Tag Archives: Pierre Gallart

Carlos & Conchita are done: all bordermarkers visited!

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Carlos and Conchita Roca have succeeded today in their goal: visiting all esfr-bordermarkers.

The one of today – 330bis – was the last of a 4-weeks sprint to finish their project. From Bielsa / Aragnouet (325-329 and 322) to Refuge Wallon (313 & 314) to Lescun (272) to Col de Somport (296) to Le Plan (329 & 330) and finally to Benasque for no. 330bis.

Those were not the easy ones, each requiring one day of strenuous hiking and climbing. As usual with the ‘chasseurs des bornes’, they kept the difficult ones for the end. Bm330bis was done together with their son David and his ‘novia’ Noella. Also Pierre Gallart joined them and he took this photo:

 

Carlos and Conchita are now very happy and also relieved to have fulfilled their quest. It took them 10 years to do. And though as pensionados still in good health and shape, the years take their toll anyway. Congratulations for both of you. Now you can – as Carlos told me – retire for the second time and return to the status of ‘normal tourists’.

By the way, they are not the only ones to finish this year:  Sébastien Marc has only 1 or 2 bordermarkers to go and Pierre Gallart about 17 markers. And than there is Didier Roux who hopes to finish in october with his last three markers. See this blog-post.

The current ‘competitors’ on the ESFR-border

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Well, it’s of course no competition but the drive to find all esfr-bordermarkers is something most of us share.

A list of those who did them all, can be found on this webpage.
Some have their own list of bordermarkers but the one I use is explained on this page and a excel-checklist to use is on this page

But who are still in the race at this moment? Let’s list them.

Didier Roux
I wrote about his quest in this post and he expected to complete in 2024. However he failed to reach bm424-425 and still couldn’t find bm85bis. He will try again in october 2025.

 

 

Carlos and Conchita Roca
My friends from Barcelona work steadily on their progress. They hope to finish in 2025 and have still 14 markers to do. These are not the easy ones and that is what I see a lot: the most difficult markers are left for the final stage.

 

 

 

Sébastien Marc (see this post)
This very sporty young man has also 14 bordermarkers  tp do (mostly in the central Pyrenees) and he expects to finish in 2025.

 

 

 

 

 

 


Pierre Gallart
His accidental meeting with Carlos and Conchita Roca in 2024 brought this extraordinary man to my attention. At the same time Jerôme Loubière informed me about him.
He is extraordinary because he is the first person – as far as I know – who tried to do all bordermarkers in one go! He undertook that project in 2022 in 74 days and describes it on his website
And there is this short article and you can listen to an interview (in Spanish).

He did photograph ± 95% of the bordermarkers which leaves 40 markers still to do. Missing those 40 markers had various reasons, including an attack from a wild boar (!). He intends to write a book about his adventure and publish it in 2025. Meanwhile he is working on doing the missed bordermarkers (I guess).

Jerome Loubière (see this post)
This is the cousin of Sébastien Marc and he reported me that he did 68€% of all markers which would mean 228 markers still to do, a lot of them in the Basque country. But he already sailed to bm602.

 

 

I wish them all good luck in 2025 and remember: it’s not a competition, it’s all about the joy of exploring the Pyrenees and the concern for bordermarkers as cultural-historical monuments.