Canigou Trips

collioure_bee · Post by **collioure_bee** » Tue 27 Apr 2010 11:37

I have been told you can drive up to a village (Clara way I think) and park up and it is about an hour and a half's walk to the top. Is this true? If so does anyone know where to go? If not, what is the closest you can get for shortest walk up?

thumbelina · Post by **thumbelina** » Tue 27 Apr 2010 11:52

If I remember rightly, I think up until about mid June you can drive up to the Hostal de Cortalets via the pretty Sournia. Park at the Hostal and walk the rest.

That is the 'motorway' route to the top.

collioure_bee · Post by **collioure_bee** » Tue 27 Apr 2010 11:57

Only because you'd be walking so bloody quickly to get away from bloody Sournia - the Isle of Man of France!!!

and there was me thinking - excellent, a quick response from someone in the know!!!

Serge · Post by **Serge** » Tue 27 Apr 2010 11:59

You are not thinking of leaping off the top and ending it all are you CB?

... nothing is that bad .... unless Labour get back in

thumbelina · Post by **thumbelina** » Tue 27 Apr 2010 12:01

I'm sorry, Bee! I can't resist teasing you!!

It's right, though, you can go up via Taurinya to the Hostal de Cortalets, leave your car there and walk the rest of the way.

(and it was you yourself who called Taurinya the pretty Sournia!

)

collioure_bee · Post by **collioure_bee** » Tue 27 Apr 2010 12:09

Could be worse serge....but let's not go there....

Did I say that?????? Taurinya is the devil's playground, they have strange dancing rituals around disco mirror balls up there you know! Any ideas how long it takes?

thumbelina · Post by **thumbelina** » Tue 27 Apr 2010 12:11

lol!

What the walk from Cortalets or getting to the spooky Sournia?

collioure_bee · Post by **collioure_bee** » Tue 27 Apr 2010 13:16

I have spent many a "happy" minute in Taurinya thank you

so yeah, how long is the walk from the place you mention?

thumbelina · Post by **thumbelina** » Tue 27 Apr 2010 14:22

About three hours I believe.

collioure_bee · Post by **collioure_bee** » Tue 27 Apr 2010 14:53

Not so bad. Cheers.

Roger O · Post by **Roger O** » Wed 28 Apr 2010 01:25

Don't forget to pass by and give a cheery hello to Dave while you're in Taurinya!!

collioure_bee · Post by **collioure_bee** » Wed 28 Apr 2010 12:10

Cheers Roger, I think Dave has seen me on his doorstep a few too many times!

(I used to deliver parcels to him).
The trick is not to spend too much time there, I am sure The Wicker Man was based on Taurinya

Jackie E · Post by **Jackie E** » Thu 29 Apr 2010 18:30

The walk up to the pic from Taurinya is definitely not the easiest route: most people recommend getting a jeep up to the Chalet des Cortalets [details of how to book below] - most people round these parts start from Fillols.
The website detailed below [from which this extract is copied] gives quite a helpful summary of the alternatives :
http://www.france-for-visitors.com/pyre ... nigou.html
"You can get at least part of the way up the Pic du Canigou by car or you can follow the trail heading up the river valley from Vernet on foot. Cars – and you would be well advised not to try it in a much-loved saloon – can get as far as the Chalet des Cortalets refuge either by the track from Villerach or the even steeper and rougher mining road that begins by the Al Pouncy campsite near Fillols and passes the Refuge de Balatg and the now vandalized Cabane des Cortalets, where herds of cows and horses graze untended (they are the best barometer of mountain weather, descending to lower altitudes when bad weather is imminent). Both routes take about an hour. Alternatively, you could rent a jeep and driver from M. Casadessus (tel 06.11.76.01.88) or Corbières Grand Raid (tel 04.68.05.24.24) in Prades, or Taurigna in Vernet-les-Bains (tel 04.68.05.54.39) and Fillols (tel 04.68.05.63.06). For walkers, the standard ascent is from Vernet on a path that begins about 1km along the road to Fillols, joining up with the GR10 at the Refuge de Bonaigua (about 3hr) which you leave (about 90min) below the Pic Joffre to follow the HRP up the ridge to the summit (about 1hr). It's not for faint hearts, because the final ascent up a chimney is rather exposed. There's a five-hour alternative, starting from Casteil, passing the Refuge Mariailles (tel 04.68.67.67.07; open all year; food served) on the GR10, then following the HRP for the last stretch via the Refuge Arago.

From the Chalet des Cortalets (tel 04.68.96.36.19; closed Nov–April), which has a restaurant, it's an easy ninety-minute walk to the top. Strike west through the last trees, past a little lake, with a magnificent view into the cirque below the summit, round the back of the Pic Joffre, and up the long stony ridge to the cross and Catalan flag that crown the summit.

Although the ascent by this route is straightforward in good weather, you should be properly shod and clothed and have good large-scale maps. If you're not experienced and encounter frozen snow, turn back: a German couple slid to their deaths on the slopes between Pic Joffre and the summit in 1991. Midsummer is a great time to do the climb. On the night of June 23, which often coincides with the full moon, Catalans for kilometres around, including half the population of Barcelona, gather on the top to light the bonfire from which a flame is carried to kindle all the feux de St-Jean of the Catalan villages, though the scene around the refuge can be pretty horrendous, with tents, ghetto blasters and litter galore."

collioure_bee · Post by **collioure_bee** » Thu 29 Apr 2010 18:58

Wow, Jackie, thank you very much for that detailed information. Fillols, know it well as it was part of my Chronopost route and always dragged out a sigh of "oh no..." lol.

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Canigou Trips

Canigou Trips