We need to talk about Cevennes national park

09-08-2013

Mont Aigoual in the Parc National Des Cevennes appears to be a very popular destination for a drive. It is topped by a Meteo meteorological station (and exhibition centre) and an IGN trig hidden in a round circle of stones – and the large car park was full. 

 

The IGN trig hides the true summit behind

 

 

However, for the thousands who must visit daily in the summer – or ski there in the winter – I suspect that only a small handful bother to visit the true summit about 1.6km away.

1.20km, 105m ascent

For the true summit, even the marked path that starts at the roadside at (1521m) N44.12332 E3.57020 traverses rather than visits it – this is the only access from the west that does not involve getting over a barbed wire fence and ignoring signs about it being a tranquillity zone. 

However, there is a fainter path that follows the fence line to the summit marked by a small communications mast that looks a bit like a sailing boat. The view was far and wide, but there was not a lot to see, really.

2.31km, 160m total ascent

Overnight at Camping La Cascade, Meyrueis (743m – lowest I have slept for a long while)

10-08-2013

Mont Lozere/Sommit de Finials is also in the Parc National des Cevennes – a Major, 1699m high and P649 at N44.42609 E3.73911.

There is a paved road up to the Col de Finiels which has plentiful parking space (1541m) N44.42428 E3.76858. 

There is a choice of walks from the col shown on a signboard – and they are all quite obvious on the ground. I ‘ascended’ the piste on the left which goes through pine trees before coming out on meadows/ski country  nearer the tops. 

The highest top is obvious and has a direct path to where it is marked by a cairn and stone shelter – there was a view all round of lesser hills.

For the descent, I wandered over some intervening tops before finding an alternative path back to the start.

5.95km, 388m total ascent

Overnight at Aire de Stationnement Camping cars, Pardines (486m – getting even lower)

Adios Espana

08-08-2013

Puig Neulus/Pico de Neulos, Serra de l’Albera, has a Catalan name and was my final Spanish mountain, although I started in France and much of the short way walked on the French side of the border fence. It is 1257m high, P972, JMH35 at N42.48214 E2.94708.

Rocs de trois termes

The mast road from Le Perthus is barricaded 500 metres before you can reach the actual Col de Pou itself. However, there is room for several vehicles on a bend/junction at (1051m) N42.47958 E2.93455. It is possible to walk/cycle the rest of the way on the paved road. However, it is better to leave the road at the Col de Pou (1131m) N42.47501 E2.93395 and follow the border fence – I included a quick detour to the ermita at Pou de la Neu, however was not overwhelmed by it. 

The summit is marked by a Spanish trigpoint and a rather tall French pile of stones – and a communications mast. There was a clearish view all round including a cloud topped Canigou to the west and the Mediterranean to the south-east.

My descent route was back by the fence to the col and then the road to the bend.

4.68km, 532m total ascent

Everything you need to know about Pic de Nore

Overnight at the summit of Pic de Nore (1211m) – and this is a French Major, P752 at N43.42458 E2.46259 with a large communication mast and an OKish view whenever the mist cleared. It was also extremely breezy. 

 

Touring away from home:

07-08-2013

 

I said goodbye to the N260 at Ripoll, although I caught a Daliesque glimpse of it in the centre of Figueres and headed off in the opposite direction from my home to the north-west by going south-east to bag Turo de l’Home in Macizo del Montseny/Montseny Nature Parque. It may be only 1706m high, however it is P1125 and number 19 in the JMH Iberian prominence list, so had to be done and, hence justified the odd way of setting off home.

There are various routes to the top – a popular one starts from Font de Passavets (1230m) N41.77979 E2.45234. However I did the lazy thing of driving up to the carpark under Puig Sesolles at (1495m) N41.77133 E2.44065 and walking the final kilometre up the barricaded paved road to the summit with a raised trigpoint N41.77649 E2.43484.

  To make up for my laziness I semi-jogged to and from the alternative and more interesting summit of Les Agudes N41.78938 E2.44393  – which in some lists is given the same height, in others it is a metre or two lower.

Les Agudes

The views were good enough.

6.75km 495m total ascent

Overnight at Col de Pou, Le Perthus, France ( 1051m)

Picked clean by Vulturo

05+06-08-2013

El Querforadat

It is so crumbly, I am surprised that there is anything left of the Sierra del Cadi and its highest point Vulturo/Canal Baridana. It is not just the small scree stones that move. Rocks as big as loaves of bread readily roll under your feet and occasionally so do ones the size of supermarket shopping baskets. And, when I was displacing rocks as large as supermarket trolleys I knew it was time to get away, slowly and carefully.





There was no point in trying to get away by scrambling up the escarpment face, in the few places it looked possible, as solid looking handholds came away and footholds too.

My first attempt at Vulturo (Major, 2647m, P872, JMH52, N42.28591 E1.63580) went wrong at an early stage as I missed a turn in the pista. When I realised, instead of returning to the turn, I bushwhacked my way through the pine trees in the hope of finding the right trail higher up.

In his book, JMH includes sketch maps of the routes that I copied on to pieces of paper, if I did not have a map. Usually, if the route includes a collado he depicts it with a = symbol – in this case he doesn't, misleading me into thinking that the way up was to the east of the collado between Vulturo and Puig de Les Gralleres.

When I came out of the trees I came upon the stone filled slopes as described above. With difficulty I managed to traverse around to where I thought the path would be and picked up a faint trail. This brought me to the foot of the escarpment – and I did manage to climb up to the top of a knobbly stack.

I managed to stand on that knobbly thing in the middle - yikes

I could see that others had managed to climb the next section, but it looked beyond my abilities (later when I could see what was above there, I knew I made the right decision to reverse). I was only 500 metres from the summit and about 250m below it. I traversed the difficult slope some more and tried another likely and futile way up. From this vantage point I could see that there was a ‘path’ that went up the canal to the collado. However, it was too hot, I was too exhausted and it was too late to go for it. I managed to work my way down to the foot of the canal and pick up the voie normale as a descent route.

16.61km 1407m total ascent.

Overnight at El Querforadat (1393m) – I was too tired to worry about whether I was irritating the villagers by using up one of their very limited parking spots or not. I fell asleep debating whether I was going to have another go at Vulturo.

No parking here, then

On the second day there was a bit of a breeze and patches of cloud which meant it was, thankfully, a bit cooler. I do not think I really made a conscious decision to have a second go, I just set off. There is a tiny car park (1393m) N42.32427 E1.63619 at the entrance to the pueblo. There is no point driving past here as there is virtually no more authorised parking and within a short distance there is a no entry sign on the pista.

And, no entry here

The pista goes past a large house with a walled garden and electric gates and then comes to an area of scrubland with various cattle tracks which can be used as a short cut if you know where you are heading. The easiest short cut to find starts at (1448m) N42.31857 E1.63582 and all you do is keep on the pista, and ignore any cattle tracks, until you reach the main track (1538m) N42.31448 E1.63377. Turn right and then right again at (1636m) N42.30944 E1.63144. The pista soon deteriorates into a rough path that comes out on the broad grassy Collado de Josana (with a pointy memorial stone to Jaume Mata 1952-1970) (1746m) N42.30402 E1.63247.
From here there is a choice of paths east and west. The one on the west side is better engineered, but it bypasses Collado Superior de Josana and results in having to find your own way up the lower part of the canal.

The path to the east side is intermittent and poorly marked, but gets you to the Collado Superior de Josana (1890m) N42.30083 E1.63355. From here the path improves and switches to the west side of the ridge and into the canal.



From (2095m) N42.29254 E1.63174 the ordeal begins. The collado ahead looks impossibly steep-sided. Obviously, it isn’t impossible – after all, even I made it, with only limited swearing and weeping. At the top – (2469m) N42.28673 N163013 – I ate the banana I had promised myself and then walked up the final, mercifully, easy slope to the summit ridge.

The final bit, phew.

There is some easy scrambling on this ridge that can be avoided. The summit is marked with a sign that names it as Baridana, not Vulturo and there was no sign of any vultures either. However, there were splendid views of Andorra to the north and Pedraforca to the east.

Now all I had to do was get down. Some sections of the scree were fun, some were not. Just occasionally you get scree where the stones are the size (and colour) of almonds and the slope is just right and you get a ride that feels silky and sensual – the earth moves for you. However, most of the time the stones are too big, too few or the slope is too steep/not steep enough.

16.55km 1854m total ascent.

My advice to anyone else wishing to bag Vulturo:

1.       Buy a map

2.       Find a different route up – why not arrange transport and/or take a bivvy or tent and do the full ridge of Sierra del Cadi?

3.       Bag another mountain instead – like Cap de Gallina Pelada or Pedro de Quatre Batlles.

Overnight by the N260 at La Collado des Toses (1791m)