A Passion Shared continued...
What is said of one could equally be said of the other,
for Jean and Pierre Ravier are twins after all, and the
fresh air of the Pyrenees has made them who they are.
It was in the fresh air of the Pyrenees that we
eventually did meet face to face. It was the early
summer of 2006 and I’d received an invitation from
the mayor of Gavarnie to attend a celebration of
mountaineering, built around the 50th anniversary
of the first ascent of the north face of the Tour du
Marboré, one of the landmarks in the history of
Pyrenean climbing. It was Jean, of course, who’d made
that first ascent, and Jean and Pierre who must have
asked monsieur le mayor to send me an invitation. My
wife insisted that I went. So I booked a flight to Pau,
hired a car for a few days and drove to Gavarnie where I
bivvied in a meadow.
Next morning we met; Jean, Pierre, and Jean’s
wife Michèle standing in the street before me. Three
beaming faces, the brightest of bonjours, followed by
a day I shall never forget. It was a day in which I was
introduced to numerous climbers from France and
Spain I’d been writing about for years – all of whom
greeted me as a friend. There followed presentations
in the Maison du Parc, an outdoor Mass for fallen
climbers, and a banquet for 200 in the evening, with
me the only Englishman among all the Pyrénéistes.
Speeches, singing, laughter – in a haze of wine there
were no language barriers.
That night I slept in the house of a friend of the
twins, and the following day drove with Pierre to
Tuzaguet to rejoin Jean and Michèle and meet other
members of their family. We sat in the garden at long
trestle tables, a dozen and more of us side by side in
harmony; a feast before us that went on, it seemed, all
day. Our long years of friendship by post was toasted in
champagne. We ate and drank and laughed in the warm
summer sunshine, and when those who had homes to
go to finally drifted away, and my three friends went to
lie down, I sat with my back against a tree, notebook in
hand, and attempted to get my befuddled brain to make
sense of it all.
AGM WEEKEND 2019
The Guild’s 2019 Big Weekend for
members and guests is heading
for the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads.
Be sure to block off the weekend of
Friday 4 October to Monday 7 October
in your diary and join other members and
guests for what promises to be a really
exciting weekend.
At the heart of the weekend, of course,
is the Guild’s AGM, on Saturday 5 October,
at 4pm, followed by our annual awards
ceremony and Guild dinner.
After our first trip to Exmoor this year,
the Broads marks another first and we’re
talking to the Broads Authority to explore
a variety of educational and outdoor
exploration activities.
We’ll be based at the Waveney River
Centre, which is on the border between
Norfolk and Suffolk, not far from Lowestoft.
The Centre offers a range of different types
of accommodation, from camping, yurts
and pods at one end of the scale up to top
quality hotel rooms at the other.
Our main accommodation will comprise
three very well appointed apartments,
housing a total of eighteen guests in a
combination of double and twin rooms for
the full three-night stay. The cost per guest
per night is likely to about £30. Those
wanting to stay for fewer (or indeed more)
nights will be able to choose from the
range of other accommodation types.
Among facilities at the venue are an
indoor swimming pool, hot tubs, and cycle
and kayak hire, as well as the chance to
explore the miles of scenic Broads and
their rich wildlife in a motor cruiser. Trains
serve nearby Oulton Broad, as well as
www.waveneyrivercentre.co.uk
Beccles and Hadiscoe.
Although booking for next year’s
weekend is not yet open, it would be a
great help if you could drop an email now
to the organiser, Stan Abbott, to express
interest, stating whether you’ll be bringing
a guest and how many nights you expect
to stay: [email protected].
Looking even further ahead, our 2020
weekend will be held at the Nature
Conservancy Council’s Malham Field
Centre, near Settle, Yorkshire, 9-12 October.
4 Outdoor focus | winter 2018
www.kevreynolds.co.uk