The
bordermarkers of the Pyrenees : all my trips
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saturday 25 august
2018 -
Redoing the bm409-submarkers
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Summary:
one of 8 solo daytrips in
the Pyrenees, in the area of Haute-Garonne near Bagnères-de-Luchon, in
order to redo the bordermarker-range no. 331 to 417.
Today: redoing - once again - the bm409-submarkers but also a check of some parts of the GRPdesBF-route.
Weather: sunny and cloudy
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According to Garmin
Basecamp:
Distance: 13,2 km
Max-height: 652m
Min-height: 540m
Elevation: +665m -665m
Total elevation:1330m
Start 10:37 Finish 16:50
Total time: 6:13
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 | I park my car around here
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 | and follow the road ahead, towards the Garonne-barrage and bm409.
I spot yellow waymarks.
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 | The road becomes a dirtroad.
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 | The Garonne to the left.
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 | At this bifurcation, go straigh ahead.
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 | On a open part of the dirtroad, there is a view to
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 | the southern ridge of the "terrain individis de Bidaubus".
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 | A possible spot for a bivouac. One problem: no watersource nearby.
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 | I reach an open space where the trees were chopped several years ago. It is now covered with broom.
I keep following the dirtroad (apparently with a new course after the chopping) and
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 | arrive at the premises of the Garonne-barrage
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 | with a great potentential for flat terrain camping but unaccessible by its fence.
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 | End of the dirtroad. Here I have to enter the forest (along the big tree) along the barrage.
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 | An information panel
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 | with a hydrological explanation.
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 | I have entered the forest. Note the little post at the left. It used to be a well-kept nature-trail here.
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 | Another information panel
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 | about the Garonne with
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 | extra
information about the former Spanish casino just at the borderline
further on. Its original spot is now under the waterline of the barrage.
The casino was accessible from France where gambling was apparently forbidden.
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 | I follow a trail which brings me too high: at the top of a stone-fall while the trail I remember is at his bottom.
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 | I descend and then spot
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 | a waymark-post. That's from the trail I remembered.
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 | I walk the trail back for a check where I went wrong and it brings me along the barrage-lake to its dam.
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 | Back at the information panel. In red the trail to take from here.
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 | It's a vague trail
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 | with a waymark-post now and then. At this point it crosses the stone-fall.
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 | I arrive at bm409 which is just at the other side of the Ruisseau du Terme (=borderline) which joins the Garonne-barrage here.
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 | Bm409 in the background.
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 | Information-panel about the Garonne-source.
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 | It tells that there are three sources of the Garonne
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 | and about a peculiar experiment with paint dropped in the water to find the source of the Garonne.
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 | The footbridge gets overgrown.
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 | Bm409
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 | with at its foot a sort of marker.
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 | At the other side of the bridge there is some space for a bivouac. Water available from
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 | the stream.
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 | I
will redo the submarkers of bm409 which were placed in the 1970-ies to
indicate the borderline in the 'thalweg' of the Garonne as it streamed
before the construction of the barrage-lake.
They are on both sides of the lake. But first the Spanish side.
Bm409a-es is at the foot of the bridge
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 | but now fully overgrown.
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 | But after some cleaning visible.
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 | I continue on a distinct trail along the lake but bm409b-es is a bit downhill and can not be seen from the trail.
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 | Bm409b-es
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 | Bm409c-es
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 | Continuing on the trail
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 | to bm409d-es
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 | and bm409e-es
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 | and bm409f-es
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 | and approaching bm409g-es which needs a short but steep descent from this spot.
So here, go to the left
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 | and you will see bm409g-es from above.
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 | Bm409g-es
Back to the trail
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 | A bit further on, the trail descends to the road.
I arrive here with
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 | a bit back this signpost.
But that's another spot than I remember.
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 | That spot is further along the road at this spot.
Conclusion: there two entrances to (or exits of) the trail which goes along the lake.
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 | A deserted building in the background.
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 | It's an old
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 | casino.
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 | Then towards the 'pont du Roi'.
From the bridge to an electricity-plant this view ahead to the pont du Roi.
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 | There is an old bridge and a new one. From the new one you can spot
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 | bm409g-es
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 | Seen from the other side,
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 | bm409-es once again.
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 | At the new bridge, a bordermarker in his own kind (the plaque on groundlevel)
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 | Arriving at bm410 and bm409f-fr
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 | A large information-panel
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 | with informaton about the escape-routes to Spain in WWII.
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 | And a picture of an old customs-building (Spanish) in the hamlet of Pontaut, about 1,5km to the south.
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 | and
bm409 which used to be only a roadsign with distances but was upgraded
to a bordermarker when the old stone marker (standing at the rock just
above the officer to the right) was removed or destroyed.
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 | And an old picture of the old Pont du Roi, seemingly not long after its construction.
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 | Another information-panel, this one
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 | about a short-lived uprising in Val d'Aran.
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 | Bm409g-fr
Is in recent years restaurated after the plates were vandalized.
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 | Bm409g-fr
The distance and points refer to the original Thalweg of the Garonne.
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 | Bm410, as said above upgraded to a bordermarker when the old stone marker (standing at the
rock just above the road was removed or destroyed.
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 | Bm410
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 | Another bordermarker on the new bridge,
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 | showing the bend in the border.
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 | Same marker, seen from the other side.
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 | Next target: the remaining bm409-submarkers on the French bank of the barrage-lake.
This is a view to the north with the Garonne and
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 | uphill the valley which contains the Ruisseau du Terme streaming to the barrage-lake.
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 | But I am not yet finished at Pont du Roi. This information-panel shows
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 | a trail from here at the Spanish side of the Garonne to the south to the hamlet of Pontaut (1,5km in a straight line).
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 | I
have tried that path years ago and give it a new try. But again there
are no trails or waymarks as soon as you climb into forest.
So I'll stick for my GRPdesBF-route to a walk along the road from Pont du Roi to Pontaut.
I continue along the lake to the north doing the remaining submarkers.
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 | Bm409f-fr
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 | Bm409e-fr
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 | Bm409d-fr
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 | Bm409c-fr, almost covered by a Garonne-flooding several years ago.
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 | Bm409c-fr might be difficult to find but the signpost in the background
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 | can be helpful to locate it.
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 | Another indication is the "3" on the road barrier.
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 | Bm409b-fr
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 | Bm409a-fr is almost overgrown
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 | Bm409a-fr
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 | I continue along the road towards Fos and pass this monument
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 | honouring the famous Treaty of the "Lies et passeries du Plan d'Arem" of 1513
Wat
is it about? In 1513 a treaty was signed, here at Plan d'Arem between
19 valley's on both sides of the border. Among others it allows
the continuation of commerce between the valleys in time of war
and the mutual compensation for damages and losses. See this wikipedia-page on Lies et Passeries.
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 | More information on this panel
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 | with this part in English.
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 | Arriving at the roundabout at the edge of Fos.
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 | At the roundabout, I take the road to Melles.
At the first bend - that's here - I take the dirtroad beyond the information-panel.
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Why? I want to check if there is still an acces on the French versant
to Pas de Trentenade (bm411) as shown on the French IGN-maps.
Could
in theory be an alternative route to go from b410 to bm411. |
 | In the beginning there is a clear dirtroad/trail leading to this bridge which can only be passed on foot.
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 | and then there is this old trail going gently uphill.
But without waymarks or a route on my gps or smartphone, I have no
clues where to continue. And I expect that the trails on the map are
overgrown.
So I return.
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Decision: I stick to my GRPdesBF-route via Canejan to Pas de Trentenada (bm411).
On the maps it is
a bit longer (6,1km in stead of 5,4km) but it is probably far easier to find
and with more variation and scenery.
Note: bm411 is only covered by a variant of the GRPdesBF. The main route follows from Canejan the GR211.
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 | Enough for today. Back to the road and to Fos where I discover at a busstop
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 | that there is a regular bus-service from
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 | Saint-Gaudens to Vielha. Good to know.
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 | Information panel at the entrance of Fos.
Since my first visit many years ago, the camping and the shops have closed.
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 | One can see that once the village was thriving. Now it is mous-still.
Back to my car and to the camping.
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