Have you ever returned home from a summer holiday and felt that next year you would like to do something more adventurous, if yes then Sarah MacDonald thinks this might be the holiday for you!
Life-changing Holidays
Last year I walked the Le Chemin de la Liberte (The Freedom Trail) a WWII escape route from France to Spain. It’s a challenging four – five day hike over the Pyrenees, officially recognised In 1993 and since then hundreds of military personnel and civilians have embarked on this sometimes treacherous journey.
In 2013 to mark the 20th Anniversary I decided to walk the Chemin de La Liberte in memory of my late father who had previously campaigned to have the walk officially recognised. It took a while but I managed to muster up a group of five new friends to join me on the walk. We were inexperienced hikers so instead of joining the official walk that happens in July we decided to hire a private guide to take us across in August.
I had such an amazing adventure that I wanted to share it with fellow walkers / hikers and anyone else who just fancies doing something a little bit different. Below is my diary and some pictures which I hope will open up your ideas to the beauty of the Pyrenees.
Diary of a novice walker
Our first night would be spent in a hotel in St Girons and then for the next four nights we would stay in Gites, Refuges, B&B’s and a shepherds hut. Meals would be prepared for us, apart from the night at the shepherd’s hut where we would need to provide our own food.
So with our backpacks filled with the very minimum, we set off to meet our guide Paul Williams.
Day 1 St Giron – Aunac (23km/14 miles +1118m/3668ft)
This was classed as a low level easy walk, however many walkers find it hard going. We walked mainly along woodland trails, through small hamlets, gradually making our ascent to Aunac. Cold beer/wine and good home cooked food put us in good spirits for the next days adventure.
Day 2 Aunac – Cabane De Subera (16km/10 miles +960/3150ft)
Sandwiches prepared, we set off for the Shepherds Hut. This was a long day, weather in the 80s and I think many of us wondered what we had taken on. It was a hard slog up to the Col De la Core. By 4pm we had reached the shepherds hut, managed to build a campfire, drank whiskey and ate chocolate.
Day 3 Cabane De Subera to Refuse Estagnous (13km/8 miles +1386m/4547ft)
This was my favourite day. The ascent was much steeper and longer than we had experienced so far, but just before lunch we reached the Halifax bomber wreckage, the site of the wreckage was surreal, everything (apart from the engines and bodies) was spread out around us. Mountain views were incredible, we reached the snow line at lunchtime and then made our descent to the lake L’Etang de Cruzous. The next five hours pretty tough, we had to climb over boulders to Col de Pecouch (2,494m), then a long descent down to Refuge Estagnous (famous for its spectacular views). This was probably one of the hardest days.
Day 4 Refuse Estagnous to Alos d’Isil (14km/8 miles +593m/1945ft)
Final ascent in to Spain. First we had a very steep climb up to l’Etang Long (2,125m). This was pretty arduous and due to the sheer drop beneath us we had to hold on to a steel cable which was fixed to the rock – scary if you suffer from vertigo!
Once we reached the lake, the scenery was indescribably beautiful, I took many pictures but still it doesn’t capture what we saw. The final ascent of our journey was up to Col de Claouere (2,500m), we took longer than we should as everywhere we looked the wildlife had come out to play. We saw Marmottes (groundhogs), dancing Izards and Vultures.
That afternoon we started our long descent down the mountain. The scenery was still breathtaking but strange to be back on lower ground.
Day 5 Alos d’Isil to Esterri d’Aneu (12km/7.5miles +0 then road transfer back to St Giron
Sadly this was our last day, mixed emotions and sad to be away from the mountains. Reaching the bridge of Esterri d’Aneu certainly made us happy and we remembered the WWII escapes who had lost their lives trying to reach this point. Those that had survived the crossings during WWII had mainly completed the journey in just two days we had taken five days!
Summary
The Chemin de la Liberte in my eyes is one of the world’s best kept secret trails. I think we were incredibly lucky as the Pyrenees is well know for its unpredictable weather and many groups have had to turn back or change paths half way due to adverse weather conditions. There seemed to be very few people on the mountains, in fact most of the time we only came across other walkers at the gites/refugees – so if you are in need of solitude and mindfulness this is an ideal walk.
French author Rene Daumal said, “You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again, so why bother in the first place? Just this: what is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above”.
Our guide was Paul Williams from Pyrenees Mountain Adventure
Scott Goodall runs the official walk each July and wrote The Freedom Trail
Thanks to Cotswold Outdoors who gave our team 20% discount on our kit.
We estimated that our total ascent was equivalent to approximately half way up Everest! Below is a graph of our height gain for the Chemin de la Liberte.
