A personal view

A personal view.

I first came to Lescun, by chance (and yet, perhaps, not by chance), in the summer of 1985. My (now) wife, Kathy, and I had hitch-hiked from Cherbourg with no clear idea of where we going and with only the word “Pyrenees” in our heads.

I remember, while staying at a cheap hotel in Gan, near Pau, looking at a road map and noticing a minor route winding its way up to a village called Lescun.

We identified this as our destination and it was a decision that changed our lives.

It changed our lives because it started a love affair with the mountains that has taken us trekking in the Himalayas and the Atlas mountains of north Africa. It has led us to rock climb all over Britain and Europe – from Ben Nevis to the Gorge de Verdon.

But always we return to Lescun.

Look at any book about the Pyrenees and Lescun will be there. The mountains in the cirque – that horseshoe of peaks that enfolds and defines the village, represents a unique harmony between the mountain of man, with his pastures, his flocks of sturdy sheep, his transhumance and , on the other hand the high austere landscape of rock, snow and ice where life only survives in the crevices.

This work represents an attempt to record the knowledge of the cirque that I have acquired over more than a quarter of a century.

In setting out on this path I have been encouraged by the friends I have made along the way, in particular Alfred Souperbat whose family made us so welcome when we first arrived in the village and with whom we have shared more mountain adventures than I could possibly remember.

I would also thank Francois Carrafancq. His painting, his photography and his mountaineering exploits were, in those early days, inspirational. There is no doubt that Francois occupies a significant place in the story of the Pyrenees.