La Rhune, la montagne des sorcières

Ascain

A pyramid of russet moorland closing off the coastal Basque Country; at the summit, ventas and a wind that smells of the sea. The slopes bear cromlechs, tumuli and dolmens of the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Tradition, as Wikipedia reports it, lodges here Lehen Sugea, the first serpent, said to have spat out the gold and silver of the mountain in fiery rivers and burnt the forests of the Labourd. What is certain is that in 1609, during the witch-hunt entrusted by Henri IV to the Bordeaux councillor Pierre de Lancre, La Rhune was cited as a place of the sabbath, where the akelarre, the 'moor of the he-goat', was said to be held; de Lancre is reputed to have had witches burnt there. The place had nevertheless long been Christian: a chapel near the summit, kept by a priest or a hermit, is mentioned in 1575 by Monluc and in 1578 in the will of Jean de Sossiondo, bishop of Bayonne, born at Ascain; enlarged, it became in 1680 the 'basilica of the Most Holy Trinity of the mountain of La Rhune', maintained in equal shares by Ascain, Sare, Urrugne and Bera, which appointed a chaplain in turn for four years. In the 18^th century, the pilgrimages of the four parishes had to be spread over different Sundays. Nothing of it remains today: it is said to have been partly destroyed as early as 1793, then destroyed by lightning in 1834 according to Abbé Haristoy; the last procession took place in 1897. The train has been climbing since 1924.

Wikipédia — La Rhune ↗

Getting there : The rack railway leaves from the Col de Saint-Ignace, between Ascain and Sare (D 4): 35 minutes of ascent, open every day from late March to early November, paid ticket, booking advised in season. On foot, allow about 2 h 30 of ascent from Ascain, Sare, Olhette or the Col de Lizuniaga, on moorland paths where ewes and pottok ponies graze. At the summit, a viewpoint indicator, frontier ventas and a panorama from the Basque coast to the Landes and the Pyrenees. Fog is frequent; in high summer the ascent is made early.

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

Ambient sound