Original title in Castilian Spanish: El gardián invisible (Destino, 2013)

The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo

I only started reading The Invisible Guardian by Dolores Redondo because I knew the setting. I last visited Elizondo, where most of the action takes place, when walking the Pyrenean Senda (GR11) in 2012. And over the last ten years I have been there regularly as well as living nearby for three months. So I was more interested in the backdrop than the plot. Initially.

Very quickly the action takes over and pages continue to turn. I’m not a crime thriller fan, but there are certain books which go beyond their genre and achieve a wider appeal. This is sure to be one of them.

Elizondo and the Baztan valley

For a start Elizondo, in Basque northern Navarre, is a remarkable town, like a Cotswold wool town, founded on the strength of the luxuriant pastures of the Baztan. Dolores Redondo rebuilds the imposing stone-walled houses for the reader, enveloping them in mist, rain, rivers and woods, but skilfully avoiding overloading the page with description.

Her Elizondo – my Elizondo – is a town on the verge of modernity, with a new police station, a by-pass and out-of-town supermarket. But the doors on most shops are creakily ancient; inside the past has yet to be dusted away. Here, carnival is not just some tame spectacle resurrected for tourists; masked youngsters wielding chainsaws continue to contest the powers-that-be.

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Pyrénées à la croisée des climats : la montagne face aux défis du changement climatique, by Santiago Mendieta, éditions Privat, 2011

I’ve been wondering for some time how the Pyrenees will face up to global warming and Santaigo Mendieta’s book is just what I have been looking for. It’s not all bad news.

In fact it is two books in one. On the one hand, the eternal mountains of the photos: despite the impressive photos showing just how much the glaciers have retreated, there are still crimson sunsets, splashing waterfalls, gloomy forests and immaculate fields of snow. And on the other hand, there are the changing mountains of the text, with the figures on global warming, the diminishing fertility of the fish, and trees marching north, invading the plains. Nothing will ever be the same again.

The statistics which most impressed me? The conclusion that in the mountains the isotherm is rising by 3 metres a year. And on the plain, in order to find the same average temperature, you have to move northwards 1–3km. (more…)

By Terry Cudbird

Peyrepertuse (photo: Terry Cudbird)

Steve has just completed the Sentier des Cathares. I walked much of it a year or two ago with some English friends, who unanimously rated it one of the best treks they had done. A French randonneur we met on day one turned his nose up when we described our plans. He though the Cathar trail was designed for tourists, not real free spirits. That’s a harsh judgement. For me it was a great combination of attractive landscapes and historical sites, in this case linked to the Cathar heresy of the twelfth and thirteen centuries.

The Pyrenees seen from Quéribus castle (photo: Terry Cudbird)

You visit many of the so called Cathar castles, some of which are in very dramatic locations. Montségur from one side looks like a pimple on top of a ziggurat of limestone. From the uppermost keep Peyrepertuse hovers like a helicopter over the valley below. Quéribus reminded me of a German blockhaus in the Atlantic Wall. These castles were on the frontier of France and the medieval Kingdom of Aragon and that’s why the French kings wanted to control them. Standing on top of Peyrepertuse I imagined medieval soldiers huddled around a fire to keep warm and dying of boredom. (more…)

The Chemin de la Liberté, Ariège

For me, for many walkers, the Pyrenees mean freedom: wandering anywhere without worrying about bumping into a hostile landowner. But during the Second World War for many people in occupied France, freedom began at the frontier.

There were many paths to freedom, just as there are many versions of the Saint James’ Way. But unlike the pilgrim trails, the paths to freedom didn’t use the low passes, and the itinerary changed constantly.

Nevertheless, one version was reopened and signposted in 1994: the route from Saint-Girons in the Ariège to Esterri d’Aneu in Catalonia.

In his book “Le chemin de la Liberté” Scott Goodall follows the path taken by British airmen, Jews and young French men fleeing forced labour in Germany. It is a guide to a strenuous five-day walk in the Couserans and the Valier massif interspersed with contemporary accounts from those who followed it during the war.

Reading it made me want to follow in their tracks. As the author says “Walking the Chemin de la Liberté from end to end is a way of bringing this page of history back to life.”

The book is available in both English and French.

More information on http://www.chemindelaliberte.com/

David Chétrit’s new book (La réintroduction de l’ours : l’histoire d’une manipulation, The reintroduction of the bears: a question of undue influence) is sure to become a reference on the subject. It is well worth reading, even though I find some of his ideas debatable. But you don’t have to be in total agreement with him to acknowledge the research which has gone into this well-documented tome.

Let’s start with the blurb on the back cover: “Going well beyond the anti- and pro-bear debate, this investigative book looks back at the story and the different players.” All of which gives an impression of neutrality. But it’s not like that at all. In reality it is a brief for the prosecution, with the Ministry of the Environment and nature associations as accused. The crime: manipulation of public opinion and disregard of democratic process.

With a dedication to shepherds and headings such as “Organised gang rape” it’s clear that academic detachment won’t be an outstanding feature of this book.

The book looks back at the last forty years of the love-hate relationship between bears and the inhabitants of the Pyrenees, based on documents published by the various actors involved. It is a detailed account, impossible to summarise adequately, so I have simply noted the most interesting passages.
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