisely left the van on the main track and walked to the formation (📷1). Tozal de Colásico is larger and can be seen without leaving the main track (📷2); you can also drive right up to it. Tozales de Los Pedregales is a collection of four eroded clay formations and ravines reached via a short but well-marked hike (📷3); this is formation no. 4. Tozal de la Cobeta is apparently the most photographed formation (📷4); we drove off the main track right up to this one, avoiding a hot 6km return hike. It took us ~3h to make the drive at ~30km/h max and to take short hikes to the formations. It had been dry so the dirt was very compacted and we had no concerns about clearance in our 2WD camper; we used the width of the road to avoid ruts and corrugations, as traffic was light. There was no avoiding the dust though!
Parque Natural Sierra y Cañones de Guara
The pretty but touristy village of Alquézar lies within Parque Natural Sierra y Cañones de Guara | Natural Park of the Sierra and Canyons of Guara; it’s crowned by Colegiata de Santa María la Mayor and Castillo Torre (📷1). The 6 € pp 3km Pasarelas de Alquézar descend from the ticket gate at the town hall into the adjacent Río Vero canyon, where we noted native Ramonda myconi | the Pyrenean violet in flower (📷2). We gained access to the clear-running river at Cueva Picamartillo (📷3) before taking the first of several gangways suspended over the riverbed (📷4).
Continuing in the pasarelas, the hand of man is evident in the canyon, with industrial remnants including a weir and canal that was part of a small hydroelectric plant completed in 1913 (📷1); it reused an old mill and today’s visitor trail began as service paths. The dramatic limestone canyon itself however is of natural karst geology and the metal gangways purpose-built for tourism (📷2). Aphyllanthes monspeliensis | the blue aphyllanthes is endemic to the western Mediterranean (📷3). A look back towards town from Mirador del Vero as a thunderstorm approaches; you can see more of the gangways on the riverside cliffs (📷4). This was a 6.3km/ 2h 20min loop walk from the campsite.
Our next hike in Parque Natural Sierra y Cañones de Guara was the S-3 Circular, anticlockwise, from the trailhead at Rodellar. We descended into Barranco del Mascún | the Mascún River gorge, noting rock climbers scaling sheer cliffs on both sides of the valley and gradually improving our view of the first of several rock windows we’d see on the trail (📷1). On reaching the riverbed we joined the Camino de Otín. There’s a nice view back to the window from near Surgencia de Mascún | the spring where Río Mascún stops being underground (📷2); shortly after the spring the intimidating Espolón de la Virgen via ferrata begins. Native Helianthemum apenninum | white rock-rose seemed to like living in the valley floor (📷3). We had views to Torre de Santiago for some time before reaching the formation (📷4).
Ascending the S-3 trail beside Torre de Santiago (📷1). We found the lengthy and uneven climb from the riverbed to Mirador del Mascún (📷2) rather tough, but greatly enjoyed ever-changing perspectives on the Torre. Native Polygala calcarea | the chalk milkwort favoured living at elevation (📷3). At the abandoned village of Otín we turned towards Dolmen de la Losa Mora, ~5,000 years old (📷4). The trail was less dramatic but pleasant, until we began the descent back to the Río Mascún via the Andrebot ravine—here the path was formed of loose limestone and slow-going (use poles to reduce tumble risk). From the spring we backtracked up to Rodellar. The loop over 15km took us 5.5h. At camp we checked in with “I need a place to sleep, a beer & a hot shower—in any order!”
Parque Natural Ordesa y Monte Perdido
Pradera de Ordesa (parking near Torla-Ordesa) to the Cola de Caballo waterfall is a popular out-and-back trail in Parque Natural Ordesa y Monte Perdido | Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park. The Senda a la Cola de Caballo trail runs beside the Río Arazas, although the first section is under forest cover with limited views (📷1). After ~100min on trail things get more open and we found ourselves admiring spring greens next to clear mountain waters and impressive walls of rock in both downstream (📷2) and upstream (📷3) directions. The trail offers a number of waterfall waypoints, but they’re not all easy to see well due to vegetation overgrowth or flooded miradors; this is part of Gradas de Soaso, a sequence of steps (📷4).
After ~2h on trail the landscape changed again, to a bleaker grassy expanse as we got nearer to the head of the valley (📷1). Water streamed off the cliffs, forming rivulets that found their way to the river, although not before leaving the ground boggy in many places (📷2). Our first new flower of the day was a native in the daisy family, Tussilago farfara | the colt’s foot (📷3). At 9km/ 3h on trail we reached the signature Cascada Cola de Caballo | horse trail waterfall, which felt somewhat anticlimactic (📷4).
Our second new flower was native Narcissus pseudonarcissus | the wild daffodil, which seemed to favour growing within the protective cocoon offered by another (perfectly named) spiny native, Echinospartum horridum (📷1). Vultures circled overhead; we think we heard marmots whistling and the herd of native Rupicapra pyrenaica | Pyrenean chamois we’d seen on the way in had drawn closer to the river as we turned back (📷2). Cascada del Estrecho was our favourite waterfall; we detoured from the main path to its mirador on the return leg (📷3). Instead of rejoining the main path we crossed the river, which afforded new views en route to the parking area (📷4). 19km/ 5.5h return.
A scenic drive out of the mountains from pitch in Broto to the town of Barbastro, where chores awaited. Here’s the view from Mirador de Jánovas, between the villages of Fiscal and Boltaña (📷1). Embalse de Mediano contained stands of flooded trees (📷2) and the threat of rain made for moody reflections (📷3). Embalse de El Grado I, the neighbouring reservoir, was looking very emerald from the van door as we stopped for lunch.
Montfalcó
Despite some reports, the 15km from the N-230 to public parking at Montfalcó (near Viacamp) weren’t at all challenging in a 2WD, with mostly good surface—but narrow in places. Mirador de Montfalcó overlooks Pantà de Canelles | Embalse de Canelles, but also offered a first glimpse of the Noguera Ribagorzana river that divides Aragón’s Montsec de L’Estall to the west (left bank) from Catalonia’s Montsec d’Ares on the eastern shore (📷1). These karst escarpments are part of the outer mountains of the Central Pyrenees, formed from Cretaceous and Jurassic materials.
We’d come to hike the Camino Natural de Montfalcó al Congost de Mont-rebei | Natural Path from Montfalcó to the Congost de Mont-rebei. Here’s a view from the first pasarela | catwalk up a 30m escarpment, with 139 steps over 90m in length (📷2). The second pasarela is longer at 120m, with 215 steps ascending a 44m high escarpment (📷3). This is where you question how comfortable you are in the knowledge it was likely engineered by the lowest bidder… Sarcocapnos enneaphylla, native to southwestern Europe and northern Africa, is however quite at home on limestone escarpments (📷4).
From the second pasarela we could anticipate the upcoming descent to the suspension bridge spanning the 35m gap between Aragón and Catalonia (📷1). From said bridge at Congost del Seguer, looking into the gorge of Mont-rebei, we could readily appreciate the depth of canyon the river had cut here (📷2); the cliffs reach over 500m high. Camino Natural de Montfalcó al Congost de Mont-rebei ascends a short way on the Catalonian side to intersect the Camí de Mont-rebei, itself a segment of the long-distance GR-1 (Sendero Histórico). As we climbed to join it we got a good look back at the second pasarela we’d used on the opposite bank (📷3). We also looked down of course (the path is uneven here) and avoided trampling this big darkling beetle (📷4); Blaps lusitanica can release a foul-smelling secretion from glands at its rear when threatened.
Our original goal had been a mirador in the Mont-rebei Gorge, from which we could look back the way we had come (📷1) and also in the onward direction (📷2). Having met a Spanish couple who told us they were continuing in order to pick up a kayak and return by water, we decided to do the same. We thus continued beyond the mirador on Camí de Mont-rebei, a spectacular cliffside trail through the gorge known for its narrow path carved into rock walls above the river (📷3). After ~10km/ 3h 40min of hiking we arrived at a beach where, luckily, there was a spare double kayak available (we’d tried phoning, but had signal issues). Our 8km/ 1h 40min paddle back through the gorge (📷4) to a pier below Albergue de Montfalcó was followed by a 2km 4×4 transfer up the steep hill, where we paid for the rental—and our knees expressed their gratitude!
Muralla de Finestres
Roques de la Vila is a geological formation also popularly known as Muralla (China) de Finestres | the (Chinese) Wall Of Finestres. We followed online and local advice to park at Puente de Penavera, a bridge northeast of Estopiñán del Castillo, given the state of the dirt road. The 6.4km drive from our pitch in town took ~30 minutes. Although we sighted the formation ~4.5km into the hike, we first came to the former settlement of Finestres (📷1). It was depopulated in 1960 due to the filling of the Canelles reservoir; only one house, Casa Coix, is seasonally inhabited. A short and easy signposted walk links the village centre to Ermita de San Marcos | the Hermitage of Saint Mark; this is the best spot for panoramic views of the ~840m long formation (📷2). Folding of strata ~100 million years ago and subsequent erosion have created two primary parallel lines of vertical limestone that resemble a wall (📷3). Some of the formation is now partially submerged in the reservoir (📷4).
Between the two lines of strata sits the 11–12th C. Romanesque Esglèsia de Sant Vicenç | Ermita San Vicente | Church of Saint Vincent, seen here from the more challenging path to reach it (📷1); poles are useful. On this part of the hike you cross over one of the walls and reach water level, where we noted this particular slab, nicely illustrating the process of continuing erosion (📷2). The hermitage is partially formed from limestone and the sanctuary is largely intact (📷3); the remnants of Castillo de Finestras, a medieval Moorish castle upon which the hermitage was built, are also evident. From this vantage point there’s an impressive view down the middle of the formation (📷4). The 15km/ 4.5h return hike was mostly exposed.
After this hike it was farewell Aragón; it certainly made an impression and is an area we’d happily return to.
#2026 #aragón #camperVan #catalonia #europe #hiking #nationalPark #nature #nomad #roadTrip #romans #spain #travel #unesco #vanLife -
The wild reaches of Aragón
About half the size of Portugal, we knew very little of Spain’s Aragón region. That was about to change as our road from Extremadura led us through its northern reaches bound for the co-principality of Andorra.
Coordinates
- Alhama de Aragón
- Nuévalos
- Zaragoza
- Castejón de Monegros
- Sariñena
- Alquézar
- Rodellar
- Barbastro
- Torla-Ordesa
- Viacamp
- Estopiñán del Castillo
Into Aragón
From Aranjuez we began our journey northeast towards Zaragoza, noting changes in the landscape once we had escaped the spaghetti junctions, slow traffic and industrialized zones in Madrid’s orbit. We saw red earth in the hills near Medinaceli (📷1) and green fields further along the A-2 near Arcos de Jalón (📷2), both in the Castile and León region. Crossing into Aragón we came to the spa town of Alhama de Aragón, a name derived from Arabic, although its thermal springs were known in Roman times (📷3). A bridge crossing on Embalse de la Tranquera | Tranquillity Reservoir, which certainly lives up to its name, as we approached pitch in Nuévalos (📷4).
Monasterio de Piedra near Nuévalos is a former monastery (now part ruin and part hotel) and Romantic landscaped park containing trees, waterfalls and caves along the Piedra River; this is Cascada la Caprichosa (📷1). The combination of Cascade Cola de Caballo (📷2) with Gruta Iris behind its curtain (📷3), reached via a staircase cut into the cliff, was easily the highlight. Some of the scenery was decidedly more tranquil, but no less dramatic (📷4). Visiting the ruin of Santa Maria de Piedra is included in the entry ticket; it was occupied by Cistercian monks from 1218 CE for 617 years, until confiscated by the Spanish Government in 1835 and coming into private ownership. Within the ruin there’s a museum about wine making and exhibit on the introduction of chocolate to Europe. Note that the site only reopened a year ago after severe flood damage in late 2024; it’s mass tourism-oriented, so an early start helps avoid the crowds.
Zaragoza
After leaving Nuévalos we enjoyed seeing semi-arid agricultural landscapes (📷1) before joining motorways bound for the metropolitan sprawl of Zaragoza. Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar is the city’s defining landmark, a huge baroque basilica with domes overlooking the Ebro, seen here behind 15th C. bridge of Puente de Piedra (📷2); the Romans had also bridged the Ebro here when the town was known as Caesaraugusta. The 11th C. Islamic Aljafería Palace is part of the Mudéjar Architecture of Aragón UNESCO listing (📷3); it was unfortunately closed for siesta when we arrived—having been caught out a few times by this already! La Seo Cathedral | Cathedral of the Saviour is also part of the UNESCO listing, being built atop the Roman forum and serving as a mosque—evident in its exterior Mudéjar wall (📷4)—before expansion as a Christian cathedral; the interior (€) mixes Romanesque, Gothic, Mudéjar, Renaissance and Baroque styles.
Los Monegros
The Ruta Jubierre | Jubierre track is an unpaved route that leads into the Barrancos de Jubierre, a badlands area within Aragón’s semi-arid Los Monegros region (it’s not technically a desert). We began from the southern end near the village of Castejón de Monegros, heading northward to exit onto the A-131 towards Sariñena. To visit Tozal Solitario, an isolated rock formation, we wisely left the van on the main track and walked to the formation (📷1). Tozal de Colásico is larger and can be seen without leaving the main track (📷2); you can also drive right up to it. Tozales de Los Pedregales is a collection of four eroded clay formations and ravines reached via a short but well-marked hike (📷3); this is formation no. 4. Tozal de la Cobeta is apparently the most photographed formation (📷4); we drove off the main track right up to this one, avoiding a hot 6km return hike. It took us ~3h to make the drive at ~30km/h max and to take short hikes to the formations. It had been dry so the dirt was very compacted and we had no concerns about clearance in our 2WD camper; we used the width of the road to avoid ruts and corrugations, as traffic was light. There was no avoiding the dust though!
Parque Natural Sierra y Cañones de Guara
The pretty but touristy village of Alquézar lies within Parque Natural Sierra y Cañones de Guara | Natural Park of the Sierra and Canyons of Guara; it’s crowned by Colegiata de Santa María la Mayor and Castillo Torre (📷1). The 6 € pp 3km Pasarelas de Alquézar descend from the ticket gate at the town hall into the adjacent Río Vero canyon, where we noted native Ramonda myconi | the Pyrenean violet in flower (📷2). We gained access to the clear-running river at Cueva Picamartillo (📷3) before taking the first of several gangways suspended over the riverbed (📷4).
Continuing in the pasarelas, the hand of man is evident in the canyon, with industrial remnants including a weir and canal that was part of a small hydroelectric plant completed in 1913 (📷1); it reused an old mill and today’s visitor trail began as service paths. The dramatic limestone canyon itself however is of natural karst geology and the metal gangways purpose-built for tourism (📷2). Aphyllanthes monspeliensis | the blue aphyllanthes is endemic to the western Mediterranean (📷3). A look back towards town from Mirador del Vero as a thunderstorm approaches; you can see more of the gangways on the riverside cliffs (📷4). This was a 6.3km/ 2h 20min loop walk from the campsite.
Our next hike in Parque Natural Sierra y Cañones de Guara was the S-3 Circular, anticlockwise, from the trailhead at Rodellar. We descended into Barranco del Mascún | the Mascún River gorge, noting rock climbers scaling sheer cliffs on both sides of the valley and gradually improving our view of the first of several rock windows we’d see on the trail (📷1). On reaching the riverbed we joined the Camino de Otín. There’s a nice view back to the window from near Surgencia de Mascún | the spring where Río Mascún stops being underground (📷2); shortly after the spring the intimidating Espolón de la Virgen via ferrata begins. Native Helianthemum apenninum | white rock-rose seemed to like living in the valley floor (📷3). We had views to Torre de Santiago for some time before reaching the formation (📷4).
Ascending the S-3 trail beside Torre de Santiago (📷1). We found the lengthy and uneven climb from the riverbed to Mirador del Mascún (📷2) rather tough, but greatly enjoyed ever-changing perspectives on the Torre. Native Polygala calcarea | the chalk milkwort favoured living at elevation (📷3). At the abandoned village of Otín we turned towards Dolmen de la Losa Mora, ~5,000 years old (📷4). The trail was less dramatic but pleasant, until we began the descent back to the Río Mascún via the Andrebot ravine—here the path was formed of loose limestone and slow-going (use poles to reduce tumble risk). From the spring we backtracked up to Rodellar. The loop over 15km took us 5.5h. At camp we checked in with “I need a place to sleep, a beer & a hot shower—in any order!”
Parque Natural Ordesa y Monte Perdido
Pradera de Ordesa (parking near Torla-Ordesa) to the Cola de Caballo waterfall is a popular out-and-back trail in Parque Natural Ordesa y Monte Perdido | Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park. The Senda a la Cola de Caballo trail runs beside the Río Arazas, although the first section is under forest cover with limited views (📷1). After ~100min on trail things get more open and we found ourselves admiring spring greens next to clear mountain waters and impressive walls of rock in both downstream (📷2) and upstream (📷3) directions. The trail offers a number of waterfall waypoints, but they’re not all easy to see well due to vegetation overgrowth or flooded miradors; this is part of Gradas de Soaso, a sequence of steps (📷4).
After ~2h on trail the landscape changed again, to a bleaker grassy expanse as we got nearer to the head of the valley (📷1). Water streamed off the cliffs, forming rivulets that found their way to the river, although not before leaving the ground boggy in many places (📷2). Our first new flower of the day was a native in the daisy family, Tussilago farfara | the colt’s foot (📷3). At 9km/ 3h on trail we reached the signature Cascada Cola de Caballo | horse trail waterfall, which felt somewhat anticlimactic (📷4).
Our second new flower was native Narcissus pseudonarcissus | the wild daffodil, which seemed to favour growing within the protective cocoon offered by another (perfectly named) spiny native, Echinospartum horridum (📷1). Vultures circled overhead; we think we heard marmots whistling and the herd of native Rupicapra pyrenaica | Pyrenean chamois we’d seen on the way in had drawn closer to the river as we turned back (📷2). Cascada del Estrecho was our favourite waterfall; we detoured from the main path to its mirador on the return leg (📷3). Instead of rejoining the main path we crossed the river, which afforded new views en route to the parking area (📷4). 19km/ 5.5h return.
A scenic drive out of the mountains from pitch in Broto to the town of Barbastro, where chores awaited. Here’s the view from Mirador de Jánovas, between the villages of Fiscal and Boltaña (📷1). Embalse de Mediano contained stands of flooded trees (📷2) and the threat of rain made for moody reflections (📷3). Embalse de El Grado I, the neighbouring reservoir, was looking very emerald from the van door as we stopped for lunch.
Montfalcó
Despite some reports, the 15km from the N-230 to public parking at Montfalcó (near Viacamp) weren’t at all challenging in a 2WD, with mostly good surface—but narrow in places. Mirador de Montfalcó overlooks Pantà de Canelles | Embalse de Canelles, but also offered a first glimpse of the Noguera Ribagorzana river that divides Aragón’s Montsec de L’Estall to the west (left bank) from Catalonia’s Montsec d’Ares on the eastern shore (📷1). These karst escarpments are part of the outer mountains of the Central Pyrenees, formed from Cretaceous and Jurassic materials.
We’d come to hike the Camino Natural de Montfalcó al Congost de Mont-rebei | Natural Path from Montfalcó to the Congost de Mont-rebei. Here’s a view from the first pasarela | catwalk up a 30m escarpment, with 139 steps over 90m in length (📷2). The second pasarela is longer at 120m, with 215 steps ascending a 44m high escarpment (📷3). This is where you question how comfortable you are in the knowledge it was likely engineered by the lowest bidder… Sarcocapnos enneaphylla, native to southwestern Europe and northern Africa, is however quite at home on limestone escarpments (📷4).
From the second pasarela we could anticipate the upcoming descent to the suspension bridge spanning the 35m gap between Aragón and Catalonia (📷1). From said bridge at Congost del Seguer, looking into the gorge of Mont-rebei, we could readily appreciate the depth of canyon the river had cut here (📷2); the cliffs reach over 500m high. Camino Natural de Montfalcó al Congost de Mont-rebei ascends a short way on the Catalonian side to intersect the Camí de Mont-rebei, itself a segment of the long-distance GR-1 (Sendero Histórico). As we climbed to join it we got a good look back at the second pasarela we’d used on the opposite bank (📷3). We also looked down of course (the path is uneven here) and avoided trampling this big darkling beetle (📷4); Blaps lusitanica can release a foul-smelling secretion from glands at its rear when threatened.
Our original goal had been a mirador in the Mont-rebei Gorge, from which we could look back the way we had come (📷1) and also in the onward direction (📷2). Having met a Spanish couple who told us they were continuing in order to pick up a kayak and return by water, we decided to do the same. We thus continued beyond the mirador on Camí de Mont-rebei, a spectacular cliffside trail through the gorge known for its narrow path carved into rock walls above the river (📷3). After ~10km/ 3h 40min of hiking we arrived at a beach where, luckily, there was a spare double kayak available (we’d tried phoning, but had signal issues). Our 8km/ 1h 40min paddle back through the gorge (📷4) to a pier below Albergue de Montfalcó was followed by a 2km 4×4 transfer up the steep hill, where we paid for the rental—and our knees expressed their gratitude!
Muralla de Finestres
Roques de la Vila is a geological formation also popularly known as Muralla (China) de Finestres | the (Chinese) Wall Of Finestres. We followed online and local advice to park at Puente de Penavera, a bridge northeast of Estopiñán del Castillo, given the state of the dirt road. The 6.4km drive from our pitch in town took ~30 minutes. Although we sighted the formation ~4.5km into the hike, we first came to the former settlement of Finestres (📷1). It was depopulated in 1960 due to the filling of the Canelles reservoir; only one house, Casa Coix, is seasonally inhabited. A short and easy signposted walk links the village centre to Ermita de San Marcos | the Hermitage of Saint Mark; this is the best spot for panoramic views of the ~840m long formation (📷2). Folding of strata ~100 million years ago and subsequent erosion have created two primary parallel lines of vertical limestone that resemble a wall (📷3). Some of the formation is now partially submerged in the reservoir (📷4).
Between the two lines of strata sits the 11–12th C. Romanesque Esglèsia de Sant Vicenç | Ermita San Vicente | Church of Saint Vincent, seen here from the more challenging path to reach it (📷1); poles are useful. On this part of the hike you cross over one of the walls and reach water level, where we noted this particular slab, nicely illustrating the process of continuing erosion (📷2). The hermitage is partially formed from limestone and the sanctuary is largely intact (📷3); the remnants of Castillo de Finestras, a medieval Moorish castle upon which the hermitage was built, are also evident. From this vantage point there’s an impressive view down the middle of the formation (📷4). The 15km/ 4.5h return hike was mostly exposed.
After this hike it was farewell Aragón; it certainly made an impression and is an area we’d happily return to.
#2026 #aragón #camperVan #catalonia #europe #hiking #nationalPark #nature #nomad #roadTrip #romans #spain #travel #unesco #vanLife
