The bordermarkers of the Pyrenees : all my trips
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- saturday 12 april 2014 -
La grande réunion

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 esfr-trip-track-20140412.kml
(click to open this trip in Google Earth or copy link to Google Maps; click right on this link to download gpx-version)

Summary: part of a 6-days trip to the Eastern Pyrenees, exploring routes between bm521 and bm545.
Basecamp: the camping municipal in St-Laurent-de-Cerdans.

Day 4: meeting of Pyrenean 'bordermen'  in Laroque-des-Albères, redoing bm599 before.

Weather: sunny
For explanation of the gps-coordinates and other cartographic backgrounds: see the
cartography-page


 




According to visugpx

- distance : 1,6 km
- cum. elevation gain : 76m
- cum. elevation loss : 77m
- total elevation: 153m

- altitude maxi : 233m
- altitude mini : 156m
- altitude average : 196m

I was honoured to be invited by Serge Poncet  for a meeting of 'bordermen' or - mockingly in French - 'bornés' (freely translated as: stubborn on bordermarkers) who share a passion for the Pyrenean bordermarkers.

But driving to Laroque-des-Albères gave me the chance to first revisit bm599 which has been vandalised repeatedly and now has been repaired with a plaque.

From Col de Balistres it was a short walk to bm599.

Bm599
Bm599
Interesting: a Christian cross was engraved but only painted as a Greek cross.

The similar plaque of bm510 - also recently installed - (see this page) is engraved with a Greek cross.

Bm599 still visible at the right of this picture.

We see the dirtroad at the left where I came from. But now there is also a trail climbing over the hilltop.
I return to Col de Balistres and
spot to my surprise firemen near bm600.
Bm600
It's a joint training of French and Spanish firemen
At Col de Balistres there's a new monument about the refugees fleeing Spain at the end of the Civil War.

At Laroque-des-Albères, I meet Serge Poncet and his wife Martine and their daughter Orianne.

They were the initiators and  hosts  of this meeting, serving a delicious catalan-style meal and fine drinks. I felt happy to meet (again) Charles & Josette Darrieu, Alain Laridon, Cayetano and Jean & Carmen Iglesias.

Even a news-reporter was invited who wrote this article for the L'Indépendant-newspaper, also available as a .pdf-file


Standing from left to right: Carmen Iglesias, Alain Laridon, Martine Poncet, myself, Charles Darrieu, Josette Darrieu, Jean Iglesias.
Kneeling from left to right: Serge Poncet and Cayetano.

About the little borderstone 538bis in Serge's garden: bm583 is the closest bordermarker near the house of Serge. So 538bis seemed an appropiate number for his own bordermarker.

In the après-diner, I was lucky to sit  in between the laptops of Serge and Charles, watching their pictures and listen to their stories, testimonies of our shared passion.

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