#Landmark
The Lescun Bridge
For the Pyreneans, the mountains were never a barrier, with passes allowing for easier or more difficult crossings depending on their altitude. Developed since ancient times, the Somport Pass (1,652 m) was the easiest route but also the most dangerous due to the numerous checks that took place both on the road and on the railway line. It was therefore necessary to take other routes.
By taking side valleys, it was possible to reach higher passes, but these were more discreet, even though German soldiers patrolled them regularly. The Lescun Valley provided access to the Col de Pau (1,942 m) or, via the Lhers Plateau, to the Col de la Cuarde (1,957 m). Long but relatively accessible and equipped with several shepherds' huts where travelers could rest, it was this latter pass that saw the greatest number of escapees. American and British airmen, French soldiers and draft dodgers, hunted Resistance fighters, Jews, men and women... All of them struggled, suffered, and feared as they traversed these slopes, sometimes covered in snow, at night. Some even lost their lives there.