A walk in Xiberoa
A.k.a La Soule
A.k.a Béarn’s Basque neighbour
As a foreigner or tourist to Béarn, you would be forgiven for not noticing crossing the county boundary between Béarn and its neighbour, La Soule (in French) and Xiberoa (in Basque), the smallest of the seven Basque provinces which range over Northern Spain and the French department Les Pyrénées Atlantiques.
Apart from Basque names appearing on houses and signs, or the subtle change in architectural style, you may wonder what, if anything, makes these small French provinces culturally different. However, once you begin exploring deeper, it is both the distinction and the crossover which make these neighbours an excitingly rich pool of culture.
Where is le pays Basque?
Apart from Basque names appearing on houses and signs, or the subtle change in architectural style, you may wonder what, if anything, makes these small French provinces culturally different. However, once you begin exploring deeper, it is both the distinction and the crossover which make these neighbours an excitingly rich pool of culture.
Where is le pays Basque?
A map of Euskal Herria (le pays Basque) situated over France and Spain, with a population of around 3,200,000 (2021). The agglomeration of the three French Basque provinces is known as Iparralde and was formed in 2017 from the desire to create an institution to unite the shared Basque identity in France.
Image from La Gazette du Béarn des Gaves, February 2023.
Image from La Gazette du Béarn des Gaves, February 2023.
La Soule, the most Easterly province of the French Basque country, along with the other six, Basse-Navarre, Labourd, Guipuzcoa, Biscaye and Alava, are all historic provinces. If you ask someone in the North of France where La Soule is, they will probably struggle to give an accurate answer. This is why, to the untrained eye, many cultural riches are hidden when visiting the basco-béarnaise area of France. That word is actually the name for a breed of sheep which wanders the Pyrénées, heedless of political borders, and raised for its brébis style of cheese. Yet, I have heard basco-béarnaise used to describe people, recipes, or activities which mix the two cultures.
What makes le pays Basque so interesting is the strong cultural identity of its people, driven largely by a feeling of independence and pride. The two Spanish regions of Navarre and Euskadi are financially autonomous from the Spanish state. Both are administered by their own government, which allows them to manage their levels of tax and tariffs, their budgets etc., after paying their dues to the central Spanish government.
We have visited many of the famous, tourist hotspots of le pays Basque, such as Saint-Sébastien, Bayonne, Bilbao and Pamplona. It is undisputable that « la basquitude » (roughly the sense of there being a real, tangible, Basque culture) exists and has been forged by its history, its unique language, and its cultural values collectively passed on and on.
The walk through the isolated canyons of la Soule
On the way to our walk in la Soule, we passed imperceptibly into the Basque country after five minutes in the car. La Soule is a mountainous province, historically sheltering its people from the rest of the world and hard to attack and conquer. To be « souletin(e) » is to be part of nature itself. It consists of just one valley, the summit of which is the pale, sharp, very ancient, granite peak of the highest Basque mountain called the Pic d’Orhy. From here the valley steeply descends into precipitous canyons and dense forest through which the « affluent » gave du Pau rushes. I like to use the French geographical word for ‘tributary’ here as it gives the impression in English of abundance; exactly what this landscape offers for its people, many of whom still survive as shepherds practising transhumanisme (the traditional pastoral practice of people moving their livestock from one grazing ground to another with the seasons).
It was possible to hear absolutely nothing but the river far below and the eagles (quite common) swooping between the sheer rock face of the valley sides. La Soule is very sparsely populated, which is what makes another of its differences hard to notice; since the Middle Ages, the Souletins live under a syndicate system, which administers local laws and manages local issues. All other French departments report to the state, whereas all of la Soule belongs to its inhabitants who manage the syndicat.
What makes le pays Basque so interesting is the strong cultural identity of its people, driven largely by a feeling of independence and pride. The two Spanish regions of Navarre and Euskadi are financially autonomous from the Spanish state. Both are administered by their own government, which allows them to manage their levels of tax and tariffs, their budgets etc., after paying their dues to the central Spanish government.
We have visited many of the famous, tourist hotspots of le pays Basque, such as Saint-Sébastien, Bayonne, Bilbao and Pamplona. It is undisputable that « la basquitude » (roughly the sense of there being a real, tangible, Basque culture) exists and has been forged by its history, its unique language, and its cultural values collectively passed on and on.
The walk through the isolated canyons of la Soule
On the way to our walk in la Soule, we passed imperceptibly into the Basque country after five minutes in the car. La Soule is a mountainous province, historically sheltering its people from the rest of the world and hard to attack and conquer. To be « souletin(e) » is to be part of nature itself. It consists of just one valley, the summit of which is the pale, sharp, very ancient, granite peak of the highest Basque mountain called the Pic d’Orhy. From here the valley steeply descends into precipitous canyons and dense forest through which the « affluent » gave du Pau rushes. I like to use the French geographical word for ‘tributary’ here as it gives the impression in English of abundance; exactly what this landscape offers for its people, many of whom still survive as shepherds practising transhumanisme (the traditional pastoral practice of people moving their livestock from one grazing ground to another with the seasons).
It was possible to hear absolutely nothing but the river far below and the eagles (quite common) swooping between the sheer rock face of the valley sides. La Soule is very sparsely populated, which is what makes another of its differences hard to notice; since the Middle Ages, the Souletins live under a syndicate system, which administers local laws and manages local issues. All other French departments report to the state, whereas all of la Soule belongs to its inhabitants who manage the syndicat.
Author’s photo of the signpost to the Pic d’Orhy (Orli in Basque). The January day we went there was too overcast to see the summit of the mountain. Our car only just dodged the few un-swept piles of previous snowfall, it being a very unfrequented border crossing between France and Spain.
Beginning our walk at the Auberge Logibar, we followed the river upstream and up a narrow, arduous, climb (typical of walking in the Pyrénées) to a suspended bridge between the canyons. Built by Italians in the 1920s, the bridge provided a means of exploiting the forest, but standing on it today allows you to experience the dazzling, giddying effect of the gorge below.
Crossing le pont suspendu d’Holzarte in Xiberoa. « Holzarte » in Basque means ‘between the walls’.
Author’s photo of the canyons connected by the Holzarte
Standing at the point where the above photo was taken, I definitely felt like I had left Béarn behind. There is an exotic feeling to the Basque country, coming from being so close to the border with the Spanish Basque country; this proximity nourishes the culture with its customs, its food such as pinxtos, drinks like txacholi - my après-walk choice in the village of Tardets on the way back. We said hola far more frequently than bonjour when passing people on the walk, despite remaining in France.
To be Basque or Béarn?
Evidently the Basque country is unique. It is living cultural heritage. However, the pride in its language which cements its culture can also be found in the Béárn for its own dialect of Béarnais. It certainly has the same desire to assert its identity and independence by flying that flag of two, big, red cows.
Together, they blend into basco-béarnais neighbours who have much in common: They wear the same beret, proud of their shared history of the iconic symbol first made in the foothills of the Pyrénées where shepherds were inspired by the capelines worn by Roman legionnaires. Having learnt how to knit from the Saracens, they made the beret to protect themselves from the cold and rain. They have overlapping pastoral traditions, the brébis cheese of Ossau-Iraty (remember those wandering sheep) combines the milk of flocks from the Béarnais valléé d’Ossau with the Basque vallée d’Iraty. They play the same sports (basque pelota and rugby), they both use the letter « x » (I’m thinking here of our own Béarn village of Navarrenx which has both Navarre and the x). They probably even both think that the North France begins somewhere around Bordeaux, such is the affinity in the way they see the world.
This is what is culturally interesting. The differences between neighbours yes, but also their similarities.
To be Basque or Béarn?
Evidently the Basque country is unique. It is living cultural heritage. However, the pride in its language which cements its culture can also be found in the Béárn for its own dialect of Béarnais. It certainly has the same desire to assert its identity and independence by flying that flag of two, big, red cows.
Together, they blend into basco-béarnais neighbours who have much in common: They wear the same beret, proud of their shared history of the iconic symbol first made in the foothills of the Pyrénées where shepherds were inspired by the capelines worn by Roman legionnaires. Having learnt how to knit from the Saracens, they made the beret to protect themselves from the cold and rain. They have overlapping pastoral traditions, the brébis cheese of Ossau-Iraty (remember those wandering sheep) combines the milk of flocks from the Béarnais valléé d’Ossau with the Basque vallée d’Iraty. They play the same sports (basque pelota and rugby), they both use the letter « x » (I’m thinking here of our own Béarn village of Navarrenx which has both Navarre and the x). They probably even both think that the North France begins somewhere around Bordeaux, such is the affinity in the way they see the world.
This is what is culturally interesting. The differences between neighbours yes, but also their similarities.