One birthday and countless hairpin bends

After a birthday breakfast of ensaimadas, a doughy pastry spiral from Mallorca, we planned to ascend to the car park at Bassa d’ Arres at 1,560m, in order to walk up to the former Victoria zinc mine, high on the opposite side of the valley from the campsite.

We followed a tiny, incredibly windy road out of Bossost, rapidly climbing higher and higher above the valley floor, with hairpin after hairpin bend. Most of the time there was no barrier before an almost vertical drop on the downhill side of the road. Fortunately we didn’t encounter any cars going the other way, as there were very few places wide enough for 2 cars to pass, although we didn’t encounter any pass a few cyclists going up and one coming down.

The snag was that, having reached Arres de Sus at about 1,310m, we couldn’t find the right drivable (and paved) road beyond this tiny village. Google offered an impossibly steep track with a no entry sign, or an alternative route via the next high village, Vilamos.

We descended briefly and then went back up again into Vilamos, which sits at 1,255m. Google encouraged us to take a small road out of the village which turned into a narrow concrete road with a sign recommending only 4x4s should proceed. Knowing that we had seen ordinary cars in photos of the car park for the mines walk, we continued cautiously and with some trepidation. Initially all seemed well for a hundred or so metres when the concrete stopped, leaving only a rocky track ahead.

We decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and fortunately there was just space to turn around and return to Vilamos.Read more