|
|
Val d'Aran
|
||||||||
Join Mike Lockwood on his second tour to the Val d'Aran, a superb lush, green valley, much like the French Pyrenees - but in fact in the Spanish State! Here's Mike's tour description:
Fortunately even today, in an era of rampant redrawing of national boundaries, a few anachronisms such as Val d'Aran still exist. This high valley lying to the north of the main Pyrenean axis and whose main river, the Garona, heads north to the Atlantic at Bordeaux, is not part of France, as geography would seem to dictate, but belongs instead politically to Catalonia and the Spanish State. With its own language (Aranese, a dialect of Occitan) and despite having relinquished some of its 'lost valley' feel to the needs of the skiing fraternity (the first road into Spain was only opened in 1924), Val d'Aran is still a paradise for all types of flora and fauna, including some of the best subalpine forests and pastures in the Pyrenees, 120 species of butterflies, Lammergeiers and even Brown Bears!
We will investigate this 'valley of the valleys' (translating literally from Aranese), abounding in glacial features, from our base in Salardú. Our hosts are both keen naturalists active in local bird conservation and run a hotel adjusted to the needs of 'wildlifers' and their off-beat timetables! On our daily excursions we will make good use of the roads that wind up to the high pastures and passes with their glacial lakes and mountain pine forests, as well as investigating the valley bottoms and their superb hay meadows and deciduous woodland.
|
Val D'Aran, photo by tour participant Martin Chapman
Price: £ 1,395
The price per person includes return scheduled flight from London - Toulouse, airport taxes, 8 nights' accommodation, all meals, transport and the services of the leaders.
|
||||||||
