Our night at the Vénasque mountain refuge, close to the Spanish border high in the French Pyrenees, was going better than we could have hoped. After a sweaty, three-hour trek up the valley we had cooled off in a mountain lake (much warmer than it had any right to be, given the altitude), then loafed on its banks while cloud swirled over the ridge. It was like a scene from Tolkien without the hobbits. As the light faded, bowls of soup and pasta were served by the refuge warden, and before long my wife and I were making friends with our fellow hikers in the dinner tent while our two boys (aged 10 and 13) thrashed us at cards.
The fun really began when it was time to turn in. Edging through the creaky metal door of the dormitory hut, the four of us groped our way blindly through the dark and up into our shelf-like communal bunk, failing miserably in our attempt not to disturb the family of five below us. Only then, as we shuffled beneath thick, musty quilts, did it dawn on us that we were also sharing the berth with two as-yet unidentified French hikers.
The six of us lay there in a row, squished together like sardines as my wife giggled helplessly. Three hours later, with our older son wriggling and elbowing her in the face repeatedly, the joke had worn off. And then someone farted …
Next morning, glad that we’d survived the night without being attacked by our refuge mates, we set off early for Port de Vénasque, the narrow pass where, at 2,444 metres, France meets Spain. With our boys straggling behind in a textbook display of teenage idleness, we pressed on past pockets of snow in the scree and arrived just in time to catch the early morning sun shining through a chink in the rock to illuminate Pico Aneto, the highest peak in the Pyrenees. Even the boys couldn’t help but be impressed.
This was a high point – literally and metaphorically – of a packed activity week in and around the Luchon valley. We’d been looking for a holiday that would satisfy our restless boys while nudging us out of our comfort zones, when we stumbled across this itinerary organised by holiday firm Adventure Creators.
The company suggests and arranges accommodation – campsite, hotel or gîte. Our night in the refuge apart, we opted for a valley-side chalet. Each party member then gets a number of credits to be “spent” individually on their choice from a list of mountain activities. We liked the way it gave everyone a degree of control over decision making, letting us do some activities together and others individually. What really brought the whole thing together, though, was the meticulous planning by Adventure Creators’ founder, Penny Walker, which removed all the organisational stress. Originally from Sheffield, Penny has been living in the Pyrenees for more than a decade and has built an impressive network of trusted activity providers.
Off-road and offline, our family found the space and time we needed to reunite. One day we drove the vertiginous hairpin bends of the Vallée du Larboust from Bagnères-de-Luchon to Loudenvielle, passing cyclists huffing up the famous Tour de France mountain stage. My older son and I rocketed down woody trails on oversize scooters, while my wife and younger son spent an idyllic morning refining their stone-skimming techniques at a nearby lake.
A few days later, at a tree-climbing park near another pass, the Col de Menté, my younger son and I scaled tall pine trees and I watched with awe as he launched fearlessly off a harness swing 20 metres up. This was followed by lunch, on Penny’s recommendation, at Auberge la Soulan, where the food is locally sourced – and the mushroom omelette was perfect.
At the head of the valley sits the genteel spa town of Luchon (not for nothing is it twinned with Harrogate). Its main drag seemed well-geared to tourists (woolly socks a speciality) but it never felt busy even in mid-August. Nor were there many English voices to be heard; in fact the few Brits we did run into were nearly all other clients of Penny’s, criss-crossing the valleys on their own mini-adventures.
We steered rafts down bubbling rivers, scrambled down waterfalls and canyons, and dangled off zipwires. If there was one disappointment it was that a paragliding trip planned by my wife and me had to be cancelled because of low cloud. There was not enough time to reschedule; had we realised it was so weather-susceptible, we might have spent our credits differently.
A car is essential for getting around this corner of the Pyrenees: the picturesque SNCF branch line from Montréjeau to Luchon has fallen into disrepair and been suspended, though there are hopes it might reopen after 2020. But the two-hour drive from Toulouse into the hills is as pretty as one might hope. This area can also be reached from Barcelona or the Costa Brava, in about five hours.
On our last night we headed into Luchon for the annual flower festival. Considering the occasion, there seemed remarkably few blooms in evidence but the marching bands and formation whip-cracking horsemen parading the streets more than compensated.
• A one-week, multi-activity family holiday (two adults and two children) with Adventure Creators staying in a three-bedroom, self-catering property costs €1,875 in May/June, rising to €2,345 in August (though prices are lower for the last week of August, when there is good availability). Price includes nine activity points per person, which can typically be exchanged for five activities. The nearest railway stations are Toulouse and Carcassonne; the nearest airports are Toulouse, Tarbes/Lourdes and Carcassonne. A car is essential
Five more mountain activity holidays
Julian Alps jamboree, Slovenia
This adventure holiday is based at a hotel with a pool in Kranjska Gora, at the foot of the Julian Alps. Families will hike to a waterfall, ride mountain bikes around a lake and raft down a river. Summer toboganning, rock climbing and a high ropes course at Lake Bled are also included, and there are options to go caving or visit a water park. Suitable for ages eight and above.
• Seven nights from £725 adult, £675 child, including transfers, activities, breakfast, two lunches and five dinners, excluding travel, keadventure.com
Multi-activity holiday, Italy
On this summer holiday in Madonna di Campiglio, a ski resort in the Dolomites, families can try the via ferrata – a system of cables attached to the mountainside, which makes high routes accessible to people with no rock climbing experience. Other activities included in the price are canyoning, horse riding, rafting and high ropes, while daredevils can book an extra hydrospeeding session (whizzing down a river on a bodyboard). The chalet hotel has family rooms and is a short walk from a small lake and several hiking and cycling trails.
• Seven nights from £637pp, including activities and car hire, excluding travel, zenithholidays.co.uk
Summer multi-activity, Slovakia
Older teens might well be enticed on to a holiday that includes adventures in the High Tatras. This trip is based in a three-star hotel in the town of Tatranská Lomnica and includes downhill biking; a cable car ride to a waterfall hike; rafting along the Polish border; a treetop trek through the forest; and visits to caves, castles and hot springs. Suitable for over-15s.
• Seven nights from £829pp, including activities, breakfast and two lunches, excluding travel, whereaboutsholidays.com
Alpine pick and mix holiday, Austria
Each member of the family has 20 activity points to spend during this holiday in the Tirol’s Ötz Valley. They can be used for sports such as archery or climbing (three points each), a day’s cycling (3½) or more adventurous pursuits such as canyoning or via ferrata (10). Guests can stay right in the activity resort (which has a free spa and mountain bikes) or in a hotel in the town, a short walk away. The trip is suitable for all ages, but some activities are for over-nines only.
• Seven nights from £635pp B&B, including activity points, excluding travel, activitiesabroad.com
Peaks of Perfection week, France
Chamonix in the French Alps is best-known as a ski destination, but there is plenty to do in summer too. Inghams has a week-long trip suitable for families with children aged 10 and over, including hiking, mountain biking and white-water rafting, plus optional activities such as paragliding, summer tobogganing and exploring glacier caves. Accommodation is in a three-star hotel five minutes’ walk from the centre.
• Seven nights from £669pp full board including travel, transfers and activities, inghams.co.uk
Looking for a holiday with a difference? Browse Guardian Holidays to see a range of fantastic trips
