Lucanus cervus (Ciervo volante) on the hills above San Juan de Plan in the Pyrenees of Huesca (the second bit of the video is what you’re after): Proyecto Ciervo Volante writes: Flight abilities seem, in principle, well developed. Fight speed reaches 6 km/h (D’Ami, 1981) but dispersal abilities are unknown. There are XIX century tales…
The crazy European regulation making it illegal to leave carcasses in the high mountains has led to reports of starving vultures attacking and killing large live stock in several parts of Spain. Now one of Nick‘s wolfmen has sent news of several hundred griffon vultures from the Pyrenees having sought alimentary asylum in Holland, in…
Dave has kindly sent me the URL of the online version of a superb book packed with brilliant photos, The story of the Tour de France by Bill and Carol McGann, who in their spare time run Torelli, a Californian racing gear import business. Dave liked the blinding of Honoré Barthélémy story quoted in the…
I’ve finally figured out why the mountain bike was invented: to keep this lot in order when they head off-piste in the Pyrenees. Lost me, they did. On the other hand, some people (1, 2) seem to manage quite well with straightforward, old-fashioned models. The second goat’s tag is Quand la pauvreté frappe a la…
I met this bloke at around nine last Sunday morning as I was cycling along the old road from Manresa to Calaf on my way to the Aragonese Pyrenees. As you probably won’t be able to discern from this appalling photo–it was raining and I was quite surprised–he was brown and dishevelled, accompanied by a…
