les pyrénées tout en marchant sur le GR10
Steve Cracknell
De même que les médecins disposent de stéthoscopes pour mieux ausculter leurs patients, les randonneurs possèdent le sentier du GR 10 quand ils veulent scruter le cœur des Pyrénées...
Pierre Minvielle
***
Nous voilà plongés dans un vaste panorama qui ne laisse rien de côté. De la sexualité des limaces à l’héritage des romantiques, en passant par la glace au piment d’Espelette, ou encore l’avenir de l’ours brun. C’est le portrait des Pyrénées françaises, entrant de plain-pied dans le XXIe siècle, que nous dresse « Les Pyrénées, tout en marchant sur le GR10 ».
Mais c’est aussi l’histoire d’un marcheur solitaire. Et celle d’un chemin de grande randonnée, la Traversée des Pyrénées (GR10). En quittant la côte Atlantique, Steve Cracknell pensait se diriger vers la Méditerranée, le long d’un chemin tranquille qui serpente à travers la chaîne de montagnes. Et il se retrouve, crampons aux pieds, à traverser des glaciers pour s’attaquer aux plus hauts sommets du massif.
En chemin il croise un séminariste qui compte sur Dieu pour l’orienter, un randonneur électrifié, un parachutiste de précision, un véritable troupeau de bergers… Et il lutte pour parvenir à digérer la garbure, l’omniprésente soupe des Pyrénées.
C’est dans un livre à la fois riche et plein d’esprit, qu’il avance d’un pas léger à travers le paysage, et qu’il conclut que les Pyrénées sont en train de changer à grande vitesse. Qu’attendez-vous pour les découvrir ?
Presse (édition anglaise)
The FrenchPaper Livre du Mois, février 2010
« Une histoire d’aventure pleine d’humour. »
How wrong can anyone be? This English author who now lives south of Carcassonne wanted to walk the easy way across the Pyrenees – of which he has a splendid view from his home. He chose the ‘gentler’ route of GR10 but finished up using crampons and crossing glaciers to tackle the highest peaks of the range. This is a very humorous tale of adventure, but there is also a lot of extra information about local customs, history and information aplenty surrounding the trek from the Atlantic side of the mountain range to the Mediterranean. I would have loved more photos, but there are five on the back cover, and an excellent map for the trek inside.
Sandie George
Strider, magazine du Long Distance Walkers' Association
« Un superbe livre de plus sur les Pyrénées. Unique. »
This book is about one man’s journey along the Pyrenean Way, the GR 10, in France, from Hendaye on the Atlantic to Banyuls on the Mediterranean. Though it is self-published this is far from a vanity publishing project.
This is one middle-aged man’s need to complete a long, day-after-day walk. He does plenty of that and though the book forms a continuous narrative actually he did the whole walk in what I worked out to be three stretches over about three years. He says he needs to walk not just for a couple of hours but day after day but he doesn’t know why... I think there will be many in the LDWA who feel the same. At the end he says, quoting a friend “Walking is a primitive activity. Not only have we been doing it since childhood, but it has also been programmed into us genetically. We spend so much of our lives thinking, analysing and coping with new situations that it is good to return to doing something instinctive. Yes, that’s it.”
But don’t buy this as a guide book it is not anything like that. Nor is it, thank goodness, the account of yet another middle-aged man finding himself. Buy it because it is a superb and unique addition to books about the Pyrenees.
Here he writes beautifully about language, though English he lives in France and speaks and reads French fluently, so he can question locals, other walkers and has access to many sources denied to those without French. Consequently he provides us with much material on Pyrenean flora, fauna, geology, history, politics, economy and many more aspects. All woven into his walking.
He misses Rosemary Bailey’s Love & War in the Pyrenees about the second world war (it may have been published to recently for inclusion) and doesn’t spend any time on why the Pyrenees are so called but these two quibbles aside this is a superb addition to writing on the Pyrenees and at £9.50 great value.
He claims the FFRP (French ramblers association) Guide is the best (it’s very good if you speak French) but makes no mention of Paul Lucia’s Cicerone Guide which I think is excellent. Given the quality of the book though, this oversight is trivial.
Rview by Justin Gutmann, December 2009
Great way to learn about the Pyrenees Mountains *****
“Many travel books tend to be either dry and merely descriptive, or overly florid in prose. Thankfully, this book avoids both … We learn much about the natural world of the Pyrenees … there is a very large emphasis on the human element of the mountains. Very well written, the book reads much like a novel.”
Review by Bilahn, March 25, 2009 – Amazon reviewer (USA) - read the complete review
From Andy Howell's Walking and Trekking pages
“This book is a joy to read … the historical detail here is superb [but] it’s not just history that is featured here. Steve provides a lovely account of contemporary life in the hills. Here you’ll find discussions with shepherds, farmers and those seeking to scratch a living by supporting hiking and walking. The changing nature of the regions is captured well.
This book has the best account of the ‘bear controversy’ that I have read in English. Here we learn about the plight of the bear, attempts to re-populate the area with Slovakian bears and the fierce arguments between the locals, some who want the bears removed and those who see their re-introduction in the wild as critical to the survival of the ambience and culture of the mountains.”
Review by Andy Howell, 29 April 2009 - read the complete review
Buy the English edition at Amazon.com ($13.34), Amazon.co.uk (£8.55 and free delivery), Lulu.com (£9.50)
Or download the Acrobat version (£3.00)
