The bordermarkers of the Pyrenees : all my trips
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- thursday 29 august 2019 -
Redoing bm554-559

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Summary: part of a series of 11 trips in august-september 2019 in the Pyrénées-Orientales, Andorra and the Hautes-Pyrénées. This is trip 5.

Today: redoing bm554-559 but the main objective is bm558 and a survey of the implications of the new high fences on the borderline.

My basecamp is the camping in St-Laurent-de-Cerdans.

Weather: sunny and hot

track-20190829.kml
(click to open this trip in Google Earth or copy link to Google Maps; click right on this link to download gpx-version). The gps-track has not been manually  corrected which explains the inaccuracy and misalignment at some points. For cartographic backgrounds: see the cartography-page

Gps-waypoints of all bordermarkers (most recent version):
kml:  esfr-bordermarkers-all-waypoints.kml
gpx:  esfr-bordermarkers-all-waypoints.gpx
According to Garmin Basecamp (uncorrected track):

Distance:13,1 km
Max-height: 945m
Min-height: 610m
Elevation: +606m -616m
Total elevation: 1222m

Start 8:22  Finish 15:18
Total time: 6:56
My starting point: close to restaurant Manrella.


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I take the dirtroad/trail towards the chapel of Mare de Déu de les Salines.


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Parts of the trail are paved but driving  here with an ordinary car is out of the question.


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 I arrive at Coll de Lli with an empty or abandoned house.


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To the right is towards the French village of Les Illas


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The signs in detail.


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About 50m in the direction of Las Illas there is a gate on the borderline with


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an information board


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about the refugees of the Spanish civil war who fled to France after the victory of Franco.


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Some important leaders of the Republicans fled to France via Col de Lli,


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never to return again.


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Entering the gate


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where a large memorial plaque


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remembers those 4 leaders.


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This picture shows where my trip is all about. Huge fences have been erected along the border and into France.

One should cross the fence here to proceed to bm558 but the new fence is too sturdy and too high.

The last time I was here was on 8-4-2008 and and then the barbed wire fences were easy to tackle providing an easy access along the edge of the French field to bm558.




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Looking the other way, towards bm557, the same high fences there.

Carlos and Conchita Roca (this is their website) have recently reported about those new fences and written how difficult it was to reach bm558 from the Spanish side.

But first I will do bm557 to 554.


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Zoom-in: bm557 already visible


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Bm557


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Bm557


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Bm557


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I continue W along the fence going uphill,


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spotting an opening in the fence, probably made by animals.


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I know that bm556 is not visible from the path. So I have to cross the fence somehow.

Luckily, someone has made a 'modification' of the fence which enables me to step over it.


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Bm556, its face turned away from the fence and path.


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Bm556


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Bm556


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I continue along the borderfence and


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arrive at bm556 which is at the other side of the fence.


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Bm555, picture made with the camera through the fence.

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Also here, it is possible to cross the fence because someone cut the upper part.


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Bm555


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Bm555


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A bit further, looking back with the small pile of rocks where you can find bm555 (on the other side of the fence).


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In the forest I continue with a steep descent along the fence.

I spot at the other side of the fence


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an unknown marker, probably a Spanish comarcal marker.


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Though it might not look that way, the descent is steep.

The fence helps in navigating because the fence is the border and is useful for holding on.


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At one point the fence is damaged.


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I arrive at a rock and beyond it's too steep so I bend away from the fence


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and descend further to the bottom of the hillside.


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And that bottom is here: at a stream. The fence here is easy to cross.


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Crossing the stream at this point and then I go to the left for about 15m


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to find bm554


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Bm554


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Bm554


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Bm554


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My next goal is to check the route uphill on the other side (W) of the stream.

I return to the crossing point of the stream, continue a bit along the stream on its W-side (for about 50m) until I reach this fence going uphill.


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I climb along that fence uphill, alternating from one side to another and making small detours whenever needed.


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Having arrived at the top of the hillridge.


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A bit further, there is hunter's post P4: a rock-triangle.


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And just beyond P4 I spot a rough dirtroad.

And that dirtroad is quite new: it is not visible on the latest Google Earth images.

But I can spot it on the orthophotos of the online mapsite of the  Catalan geographic Institute. It descends to Las Illas.

See further on for an annotated screenprint.


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Now I am at the dirtroad, looking back to P4 (the small triangle rock).

When coming from here, you should head for P4 and then descend along the fence to the stream. Then go ± 65 to the right along the stream and you will arrive at bm554.


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The dirtroad makes a sharp bend at this place. And at this bend I enter the forest NW- crossing a fence - at this spot.

This picture: from the entrance of the trail, looking to the dirtroad. It is not that obvious that a trail starts/ends here.


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But, let's show it all on a map:

The trail downhill is a red waymarked path


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which descends to a stream and crosses it.


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The trail makes a V-bend at the stream and climbs S


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to the dirtroad which leads to cq comes from Mare de Déu de les Salines.


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The start of the trail downhill to the stream is marked with a cairn


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and this waysign.


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I return to Coll de Lli on the dirtroad.


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Some parts are paved with concrete


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with the footsteps of some animal.


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Almost back at Coll de Lli with its abandoned house.



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Back at the Coll and at the French side I enjoy a lunch-break in the shade. Then it's time for the second part of my trip: how to get to bm558.

Carlos and Conchita needed three trips to wrestle themselves through the 'jungle' to find bm558 from the Spanish side.

They advised me to enter the dense forest here. This is the 50m path between the dirtroad near the abondened house and the gate at the border


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In the middle of it at its N-side, there is this sign with a faint trail to it.


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Beyond that sign a more distinct trail appears.


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I take the advice of Carlos and Conchita seriously and I changed my short trousers for these long trousers.

Construction worker's trousers like these are anyway my recommendation for walking through rough terrain, especially when brambles are involved. They are strong, have many pockets and are very cheap.


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The path ends after 600m at a fence. Still 500m to go to bm558.

I cross the fence a bit to the right and then just head - using my gps - in the direction of bm558. No real trails anymore, sometimes circumventing too dense forest-parts.


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And in that way I arrive at bm558


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Bm558, standing at the Spanish side of the fencen.


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Bm558, looking W.


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Then I continue E, towards Coll de Manrella.

For about 400m I manage to proceed along the fence or on trails ± 10m parallel to the fence


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and then - the forest becoming too dense - circumventing a small hilltop, using trails which eventually go the wrong direction, correcting my course with gps and smartphone (OsmAnd-app)


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and sometimes spotting a cairn


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or two, and finally


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getting at the edge of the forest with the road to Coll de Manrella in sight.


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I emerge from the forest at this corner of the forest.


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Arriving at the Coll de Manrella


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with the inevitable monument


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on the Retirada.


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A small trail brings me along this entrance of a bunker with

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20m further a faint trail entering the forest which brings me after 30m


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at bm559.


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Bm559


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Bm559


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Bm559, backside. This is how you arrive at the spot, bm559 not immediately visible.

Enough for today. I walk back along the hot road for 2km to my car and return to the camping.


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