Episode 36

Episode 36

The high peaks of Montserrat are very aptly named for indeed the whole outline of the mountain does appear very serrated from all directions.

We drove up into the nation park where there are a number of hotels and a monastery at around the 750m level. From this point there are some paths upward and a funicular, a particularly steep one. Going down from this point there is a cable car and another funicular.

Being well into the afternoon when we arrived here we took the funicular up to its top station, a view point with great views over the city of Barcelona 50k’s away to the east, the Mediterranean, and the Pyrenees to the north. Unfortunately it was very hazy and we couldn’t even see Barcelona, let alone anywhere further away. We did a couple of short walks, all we had time for but because of the haze the views were not better at the higher points. There were a lot of people up on the mountain with backpacks and camping gear set for a couple of days of hiking I expect.

In some ways it resembled Torres del Paine in Chile except that the peaks here are more soft and rounded, but the whole place has a similar form. Here the rock is conglomerate and siltstone and sandstone, it was all once on the bottom of a sea. At some point in time it has been up-lifted and folded and the wind, rain, and ice have weathered it into what we see now. The high bare upper rock has formed into huge fat vertical columns. There are some that have been given names because of there odd shapes, the pregnant woman, and the elephant (that is a really good one), there are others that resemble faces and other forms.

On a warm sunny morning we drove into Barcelona. Parked the car in a parking station then we set off on foot to have a look around this city. Possibly founded as early as 230BC it has been occupied by the Romans, Visigoths, the Muslims before being retaken by the Christians in the 1140’s. Modern Barcelona with its population of around 1.5 million is a bustling city with some broad avenues, tree lined, and many narrow dark and dingy streets. In the oldest part of the city there are lots of narrow alleys too.

La Rambla is a long wide street with a pedestrian walkway down the centre that is lined with tourist stalls, open air cafes, buskers and very crowded, mostly tourists. Some of the buskers can be quiet entertaining. On either side there are shops that sell just about everything, hostels, hotels, a food market and a flower market. At the south-eastern end where it meets the water front stands a tall column as a monument to Christopher Columbus. Just across from that is the rather attractive looking Port building, possibly an old customs house but we couldn’t find out for sure. Then there is a very large and full marina and an aquarium amongst other things on the broad walks along the water front.

In a tent set up in this area we saw a display about the Barcelona ‘round the world’ yacht race that hasn’t quite finished yet. It started on the 11^th of November and the first yachts to finish arrived back here about the 9^th of February. They sailed down the west coast of Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope, through the southern ocean south of Australia, through Cook Strait between the North and South Islands of NZ then around Cape Horne and back to here without making landfall along the way. Each yacht had only two crew:

We meandered through the old city and admired some of the lovely old buildings. Although most buildings are around 10 stories high there are very few really high buildings in the city, and none of them are in this area. Most of these are 19^th and early 20^th century, though there are some older ones. Some have a tower at a corner or some sculptures around them. One had several pictures embossed on one wall. It was hard to get a good look at them as the street was very narrow and they were up quite high.

The Cathedral was completely swathed in scaffolding and gauze with a painted rendition of what it might look like on the gauze. It was closed at the time we passed by and no-one seemed too certain at what time it might re-open. A small section of the old Roman wall was visible too.

A little further on we saw a very pretty building painted in soft pastel shades that highlighted the sculptures and mouldings all around the exterior so that they appeared like cameos above the plaster surface. It was 2 to 3 stories high and also had stained glass windows. It was locked up tight so we did what everyone else was doing and peered through the large windows to see some of the interior. The lobby ceiling was vaulted and corded with the cording highlighted in a dark paint and the pink marble stair case had amber uprights in the balustrade. It is called Palau del Baro de Quadras and used to house a museum of musical instruments but no longer does so.

Probably the most spectacular site is the still unfinished church known as ‘The Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia’. Sort of looks a bit like a medieval cathedral that lost the plot somehow. It’s not very old, it was begun in 1882 funded by a wealthy publisher and with one architect who had simple tastes but he was replaced two years later by Antoni Gaude who didn’t like straight lines so everything is curves in one form or another.

One each end are a number of conical shaped spires that appear to me to be honeycombed, they reach about 75m above the ground. In the design there is to be one that will be double that in height: On the north eastern end that appears to be the oldest there are three recessed archways full of carvings that depict Christs birth and childhood. To me when I looked up at them I got the impression I was looking into caves. Apparently Gaudi did much of this sculpture himself. There is much scaffolding on the outside where there is on going work and even more inside where only part of the recently built transept can be seen. The tall pillars here appear to branch out after 20m and soar another 10m or more to give the impression of trees branching into shell like mouldings that form the inside of the roof. The floor is cluttered with the form work that was used to make those mouldings. There is plenty of light to see here as there are no windows in place yet and the roof is not complete. The remainder of the interior is all scaffolding except for one small chapel that is used for services.

In the crypt is a display of old photos showing progress on construction from its earliest years as well as plaster models of various parts of the building and lots of other information about the place and the people who had a hand in its construction.

Looking at it from the outside there is a vast contrast between the stone used in the early part of the constructions and the concrete being used now, as I’m sure there is a vast difference in the equipment that was used to the great cranes that are now being used to finish off the high towers. Although in recent years there has been quite a lot of progress in the construction it is not in imminent danger of being finished though with the number of tourists who visited the place there should be ample funds to do so. It was quite crowded now, what it must be like in the summer I dread to think; for those that dearly desired to visit the tower the wait was at least 1 hours. A view this place their website is: www.sagradafamilia.org

In the late afternoon with a thundering headache we headed back to the car, our need to escape the city out-weighing our desire to see more of it so before the traffic got too bad we headed off out of the city and back into the wooded hill to camp the night in the pine forest. The smell of pine and rosemary, a much nicer combination than the odours of the city:

Now we are heading up into the Pyrenees and across the border into France again. On Friday the 29^th Feb we are booked on a ferry from Boulogne-sur-mer to Dover and then back to Arundel. Heather, our long suffering friend there will by then, have returned from her sojourn in the sun in Borneo.

Climbing up through the Pyrenees we crossed the border into France. Along the way we passed a few resort villages, they are probably ski resorts except that there isn’t any snow here for skiing. Just to the north is one of the highest mountains in the Pyrenees, Pic de Conigou at nearly 2900m. On the east-west axis of the ridge there is a little snow to be seen on the high tops, the south facing flank is free from snow, the north facing flank, we later saw, has just a smattering of snow on the high slopes, not near enough for skiing. There were a few people about in the villages but also many places closed up. Lower down in the wooded hills we passed through a forest of cork and holm oak trees and despite the repeated signs for deer all we saw were two alpaca and a field full of mole hills.

In many of the villages we saw wattles in full bloom, I think most were a black wattle, the one with a fern type leaf, but a few were Cootamundra wattles or something very similar. On a couple of hillsides there were plantations of wattles, each of about 5acres (2 hectares), they stood out like giant yellow flags. The fruit trees are also in blossom, we passed through a valley where most were either in full bloom or starting to bloom. They were all shades of bright pink. In household gardens the purple magnolias are flowering too. A few more days of this really warm weather and the trees will be in leaf. I can’t believe that it is only February as I have not needed my pullover to walk about and I’ve been wearing only sandals, despite the fact that we pass people wearing heavy coats and boot. Being the weekend the cyclists are all and about, thousands of them riding up and down the mountains, perhaps they are all training for the ‘tour de France’.

David spotted a sign to a gorge so we went and had a look. It was very pretty; gray rock with green shrubs growing in the crevices and sheltered spots. A narrow winding road clung to the edge of the narrow chasm about 35m above the stream with the high peaks towering another 80m or so above. This is Gorges de Galamus. After about 4k the valley suddenly opened out into farmland.

I did notice that it appears to be quite dry in the mountains. The streams are a mere trickle, possibly that is normal at this time of year but if they are depending on melting snow to boost them in the spring then they are going to be sorely disappointed unless one hell of a lot of snow falls soon. There is barely enough up there at present to fill a tea cup.

Near the town of Millau there is a massive viaduct on the motor way. We saw it from a distance and passed right underneath. It’s a type of suspension bridge and the pylons reach 370m high; about 100m of that is above the road level. It is very long too: We had been following the Tarn River upstream past as series of dams with small hydro stations in a narrow, steep, pine clad valley. These dams are nearly full unlike the Spanish ones.

Not far further on we came to the gorges of the Tarn River. The Tarn and Jonte Rivers almost encircle an area of limestone plateau .There is a gap of about 15 to 20k’s between the sources of both rivers then the Jonte flows due west while the Tarn flows north, then west, then south, to a point where they join and become the Tarn near the town of Le Rozier. There are a number of caves in the area and a large sink hole but they are all closed at this time of year. We could drive through the gorges and they are really pretty with the shallow sandy river at the bottom, sheer limestone cliffs above with trees and shrubs growing out of nooks and crannies. A few villages cling to the sides of the gorges too, they blend in really well with their surroundings as they are built of local stone and have slate roofs that are discoloured with mosses and mould. There was a chateau too on the bank of the river.

Although the plateau reaches up to around the 1000m mark there was no snow and it was quite warm, some distance further north past the town of Mende where we got up around 1300m we saw just a little snow left in the sheltered areas. Looking eastwards towards the Alps we saw a few snowy high mountain tops but it was so warm here that I wondered how the snow had managed to last this long.

I will try and tell you something of the difference between the Spanish and French villages. In Spain most of the housing is in unit or flats in two and three story buildings in small villages, much higher blocks in larger towns; in France, in the area that we have passed though so far over the last few days, although there are some units or flats mostly there are more separate houses with small gardens. In Spain in most places the buildings were nearly all whitewashed though in the north of the country we did encounter many that were built of stone or were painted in earthy colours. Nearly every building had an orange/terracotta roof. In France they don’t go in for the whitewash, they use the soft earthy colours when the places are painted or use local stone. Most of the roofs are gray slate. Some of the slate we have seen is really thick, 3 to 4cm so the roofs must be really heavy, no wonder they always seem to be sagging in the middle.

In this area too we have seen some little stone buildings with large wood fired ovens in one end. We have not yet been able to work out what they are used for but perhaps they use them to smoke ham. In Spain there were many villages that specialled in their own locally smoked hams. The pigs there are fed on the acorns of the holm and cork oaks and produce a ham of distinctive flavour. In this part of France the forest is mainly deciduous oak and pine so perhaps the pigs here too are fed on the acorns.

The days continued to be warm, especially so for this time of year and the willow trees are coming into leaf and the forsythia beginning to flower, (at least I think it is forsythia), it is bright yellow. Plenty of sheep and lambs in the fields along with cows and horses and the spring crops are growing well. All the garden centres seem to be quite busy so I think spring must be in the air.

We have driven along beside and crossed over several canals, France is crisscrossed by canals; there aren’t many boats on them at present but when summer comes they will be crowded with pleasure craft. These canals must be stocked with fish; we have noticed a few people sitting in the sunshine on grassy banks fishing.

Since we have a time limit we have not been above to spend much time looking about places. In a couple of towns we have seen Chateaux and castles but most places are still closed. Even the tourist information places are mostly closed, yet those that are open have told us that they are quite busy with people phoning and faxing for information.

Driving northward across France skirting around Paris to the east of the city we passed through one after another pleasant French village. These villages we found quite nice they didn’t appear bland as those we had passed through on the way south. Each seemed to have a little character with a bakers and butchers and a coffee shop along the main road though we saw very few people moving about. In an English village at 10am there would be heaps of activity around the streets with people shopping or workmen attending to things but in these French villages it was hard to spot anyone; didn’t even see kids going to or coming home from school; what do they all do? Farmers on tractors are a common sight, usually we see them when trying to negotiate a very narrow road, they are invariably coming towards us with a huge great trailer or combine behind and we have to pull off into a hedge or something to let them pass.

The country was mainly rolling farmland with plenty of pasture and crops; we did pass through an area where there were quite a lot of dairy farms and another valley that was full of grape vines but generally it was agricultural country. The last couple of days we had a lot of drizzle most of the time.

It was on a dreary and cold morning that we caught the ferry back to England. We were almost back in Dover before we could see the white cliffs; the sea wasn’t rough but very gray and daunting looking. Low cloud and drizzle accompanied us all the way back to Arundel. The daffodils were all in bloom along with the primroses and hyacinths, the forsythia was coming out and the snow drops had virtually finished. Big areas of golden daffodils everywhere!

Since we’ve been back we haven’t really done much. Went down to Cornwall again, saw Sharon, David’s cousin who had been out to Burnett Heads in our absence and caught up on her experiences whilst there. We also went back for another look around the Eden Project. Again the weather wasn’t very nice with overcast skies. Here too the spring flowers were out in force with great swathes of daffodils from the tiny miniature ones to great tall giant ones. Some have the very deep almost orange centres whilst others are almost white. We came upon an area where several Australian tree ferns are growing. A small notice here tells that they were planted last year and gives the story of how they came to get here; it seems that they arrived in England in a consignment that didn’t have all the proper documentation so they were confiscated by Customs and Quarantine (or the British equivalent) and distributed to parks, gardens and charitable projects such as this Eden Project right around the country. Being a plant it seems that you don’t get deported if you come without your proper paperwork:

The Eden Project will celebrate its birthday on 17^th March; it opened to the public on that date in 2001 apparently.

The night we stayed with Sharon near Launceston there was a very bad storm on the north coast of Cornwall although we did get rain and fairly strong winds we were sheltered from the worse of it. When we visited Port Isaacs the next day we found that the road to the next village had been washed away to a large extent so there was no longer vehicle access into that village. At least that will give the residents a traffic free Easter. Port Isaacs is the picturesque little village facing a tiny bay that was used as a setting for the television series ‘Doc Martin’. The houses are built of a light gray stone with slate roofs, mosses and lichens grow on the roofs making them appear almost like tiny gardens. One narrow road descends into the village separated from the cliffs either by a stone wall or by some small houses and shops that cling to the cliff edge with a pounding surf bashing itself against the rocks below. For the privilege of parking your car on the sandy beach at the bottom, only possible when the tide is out, you must pay the princely sum of £2.

From the fast flowing stream that flows into the bay the village spreads up the steep hills on both sides with the houses accessed by a number of steep narrow alleyways. One of these is Temple Bar said to be the narrowest thoroughfare in the world at only 18 inches (450mm) wide in one part. Not only is it very narrow by it is also very low as a house is built over the top so that people like David have to bend to pass through the passage.

It was almost deserted on this blustery, cold and wet afternoon, we tried to find a postcard but the only place we found to be open was the post office and that was limited to just post office business as the rest of the shop was is the process of being redecorated and had nothing else for sale. We were told that most places would be opening on the 17^th for the start of the school holidays and the Easter break but on this afternoon the place seemed pretty well deserted.

Travelling along the north coast of Devon we called in at Clovelly where we found a car park above the ‘traffic free’ town that charges £10 for parking whether it be for 5mins whilst you pop into the tourist information office or 10 hours whilst you walk around the coast. To us this seemed a bit over the odds so we drove back out and went along to the next and much more tourist friendly town.

At a small place called Westwardho we watched the surf breaking against the sea wall. The 3 to 4m waves were rolling in and crashing against the wall sending spray high into the air. It must have been unusual as many local people were out photographing these waves. Many holiday units and a park full of demountable caravans are positioned just a few feet above the sea level and no doubt being sprayed with sea water from time to time. If sea levels should rise then it won’t take much for these demountables to become ‘house boats’. The wild seas continued all along that north coast of Devon.

© Lynette Regan 17^th March 2008