High on a Hill

A WEEK IN THE CENTRAL PYRENEES, TUCKED AWAY IN THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF FRANCE’S OCCITANIA REGION, REVEALS A PASTORAL LIFE LITTLE CHANGED IN CENTURIES. HERE, AMONG MEDIEVAL MARKET TOWNS AND LUSH VALLEYS STALKED BY BEARS, THE PAST’S THREAD SNAKES ITS WAY THROUGH THE EVERYDAY PRESENT

- ADRIAN PHILLIPS

Goiat is a bear—a big bear, weighing 250 kg at least—and he’s close by. He’s also hungry.

The day after tomorrow, news will break that he’s attacked and killed two sheep on the forested ridge to our right. He’s probably lifting his snout in our direction at this very moment, sniffing the air with a nose seven times more sensitive than a bloodhound’s. Yes, he’ll be aware of us. But we know none of this. We’re just walking a mountain path in southwest France on our way to meet a shepherd.

The pitted track writhes up Montagne d’Areng from the tiny village of Jézeau, and it’s not hard to imagine bears among the pine trees of this lonely woodland in the Pyrenees. “This is a very pure forest,” says Éric, our guide, who lives in Jézeau. “Some of the trees are 300 years old.” “The sounds are lovely,” adds Penny, my walking companion. As we move over mossy banks and across clearings edged with bracken, I tune in to the lazy summer buzz from hidden bees’ nests, the rattle of the grasshoppers, and the wing beats of a black woodpecker as it breaks from a dead tree.