The Pallars
Region of Spain
Part Two: From Lladros north to Tavascon
and then over the pass back to France
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After Lladros, I wanted to go as far as I could along the path to the north. This is the path that takes hikers back to Vicdessos on the French side of the Pyrenees. Our Fairytale trio, Barthelemy, and Beatrice and her daughter, would have walked past Lladorre, staying on this side of the river, and seen this sight:
After Lladorre, they would have entered Tavascon (not to be confused with Tarascon), which now lies behind a reservoir that was not there 700 years ago.
Walking above Tavascon gives this view of its reservoir:
And taking a few steps forward onto a protruding ledge with a meadow, allowed this view of the town itself, directly below:
The road I took a hike on to rise above Tavascon went into a side canyon that gradually turned parallel to the main canyon, much as the canyon in which Tavascon and Lladros sit is a side canyon to the main canyon of the Pallars region.
Why did I not go up the main canyon for my hike? The dirt road was wet and muddy from rain that stopped just this same morning. I am a gentleman hiker. But looking north into the main canyon's steep rise shows the mountains we looked at previously from Vicdessos in France. The border lies in the passes and over the peaks ahead. Barthelemy and Beatrice waited until summer to avoid the creek being like this:
And to avoid the passes being like this:
So I just imagined the hike up into these mountains to go over a pass and into the valley in which Vicdessos sits. And to help my imaginings, I hiked into the side canyon that turns and becomes a parallel canyon to the one used by Barthelemy and Beatrice. But this canyon had a paved road dead-ending at a resort.
But I didn't even go that far. I just went up a few kilometers and was delighted by several unexpected views: a waterfall with a pony, a golden tree, an old trail, and the ruin of an old house.
I was alerted to the presence of the old house by looking up when I thought I had spotted a rock reinforced walkway:
So I climbed up and saw the ruin of a sizable house:
Beside the house there was a separate storage building:
Getting back on the road, I was pleased to see a marker for the old Pyrenean trail system:
Following this trail from above gave this view of it beside the creek below, just to the left of the creek:
The golden trees were wonderful:
And just to the right of the tree I discovered a side canyon that was the greatest of several pleasant surprises on this walk.
It had a wonderful waterfall, with a pony in the meadow below:
The waterfall met the canyon's creek below the road I was on:
After the waterfall there was a turn to the north, and I saw the peaks of the Pyrenees straight ahead, with snow
coming down lower and lower as I walked:
This made me wonder about my intention to cross back over the mountains into France later, and it occurred to me that there might be a risk of being unable to complete my journey. So I left the Pallars a bit sooner than planned and headed back to France over the pass in the main canyon that defines the Pallars.
The main canyon was trended to the northwest, and as I approached the higher peaks, the snow was falling:
As it turned out there was snow falling at the pass, but not yet sticking on the road.
Visibility was restricted at the top:
But just a few turns into the downside to the north of the pass, and the snow began to thin.
Just a few miles later it was not snowing, and then a few miles later it stopped raining. And I drove into France in a bright sunset! Camera batteries had all been used up by this time. Got some more when I got back to Tarascon.
I thoroughly enjoyed the feelings and vistas of this excursion into the Pallars. Barthelemy's going back there
with his 'wife' and her daughter, and then leaving again the next summer as soon as the snow was out of the passes
and the creeks had settled down, just underscores the idea for me that 'you can't go home again.'
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