ARTIGA DE LIN – UELHS DETH JOEU

TYPE:
CAR TRIP – FAMILY WALK
TYPE OF LANDSCAPE:
WATERFALL
FOREST
PICNIC AREA:
Description:   

Among the Val d’Aran’s most easily accessible destinations, the Artiga de Lin valley is one also of its most beautiful and popular.

The vehicle access route follows an asphalted track, surrounded by dense vegetation, from where you can see streams in steep gullies pouring down into the Joeu river.

The picturesque route brings you to the “Uelhs deth Joeu” and the Plan dera Artiga de Lin, an exceptional site where underground waters come welling up to the surface against a backdrop of rugged peaks, creating a genuine high mountain atmosphere. The big summits include Forcanada and the Malh des Pois, the Malh dera Artiga and the Tuca Blanca de Pomèro, all of them enticing challenges for keen mountaineers.

The circular route we propose will take you to the headwaters of the Joèu river (Uelhs deth Joeu), which after disappearing below the Aneto glacier, flow underground for 4 km before reappearing, an extraordinary natural phenomenon.

NOTE

During the summer months, a transport service carries visitors from the car park to the Uelhs deth Joeu.

Recommendations:

·      The drive can be turned into a circular route, taking the asphalted road from the edge of the villages of Gausac or Aubèrt and returning via the village of Es Bòrdes.

·       During the car journey, stop for a refreshing drink at the Hònt deth Gresilhon spring.

·       Visit the local chapel, the Ermita de la Mair de Diu dera Artiga.

·       Stop on the way to visit the “Guardadèr der Aigua”, a viewpoint over the waters.

 
Interesting facts:
Located in the valley of Benasque, at the foot of the Aneto glacier, the Forau d’Aigualluts is a sinkhole that collects melt water and conducts it underground, through a karstic drainage system, to the Artiga de Lin, where the same waters remerge as the Uelhs deth Joeu (the “eyes of Jupiter,” according to experts). In 1931, the Pyrenean scientist Norbert Casteret tipped 60 kg of fluorescein (a harmless dye) into the Forau d’Aigualluts, and was able to prove the provenance of water in the Uelhs deth Joeu.

 

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