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Val d’Aran

July 2025
  • Iain Colville
A 15-day adventure by Iain Read more
  • Iain Colville

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  • Andorra Andorra
  • Spain Spain
  • France France
  • England England
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Camping, Family, Vacation
  • 3.9kkilometers traveled
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  • 15days
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  • Iain ColvilleTravelerVal d’Aran

    The next adventure awaits

    July 8 in England ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    We’re about to set off on our next adventure and you can follow along here.

    Our destination this summer sounds rather mysterious and almost magical: The locals call this place ‘era Val d’Aran’ (the Aran Valley). It’s a remote mountainous valley in a hidden corner of Spain, near the border with France. The valley is on the northern side of the Pyrenees and yet is part of Catalunya, the rest of which lies to the south of the Pyrenees (Pirineus, in Catalan).

    Nearly 10,000 people live in 20 or so villages spread along the length of the valley. The whole valley used to be cut off from the rest of Spain every winter, until a road tunnel under the mountains was built in 1948. For most of its history since 1313, the valley has been largely autonomous politically and administratively, and it now has a unique status in Catalunya.

    The mother tongue of most locals isn’t Spanish or indeed Catalan, but Aranese. This a dialect of Occitan or the ‘langue d’oc’, a language once spoken across the southern third of France, Monaco and the western edge of north Italy. Each of Aranese, Catalan and Spanish are now official languages not just in Val d’Aran but across all of Catalunya.    Read more

  • Iain ColvilleTravelerVal d’Aran

    Overnight in Kent

    July 8 in England ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    We just about managed to fit everything and ourselves in the car, ready to set off for the first leg of our journey towards the Val d’Aran: an overnight stop in Kent with my parents.

  • Iain ColvilleTravelerVal d’Aran

    Up bright and early for Le Shuttle

    July 9 in England ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Aiming for the Channel Tunnel shuttle at 08.16 doesn’t sound too early.

    At least not until you factor in the need to arrive at the terminal at least 1 hour before departure, and allowing plenty of time for the journey of an hour or so from Tonbridge to Folkestone, and suddenly we were setting alarms to be ready to leave at 5.30am.Read more

  • Iain ColvilleTravelerVal d’Aran
    A86 Duplex tunnel - there's 10km or 6.2 miles of this!
    Dinner chez HippopotamusChez B&B Hotels, Limoges 2

    The long drive south …

    July 9 in France ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    The third leg of the journey has been the longest. Including several breaks, it took us about 8 hours to cover 675 km (or 420 miles) from Calais to Limoges.

    We opted for the A16, which initially runs roughly parallel to the Opal Coast past Boulogne sur Mer, before picking up the N184, A115, A15, A86 and N118 to skirt around the western side of Paris. It’s amazing how much easier the constant changes of road are with today’s satellite navigation!

    I’m not really a fan of the A86 Duplex tunnel - the longest road tunnel entirely in France with 10km of two 2.55m high (or should that be low) tunnels stacked vertically, passing underneath south west Paris, not far from Versailles. The tunnels are limited to vehicles with a max height of 2.0m (ie cars only). The southbound traffic runs under the northbound traffic in a single bore tunnel. As you can see from the photo, it’s not for the faint-hearted!

    We eventually left the busy autoroutes of Paris and began to follow the A10 to Orleans, the A71 to Vierzon and lastly the A20 towards Toulouse. As we entered the old former province of Limousin, the endless mix of forests and fields of central France finally gave way to rolling hills and pretty countryside which surround Limoges.

    We’re staying tonight in our favourite chain of budget hotels, B&B Hotels. As is often the case, there are 3 separate branches in Limoges on the same street. Two are almost next door to one another and no. 3 is about 100m away! There’s also a fourth branch elsewhere in the city.

    We enjoyed a tasty meal with a friendly Hippopotamus, who was nestled between Limoges B&B Hotels No. 1 and No. 2. If you’ve not tried Hippopotamus, it’s a little like a French version of the UK’s Harvester chain.    Read more

  • Iain ColvilleTravelerVal d’Aran
    Ice creams in the campsite ... with a mountain view behind
    Here's a better look at the view

    And finally we’ve arrived en España

    July 10 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    After a good night’s sleep and petit déjeuner at the hotel, we set out from Limoges, once again heading south. We only had about 440 km (or 275 miles) to conquer today.

    Our route followed the A20 south until near Montauban, where we joined the A62 to Toulouse, where we did a half circuit of the ring road before taking the A64, now heading more south west.

    Once the Pyrenees came into view, the motorway turned west to run parallel to the mountains. It was then soon time to turn directly towards the mountains, intially on a short single carriageway motorway spur for about 6km which qualified for its own number, the A645. This soon led to the N125, which struck deeper into the steep sided valley ahead - the Val d’Aran.

    14km after crossing the Spanish border, we arrived at Camp Bedura, our base for the next 11 days and nights.

    The campsite is set on terraces leading up the side of a mountain. Our pitch is a few levels up from reception, the pool and the bar. The pitch is a great size and so far seems to be very shady.

    After getting the tent up, we headed about 10km back towards the French border to visit the nearest medium-sized supermarket.

    Whilst shopping, we inadvertently committed a cultural faux pas (or a “metedura de pata”) by touching the fruit and vegetables we wanted to buy. It turned out this was verboten and a couple of guys, armed with plastic gloves and an armful of plastic bags were there, it seemed to shout at miscreants like us, and then to pick and bag the produce you selected. Fortunately, the guy who served us was actually quite friendly and spoke good English.

    Suitably chastened, but with a full trolley, we returned to the campsite for a dinner of pizzas in the campsite bar/restaurant, followed by an ice cream.

    We omitted to take any photos in campsite beyond the two featured above.    Read more

  • Iain ColvilleTravelerVal d’Aran
    2

    Our pitch

    July 11 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    We slept very well after our long journeys and woke to a bright sunny day. Fortunately, the trees all around seem to cast lots of shade from all angles, and both in the morning and afternoon.

    We enjoyed “neapolitanas” for breakfast - closely related to the French pain au chocolate.

    We also remembered to take some photos of our pitch this morning. There’s quite a drop down to the level of the next terrace - jus t behind both our tent and event shelter.

    So far it’s just us at this end of our terrace, with 2 Spanish families at the opposite end. The campsite seems fairly quiet - with a handful of tents on each terrace.    Read more

  • Iain ColvilleTravelerVal d’Aran
    Looking back towards the Val d'Aran from the car park
    Looking across the Artiga de Lin valley, with the Refuge in the centreLooking down to the Refuge as we climbed one side of the valleyViews across the valleyA waterfall high on the opposite side of the valleySheltering from the first burst of heavy rainThe rain eased and we started to descend amid the thunder rolling around the mountains aboveThe waterfall we couldn't find was somewhere higher up this streamUelhs deth Joeu waterfallUelhs deth Joeu fallsGuardader dera aigua (Guardians of the Water) waterfallHònt deth Gresilhon waterfallThe fir trees gave way to a beech forest on the lower slopesLooking back through the rain towards Artiga de Lin

    Era Artiga de Lin y Uelhs deth Joeu

    July 11 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Today’s principal excursion was a short drive along the main road through the valley to Es Bordes, where we found the twisty road leading towards Era Artiga de Lin y Uelhs deth Joeu. The former is a beautiful valley, the centre of which is about 1500m up and the latter being one of several dramatic waterfalls fed by glacier water from the high mountains above.

    Ordinary cars have to be parked in the spacious car park about 9km from the village of Es Bordes. From there, we took the tourist train 3 more km up to the plain in the centre of the valley, close to a Refuge or mountain hut. We had debated whether to take the train up or down, and to walk in the opposite direction - we opted for the former and were very pleased when we saw the steepness of the remaining climb up to the plain.

    At the start of the day, the forecast was for sun, there was not a cloud in the sky. With a gentle breeze in the air, the temperature was very pleasant in the shade but out in the sun it was starting to get very warm indeed.

    We enjoyed our picnic lunch in the shade under some trees and set off to follow a trail, which was meant to take us to one of the lesser (but higher) of the easily accessible waterfalls in the valley. After walking for twice the estimated duration of the walk and being able to hear but not see the said waterfall, we concluded we must have taken a wrong turn at some point, despite checking the signs as we set off. It appeared that the signage or our understanding of what the sign was telling us wasn’t quite on point and we had followed the wrong path - we were further up the mountain above the waterfall, when we retraced our steps.

    We decided it was the time for a snack and a drink at the Refuge. The very friendly staff served up a couple of Tostado con Tortilla and a slice of homemade cheesecake, and some very welcome ice cold drinks.

    However as we enjoyed our snacks, thunder and then heavy rain started. The thunder seemed quite distant, but the rain was very much falling on us! We briefly sheltered under the tiny roof over a map of potential walks and then we set off on a slightly shorter version of our planned hike - not wanting to be caught up in the high plain if the thunderstorm came closer.

    The rain mostly eased as we started to follow the road initially and then a path down towards the car park through the forest.

    We soon reached the main waterfall for which this valley is famous, Els Uelhs deth Joeu, with the rain falling again and thunder sounding around the hills, but still about 9 miles away.

    We stood for a while, mesmerised at water rushing down the Uelhs deth Joeu waterfall. The name apparently is Aranese for “Eyes of the Jew" or "Eyes of Jupiter". The water comes from the glacier on Tuc Aneto, a 3,400m peak far above the valley, but then disappears underground and runs through the limestone for 4km, to reappear magically in the valley above the waterfall.

    We continued down through the forest, mostly shelter from the rain stopping at a second dramatic waterfall, with an amazingly blue pool at its foot.

    The thunder was gradually getting closer as it “chased us” down the valley. Eventually the path led us back to the car park and we relieved to take refuge, secure in the knowledge that the car would act as a Faraday cage if the thunder storm caught up with us.    Read more

  • Iain ColvilleTravelerVal d’Aran

    Es Bordes

    July 11 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    After returning along the twisty road to Es Bordes, we thought we’d take a quick look around the village.

    Apparently this village is relatively new for the Val d’Aran being built in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, in part re-cycling stone from a local, ruined castle and built on the site of an earlier settlement. Several streets were very pretty, with alpine style houses with balconies and wide overhanging roofs.

    We popped into the church too. Apart for the bell tower which is 17th century, most of the church was built at about the same time as the village and, again, much more recently than most of the medieval churches in the rest of the valley.

    We then returned to the campsite, with the local forecast threatening a risk of 2cm hail, heavy rain and strong gusty winds - none of which appeared at our pitch, although there seemed to be a couple of places in the campsite which evidenced at least some rain fall.    Read more

  • Iain ColvilleTravelerVal d’Aran
    The building with the turrets (far right) hosted the museum we visitedAn early tourism poster - I think this says "The Pyrenees and Garona comprise beautiful countryside"Inside the Iglesia de San Miguel de Vella (St Michael's)Another view inside the church

    Vielha, capital of era Val d’Aran

    July 12 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Yesterday, we visited Vielha, the valley capital about a 15 min drive from our campsite.

    The small town was very busy yesterday with the finish line of the Trail Vielha Molières 2025 in the centre. This was a trail running event featuring 2 different races, the Marathon Molières (42km +4200m elevation gain) and the Montpius Skyrace (24km +1800m elevation gain). We weren’t there to participate but we did watch and cheer some of those approaching the finish line!

    Vielha’s a very pretty place, with lots of old buildings, and views of the surrounding mountains often appearing behind.

    We enjoyed our picnic lunch by the confluence of the Garona and Nere rivers, just in time before a shower arrived. The forecast was for rain and thunderstorms all day but we got off very lightly with few heavy showers until later in the evening. Our weather was v mild compared with the rest of Catalunya, most of which was under a red alert for serious flooding and v heavy rain.

    As we wandered around the town, we found a marker post for the Camino de Santiago route from St Bernard de Comenge and through the Aran valley to Vielha (the Aran Pirineus Way of Saint James), where the path turns south to cross the mountains, to join the Catalan Way of St James or Camí de Sant Jaume (which starts in Barcelona or Montserrat), which in turn meets the Camino Frances in Zaragoza.

    We did some food shopping during the siesta break before returning to visit the Musèu dera Val d'Aran, which reopened at 5pm.

    This museum features the history of the valley and its people from prehistoric times onwards. Although the displays were labelled in Aranese, Catalan and Spanish, we were provided with a printed copy of most of the main panels in English and anything else was subjected to Google Translate!

    The museum provided a fascinating glimpse into the lives and history of this initially long fought over strategic location, on the border between various provinces and latterly Spain and France. Crop and livestock farming were the main economic activity for centuries but then forestry and mining, and especially from the 19th century onwards, tourism took over - first winter sports but more recently also in the summer.

    In the evening, not long after returning to the campsite we (and everyone else on the site) received 2 government weather alerts on our phones - oddly, the first telling us (in Spanish and Catalan) not to leave our homes or go anywhere near rivers or streams, immediately followed by a second (in Spanish and English) telling us that the threat level had now reduced. I suspect (and hope) other parts of Catalunya subject to the red alert may have received the first message much earlier in the day. Aran was only under a yellow warning, and the immediately neighbouring counties had amber warnings.

    We finished the day with Hannah cooking us a delicious sausage and vegetable stew.    Read more

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