General sites
http://robertauxbornesdespyrenees.kazeo.com/
Robert Darrieumerlou
has a similar goal: "chasing" the bordermarkers of the Pyrenees.
But his starting point was the Atlantic coast with no. 1.
and at present his range (but not fully covered) stretches from
no. 1 to 426. Robert is marvellous, he's an
expert-bordermarker-researcher and located a lot of very hard to find
markers. Besides
a lot
of photo's Robert provides historical background with helpful
links to the French-Spanish border-treaties and
demarcations-agreements. (site-review
19042010)
http://www.mojonesdelospirineos.com
Cayetano (living in Girona, Spain) started in 2013 to search and
photograph the esfr-bordermarkers between the province of Girona and
France (bm427-602). Starting from the east, he has covered until now
bm601 up to bm518. Cayetono refuses to use a gps-device to find the
markers. He prefers maps, delimitation-proceedings and
information/pictures from other sources. Apart from the pictures of the
bordermarkers he provides
- the original (delimitation-)treaties in Spanish (!)
- a dictionary of related terms
- some curiosities
- and he is – very modern – connected with Facebook, Twitter etcetera
(site-review 26012014)
http://jkbornesfrancoesp.over-blog.com/
Published on 27032014, Jacques Koleck surprised me with his blog,
thinking he still preferred handwritten letters and hardcopy photos
above the digital dimension. Jacques is one of the most industrious and
thorough bordermarker-researchers I know in the Pyrenees. At the age of
71 he started with his passion and at present - after 7 years - he has
covered the Pyrenees from coast to coast. He doesn't limit himself to
the obvious well-numbered bordermarkers in the 1-602 range but has an
open heart for the few hundred other unnumbered bordermarkers, varying
from plain intermediate crosses and borderstones until demarcation
plaques in bordertunnels. The blog has started with an intriguing
"inventaire etc" cq counting of all the esfr-bordermarkers in a
different approach than my counting. However, after 2014 there has been
no updates.
(site-review 27032014,
update 20200502)
http://michelmolia.pagesperso-orange.fr/
This is a website made by Michel Molia who – with some
friends –
wants to discover all bordermarkers between France and Spain. They made
their first trip in 2011. He describes their interest as an infectious
disease.
Their homebase is Bayonne and so far they have covered a lot of the 720
bordermarkers – including bm602! – but most of them in the western
half. They started in 2013. What strikes me is that they seem to have
started from scratch, ignorant of the available information (on the
internet). There’s hardly any reference to any sources or using
waypoints from others or whatsoever . The website seems in the first
place a cheerful account of a friendship’s-project meant for the
friends themselves.
(site-review 17052015)
http://paconudels.blogspot.com/
While
Alain Laridon covers the east and Robert Darrieumerlou the west,
Paco Nudels from Lleida took care of the central part of the Pyrenees.
By finding bm333 to 420bis, he has done a great job. My
picks
so far out of his collection: bm408 (another stone then I found),
bm417 (not yet found by me) and bm420bis (idem).
But his interests
range further: he has pictures taken on the condominium-island
of 'l'île de Faisans' itself (!), shows most of the
Lliva-bordermarkers and searched for a kind of local markers between
bm333 and 357. (site-review 20062010)
http://martialauxbornes.skyrock.com/
Martial Garcia is a 'cyclocampeur' whose main vehicle to find the
bordermarkers is ... his bicycle. He is rapidly
enlarging his collection of bm-pictures in the eastern Pyrenees
(bm427-602 + Llivia). In this blog you have to dig a bit to
find the treasures on bordermarkes and his testimonies of his quests.
Martial: "Gradually
my collection was enriched and I surprised myself by my own
interest in the subject". Martial is a tough searcher who
helped me a lot to find some hard-to-find Llivia-bm's. (site-review 29102010)
http://www.alaingillodes.fr/Bornes_frontieres_france_espagne/BF_france_Espagne.htm
Alain Gillodes is a 'cycleur' like Martial Garcia and his bycicle is
his favourite medium to visit the bordermarkers. Alain wants to
cover all the esfr-bordermarkers and that's what I like. In spring 2019
there were only 19 bordermarkers left to do, most of them high-altitude
but also bm602 at the mediterranean coastline. The link above shows all
his bordermarker-pics but his interesting trip-accounts are in
chronological order on this separate page. One modest remark: I myself
would prefer that the pictures are linked to these accounts, a
bit of work but worthwhile. Somewhere I read "En consultant le superbe
site de Eef Berns etc."which made me pride. (site-review
02062019)
https://www.carlosyconchita.net/rutas/bornas-mojones-es-fr/
(direct link to the Llivia-markers: see this page)
Carlos and Conchita, a couple from Barcelona, have an apartment in the
Cerdagne and are
devoted mountain-walkers. They have started their own survey of the
bordermarkers in 2015 in the Cerdagne and they want to
continue to cover the entire esfr-range.
Their progress can be followed on this map.
Each day-account is detailed and contains large pictures (with often
Conchita standing besides, I think Carlos likes her a lot). There are
also embedded maps with large photos, tracks and sharing-options. Being
(Carlos) an ICT-professional, the website is in good hands. (site-review august 2020)
https://barrysborderpoints.com/country-visits/france/ Barry Arnold is one of those guys fascinated by borders:
bordercrossings in all kinds, tripoints and bordermarkers. His website (barrysborderpoints.com)
lists all his trips to various borders with a special interest in
tripoints. In august 2020 he travelled to the Spanish-French border in
the eastern Pyrenees and documented thoroughly the 'borderpoints' he
visited, including the two tripoints of Andorra. At the time of writing
of this review he hasn't yet completed describing all his trips but he
is working hard on it. (site-review
august 2020)
https://www.pier-mineral.com/pyrenees-par-les-bornes
Pierre Gallart is extraordinary because he is the first person - as far
as I know - who tried to do all bordermarkers in one go! He undertook
that project in 2022 in 74 days and describes it on this webpage
And then there is this short article and you can listen to an interview (in Spanish).
He did photograph ± 95% of the bordermarkers which leaves 40 markers
still to do. Missing those 40 markers had various reasons, including an
attack from a wild boar (!). He intends to write a book about his
adventure and publish it in 2025. Meanwhile he is working on doing the
missed bordermarkers (I guess). (site-review december 2024)
Photo-sites and fora
(sites
offering mostly pictures of the bordermarkers, no background or other
information. Often the pictures are unsorted but most of them
show their photo's in Google Earth. That's how I found these sites
anyway)
http://www.pyrenees-team.com/forumpteam/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2434
This
is a forum of the Pyrenees-team - website on the subject of "602
bornes ... ou croix frontières". The main contribuant seems Robert
Darrieurmerlou (see above).It's more a presentation of pictures then a
discussion-forum on e.g. history. There's no index so you might need to
browse all pages to find a specific bordermarker.
Nevertheless a
delight to glance through and to see what Robert is up to.
http://olivier-penaud.blogspot.com/
Blogspot from Olivier Penau. Olivier has started
with the
bordermarkers in the Basque country. He shows himself in a
Youtube-clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KiVhCvZJLc with a
lot of bordermarkers. (site review
19042010)
http://mugarris.blogspot.com/search/label/Introduccion
Photoblog by one Beltri. In spanish
Cartographic sites
See the Cartography-page
Other sites
Contestation sur la frontière avec le val d’Aran
This
page on the website of the French Conseil national de l'information géolocalisée/frontières discusses the
'Bidaubus-dispute': the borderline between bm408 and 409. It represents
the opinion of the Conseil. See for my opinion this page on my blog with a short video on this subject).
NB: the online map of the 'official' borderline is still visible on this page.
The article contains also links to
- two very interesting documents with the proceedings and annexes of
the 40ème Réunion de la commission internationale des Pyrénées - Paris,
03 décembre 2014
- the websites of Michel Molia and me
http//fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fronti%C3%A8re_franco-espagnole
French
Wikipedia article about the French-Spanish border and nice
starting point for other wikipedia-information on the esfr-border.
Versions in other languages available but possibly less comprehensive.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fronti%C3%A8re_entre_l%27Andorre_et_la_France
French Wikipedia article about the French-Andorran
border.
Versions in other languages available but possibly less comprehensive.
http://bornes.frontieres.free.fr/
Different area but same mission: Georges Fabry searches bordermarkers
in the Alpes-Maritimes. In his case they are historical markers, once
in use for borders which do not exist anymore. For example between the
Comté de Nice and France from 1761 to 1823. His site includes maps,
history, bibliography and is linked to his blog
with the same subject. (site
reviewed 22062010).
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