Sunday 4th October 2015 – La Guingueta d’Aneu, Spain

Trying to forget about rugby, we set off for the Grotte de Gargas. The caves are famous for their hand prints made in the Gravettian Period, about 25,000BC, much earlier than the paintings in the Niaux cave. However, the first cave dates to the Magdalenian Period, the same as Niaux but it is much smaller. At Niaux some of the paintings are 2,000 metres from the cave entrance but at Gargas only a short walk took us to the end of the cave. People lived at the entrance to the cave and only went deeper to create the art. The paintings and engravings were very impressive but were not of the quality or numbers found in Niaux.

A man-made tunnel joined the Magdalenian cave to the Gravettian cave below and we entered it at the back and the ceiling was much lower. The cave was sealed off by a landslip following an earthquake in the Gravettian Period meaning that it was not reused by later peoples and provided ideal conditions for the preservation of the art. Once again the people lived at the entrance to the cave but went deeper in to practice their art. There are a few paintings and engravings in this cave but it is famous for its handprints - 231, nearly half of the 500 known in Europe. The prints are all negatives (that is paint surrounds the shape of the hand) created by placing the hand against the wall and then spraying red or black paint around it either by spitting paint from the mouth or by using a straw made from the quill of a bird feather. We saw many hand prints, including a massive section of cave wall covered in more than a hundred of them, and also heard of more than forty prints in ‘The Santuary’ a small natural room created within the cave. Most of the handprints are of hands with various fingers bent under the palm and this has resulted in a number of different theories from voluntary amputation to disease and, the most recent theory, that the different combinations were a form of communication. Experts have proved that the handprints are of men, women and children.

Back in the visitors centre we took a look at the interactive exhibition that told us, in English, about the history of the discovery, the science and the archaeology of cave art.

Now it was time to move on into Spain and we took the N125 towards Viella in Spain. We were surprised to reach the border quite quickly without having climbed much at all. We had expected a narrow gorge with the border at the pass at the top but it wasn’t like that at all. The border was actually in a valley and it was only after that we entered Spain that we started to gain altitude. We were lucky with the weather and good views as the forecast had suggested that there would be rain and low cloud.

At Viella we turned east off the main road and entered the beautiful Val D’Arran. We were going to have a look at the village of Salardu, which looked interesting, but as soon as we parked up the rain started. On then to Guingueta d’Aneu in the valley of the Aneu river where we booked in to Nou Camping.

Photos: The uninspiring entrance to the Gargas cave doesn’t do justice to what is inside; Two views of the Spanish Pyrenees as we head for Guingueta.