Forêt d'Iraty — hêtraie et cromlechs d'Occabe

Larrau

Straddling the Franco-Spanish border, the Iraty forest forms with its Navarrese neighbor Irati one of the largest beech and fir massifs in Europe. On the Occabe plateau, above 1,200 m, about fifteen cromlechs — circles of standing stones dated to the Iron Age — bear witness to a pastoral and funerary occupation of the massif going back more than two thousand five hundred years; these monuments, among the best preserved in the Basque Country, are attributed by archaeologists to cremation rites and the marking of territory by protohistoric shepherds. This pastoral vocation has never been interrupted: even today, manech sheep, whose milk is used to make ossau-iraty cheese, are driven up into the beech forest each summer, perpetuating grazing practices attested since Antiquity. Long worked for naval timber by France and Spain, the forest escaped large-scale clear-felling thanks to its rugged terrain. It is now part of the UNESCO-recognized transboundary biosphere reserve of the Basque Country, reconciling managed forestry, traditional pastoralism and hiking, notably on the path toward the neighboring Pic d'Orhy.

Getting there : Access via the Bagargiak pass (D19 from Larrau); car park at the Chalets d'Iraty, starting point for marked trails to the Occabe cromlechs (about 1h30 round trip) and the Pic d'Orhy.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound