Imagine your vacation house is about 100, 150 miles away from some of the most dramatic mountain countryside in the world. You know of course that ski trips (especially if you don’t ski) always have winter weather hazards but when the snow no longer covers the ground, you can have access the a national park that can rival Yosemite or a network of castles that simply rise out of the rocks. It should be a snap to take a long day trip or a quick over-nighter and take advantage of all the Pyrénées have to offer.
It should be but that’s where the curse of the Pyrénées comes in. On a clear day, you see the mountains from the town and you think, let’s go to the Pyrénées. Sometimes when it rains where you are, the mountains are bathed in glorious sunshine. You know you should never trust the weather reports – Google tells me it’s sunny despite the fact I ‘m getting drenched. But how many times have I headed up to those mountains only to be turned back by a raging storm … truth be told, in 20 years, you can count the successful Pyrénées trips on one hand.
But,you take a leap of faith and say, go for it. After all, it’s June, how bad could it be?
Everything goes well until you hit the turn-off that goes up the mountain pass.
Now, at this point, what I need to say is that about 540 years, Marguerite de Navarre, sister of François I, king of France, wrote a novel about travelers stranded in Pyrénées by the torrential downpours after they had visited the spa at Cauterets. I had always wanted to see Cauterets and the Abbeys of Saint-Savin and Notre Dame de Sarrance where the group eventually stayed. There they passed their time telling each other stories while waiting for new bridge to be constructed that would allow them to cross the river and return home. (There’s a funny sidebar to this about the town of Lourdes but that will wait for another time.)
Nonetheless, I headed up when almost every other car was coming down. And, I did reach Cauterets but by that time rain had increased so I was faced with a no-win choice: stay over-night and hope that the weather would improve or go back home.
I opted for the latter, took a few photos, found the Abbey of Saint-Savin and paid my homage. Then, reluctantly back to the autoroute.
Did I make the right decision? I’ve never had a worse storm when driving in France. Patches of the autoroute were flooded, hydroplaning in a Corsa is no fun. But, I made it home and when I did, I checked a webcam in Cauterets. Not a pretty sight.
Curse of the Pyrénées strikes again!
