Pyrenees

A long, long  time ago in a galaxy not too far away I used to travel a lot on business. Now some of the places I worked at were to put it mildly, absolute shit holes. Kanpur in India springs to mind, Newton-le-Willows was another. One of the nicer places was in Northern Spain near the Pyrenees, the mountain range that separates France in the North from Spain in the South. These photos are from a couple of excursions up there at weekends while I was working in Logroño in La Rioja region famous for it's wines.

Misty morning in the Pyrenees

Boca del Infierno

Boca del Infierno is a narrow gorge in the Valle de Hecho (Hecho Valley). What an amazing gorge, very narrow with sheer sides down to the torrent below.  A direct Spanish to English translation of Boca del Infierno is Hellmouth. Didn't see Buffy the Vampire up there but on the second trip I did see one of the Wallcreeper's the site is famous for.

Col du Portalet

One trip I went through the 8.6km Tunnel du Somport into France to visit a Vulture sanctuary where they have Lammergiers. Returning to Spain over the 6000ft high Col du Portalet was interesting,  switchback after hairpin after switchback all the way up. It was difficult enough in a turbocharged Renault and these fanatical morons were cycling up there. Nice view once you got up there.

Col du Portalet grasses