Another beautiful day another walk from the Aspe valley. Parked at the little village of Etsaut. There is a wonderful disused railway up the valley that runs under the Pyrennees into Spain. It complements the twisting gorge perfectly with its tunnels and viaducts. Also there is the Fort du Portalet a grim concrete fortress hugging the valley side that was used to house political prisoners during and after the war. The main purpose of the walk however was to traverse the 'Way of the the Masts' this is a path literally blown out of the cliff face about halfway up its 300m height by dynamite in the late 18thC so the French Navy could get to the right tree trunks to build their ships, there must have been an easier way! The exposure was huge and you have to walk along it for over 20 mins before you can regain any sort of safe ground. The rest of the walk was ordinary by comparison, however it had the perfect finish with a couple of beers in the village bar before going back to camp.
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