Saint Barbe Redoubt

Monday 24 June 1996

We woke to clear blue skies and studied our maps over breakfast outside the Gite. We could see from our map that there were a number of redoubts around Sare which formed part of Soult’s defensive positions. One in particular, Ste Barbe, seemed to be very close to the Gite. We decided to spend the day exploring the area and try to find the redoubt

We walked into Sare along this old cobbled Roman road. It is now a pretty minor road from Hembiscaye to Sare, but it must originally have been the main road from Vera (in Spain) to Sare (in France). I have no idea whether it was so in 1813, but it seems very likely. Especially as Ste Barbe redoubt proved to be close to this road.

Walking back to the Gite from Sare we found this track leading to a small mound. On further inspection this proved to be Ste Barbe redoubt. On 8 October 1813 the advancing Spanish troops of Wellington’s army drove out the French detachment holding the redoubt. Soult ordered a counter attack and the redoubt was retaken by the French, who also build a barricaded the road leading to Sare. The redoubt, and Sare itself, would be retaken by Wellington’s Fourth division the following month during the battle of the Nivelle

The redoubt can be seen at the bottom right of this detailed map of the area. The village of Sare is only half a mile away.

The redoubt itself is overgrown with trees, which we found was not unusual in this area. It has been of no military, or indeed any other, value since November 1813 and is probably completely unknown to anyone other than local land owners and Napoleonic wargamers/historians. However it does provide a very pleasant place to sit on a warm summer day. We spend an hour or so reading “Wellington, the Bidassoa & Nivelle” by F C Beatson which provides a very detailed account of the fighting for the redoubt and for Sare itself.

From the redoubt there is an excellent view of The Rhune. The collection of buildings is the hamlet of Hembiscaye, including our holiday Gite.

This is the view of Sare from Ste Barbe redoubt. It is obvious why Soult found it necessary to recover and secure the redoubt from Wellington’s Spanish allies.

The Petite Rhune

Sunday 23 June 1996

We woke to a dismal cloudy day, not the best of starts. However we did have a wonderful view of The Rhune, our destination for our first walk.

In November 1813 Wellington occupied The Grande Rhune, the higher peak on the left. The French had fortified The Petite Rhune on the right. There is a steep valley between the two peaks, which was a sort of “no man’s land”.

The Petite Rhune was defended by a French division, which had its headquarters in Sare. The whole area was covered by redoubts, including three made of rocks on the Petite Rhune itself. The garrison of Sare provided the troops who held the mountain, and all the supplies, including food water and ammunition, had to be carried up to them on foot. So there had to be a good path from the village.

We came prepared to explore The Petite Rhune with this excellent detailed map. Our Gite was just outside Hembiscaye (bottom right on the map), and there is a circular path shown from Sare to the Petite Rhune and down to Hembiscaye. This was the path we hoped to cover today.

We took the map to our landlord, a very pleasant young Frenchman who, unfortunately, spoke no English. Jan has a smattering of “schoolgirl French”, but not really up to explaining what we wanted. However we showed him the map, and pointed out both Hembiscaye and the highlighted circular route. He seemed to understand and gave us directions to the end of the path, nearest Hembiscaye.

We set off in light rain, which soon turned to quite heavy rain. We found the unmarked path without too much trouble, and set off to climb. However after half an hour it became obvious that it was heading for The Grande Rhune. Apparently our landlord had assumed that we wanted to find this, the more popular and more frequently visited peak.

So it was with much disappointment that we retraced our steps back down, and then on to Sare for a much needed hot cup of coffee and some lunch. Being Sunday the tourist information office was closed, so we showed our damp map to the café owner. She spoke a little English, and I kept repeating Petite Rhune to avoid a repeat of the earlier mistake. She gave us directions to the start of a marked path leading from the village to the Petite Rhune.

By now the rain had stopped, though the clouds were low and all very damp. After about an hour we met a young couple coming down towards Sare. The girl turned out to be a local school teacher, and spoke excellent English. She confirmed that we were on the right path, and that we were about half way to the top.

Half an hour later we found the railway line which takes visitors to the top of The Grande Rhune. It runs between the two peaks, and our path crossed it and continued upwards. Just as we reached the track we heard a train coming downhill towards us. In the background of the photo the building with the aerial is the top of The Grande Rhune.

By now we were feeling too tired to want to explore further. We returned to Sare, and by the time we reached the Gite in great need of a hot bath and a warm meal.

The day had not been a complete success, but nor had it been a complete waste. We had found the main path to The Petite Rhune, explored Sare and got a feel for the surrounding area.

This is very much the way walking battlefields goes. It is very different from the guided coach tours such as Holts, where the coach takes you right to the spot where you can view the field and take your photographs. But if you want to get a real feel for a battlefield then you have to be prepared for bad weather and sometimes following the wrong route.

We were not discouraged, and very much looking to the next day. However we did hope that the weather might be a little kinder.

Salisbury to Sare

Friday 21 June 1996

Sunny with a clear blue sky as we left Salisbury at 9am for the short drive to Portsmouth to catch the Brittany Ferry to Caen. When we arrived in France the following morning at 6.30am it was grey and raining. Not the best start to our holiday.

Saturday 22 June 1996

We had planned to drive through Rennes and Nantes to Bordeaux, but got hopelessly lost in Caen and somehow ended on the road to Le Mans so opted for Tours to Bordeaux instead. It was our first time driving in France, and with the dismal weather we found the road signs and directions pretty confusing.

After our disappointing start, the remainder of the journey was trouble free. The weather had improved by the time we reached Le Mans and sunny when we reached Tours. Once on the right road going in the right direction it was easy to follow the map to Bordeaux and then on to Sare.

We arrived in Sare at 7pm and were pleasantly surprised to find the Gite with ease. We were both shattered after our long journey and went to bed after after a quick meal.

Sare

By November 1813 Wellington had driven the French out of Spain. He had defeated Marshal Soult in the Battle of the Pyrenees in July and crossed into France in October following the crossing of the river Bidasoa.

Despite this Soult occupied a very strong defensive position based on the river Nivelle. He had built a line of redoubts between the river the mountains, and the centre of this line was the Lesser Rhune mountain which overlooks the village of Sare.

The Battle of the Nivelle would drive the French out of these strong defensive works and allow Wellington to advance his army out of the difficult mountainous region into the lowlands north of the Pyrenees.

Sare is a popular holiday village on the French/Spanish border a few miles inland from Bayonne and in the shadow of the distinctive peaks of the Rhune mountain. On the other side of the Rhune is the Spanish village of Vera.

Jan and I speak very little French, but found that most local shops could speak a little English. Unlike our holiday in Spain the previous year, communication would not prove a problem. The lady who ran this bakery, where we got fresh bread for breakfast each day, was particularly friendly. She even gave us a farewell present of a cake at the end of our holiday.

Planning and Research

This is the fifth blog covering our exploration of Napoleonic battlefields. The earlier ones were:

Waterloo by car in 1976

Portugal and Spain with Holts Battlefield Tours in 1991

Portugal and Spain by car in 1994

Northern Spain by car in 1995

Each dealt with walking the battlefields, and each had a separate entry for each battlefield.

This blog will be slightly different. It covers our extended 17 day visit to the Pyrenees during which we covered a much smaller area but in much more detail. For this reason it will be presented as a journal of the holiday, rather than a series of battlefields.

Our 1995 visit to Northern Spain and the Pyrenees gave us a taste of Wellington’s 1813 battlefields, but left us determined to return and spend more time getting mud on our boots.

Both of our previous visits to Spain had involved traveling long distances and spending relatively short periods of time walking each battlefield. This worked well because one day is quite sufficient to explore most battlefields. But the Pyrenees covers a much larger area, and you get little impression of the campaign from just driving around.

We decided we would have a two week holiday based in Sare, a small village on the French side of the Pyrenees. In 1813 it had been the centre of the battle of the Nivelle and was ideal as a base.

I have always found Wellington’s 1813 campaign to be a difficult one to grasp. This is probably because it covered a wide area and involved widely dispersed armies. Our previous visit had made it obvious how difficult it was to find the exact location of battles we had read about. Most histories of the period give a broad overview, but rarely sufficient details to walk the battlefield.

So our first step was research. Our flying visit to the area of the previous year had made us realise that exploring battlefields in the Pyrenees was not easy. Road communications through the area has changed a lot since 1813, and was a major road then might now be a forest track.

We had found very little to indicate where even famous battles had taken place. For example we spent half a day driving around the Rhune trying to find the location of the light division attack from Vera during the battle of the Nive. We drove around for an hour or so and found nothing, eventually stopping at a large duty free shopping area. It was only when we returned to UK that we realised the shopping area was the site of the battle.

So we, or rather I, would have to spend much more time in preparation than for our previous trips. This would be a labour of love, for the more you prepare the more you enjoy the holiday.

Once again our main source for a general overview would be Jac Weller’s “Wellington in the Peninsula 1808-1814”. This had been our constant companion during all of the previous walks in Portugal and Spain, and would again provide a general description of each battle.

For a really detailed description of the operations, and a very good guide to the area, we used two books by Major General F C Beatson. Both had been recently republished and were easily available.

“With Wellington in the Pyrenees” covered the period July to August 1813 and the battles of Maya and Roncesvalles.

“Wellington, the Bidassoa and Nivelle” covered October to November 1813, and in particular the series of battles around Sare.

I also photocopied all of the battle maps and diagrams I could find of the campaign.

Finally we researched accommodation in the area. We did not have access to a computer at this time, and the local travel agents were no help at all. We got a book on French Gites, and found this one situated on the outskirts of Sare.

We would need a car, and it was cheaper and more convenient to drive our own than fly and hire. It would be a long journey whether we sailed to Spain or France, but the latter was much cheaper. We booked a ferry from Portsmouth to Caen for 21 June 1996.