The Col du Somport: The Pilgrims' Pass Above the Aspe Valley
Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
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Via Tolosane
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250
XP
+100 France
= 350 total
1 day
The Col du Somport: The Pilgrims' Pass Above the Aspe Valley
250 + 100 XP
The Somport sits at about 1,632m on the Spanish border where the Aspe valley opens into Aragon, and the Roman road up to it, the Via Tolosane, was the most popular of all the crossings for pilgrims heading to Compostela until the 12th century, when Roncesvalles became the safer choice. The Vandals, Alans, Suebi and Visigoths all came the other way through it in the early fifth century. The Aspe below is still wild country, and for a long time it was the refuge of the Pyrenean brown bear.
Required Activities
1
of 5
Drive the full 40 km of the Aspe valley from Escot up to the col, and ignore the signs for the 8.6 km tunnel that has taken the traffic off this road since it opened on 7 February 2003 — the old pass road is the quiet one now
2
of 5
Stand on the frontier at the col by the Ermita del Pilar, the one building up here, and work out what the pilgrims coming up the Via Tolosane from Oloron-Sainte-Marie were facing: 840 km still to Santiago, down into Aragon on the Camino aragonés
3
of 5
Walk a stretch of the waymarked pilgrims' way down from the col towards Urdos, and find the abandoned works of the Pau to Canfranc railway in the valley beside it — opened in 1928 and shut after a goods train brought down the Estanguet bridge on 27 March 1970
4
of 5
Walk Borce for its medieval houses and the ecomuseum room on the pilgrim road, then cross to Etsaut and look up at the Fort du Portalet clamped to the gorge wall — known as the fort d'Urdos although almost all of it stands in Etsaut
5
of 5
Walk the Chemin de la Mâture above Etsaut, the ledge cut straight into the rock in 1772 so that trees from the bois du Pacq could be brought down to be made into ships' masts, and work out how a mast was got along it
Drive the full 40 km of the Aspe valley from Escot up to the col, and ignore the signs for the 8.6 km tunnel that has taken the traffic off this road since it opened on 7 February 2003 — the old pass road is the quiet one now
Stand on the frontier at the col by the Ermita del Pilar, the one building up here, and work out what the pilgrims coming up the Via Tolosane from Oloron-Sainte-Marie were facing: 840 km still to Santiago, down into Aragon on the Camino aragonés
Walk a stretch of the waymarked pilgrims' way down from the col towards Urdos, and find the abandoned works of the Pau to Canfranc railway in the valley beside it — opened in 1928 and shut after a goods train brought down the Estanguet bridge on 27 March 1970
Walk Borce for its medieval houses and the ecomuseum room on the pilgrim road, then cross to Etsaut and look up at the Fort du Portalet clamped to the gorge wall — known as the fort d'Urdos although almost all of it stands in Etsaut
Walk the Chemin de la Mâture above Etsaut, the ledge cut straight into the rock in 1772 so that trees from the bois du Pacq could be brought down to be made into ships' masts, and work out how a mast was got along it
Before you go
Snow lies at the col from late October to late May, and although the pass is the one central-Pyrenean crossing normally open all year, winter tyres or chains are sensible and the 8.6 km tunnel underneath is the all-weather route. The Chemin de la Mâture is a narrow shelf cut into a cliff face with a long drop on one side and is no place for small children or anyone uneasy with heights.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
250 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
350 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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