Saint Barbe Redoubt

Sare from the Saint Barbe Redoubt

It was a great relief to awake to blue skies and we planned our second day over breakfast with “Wellington , The Bidassoa & Nivelle” by F C Beatson. Our objective was to find the Saint Barbe Redoubt, which formed part of Marshal Soult’s defensive works attacked by Wellington during the battle of the Nivelle in 1813.

We were spending two weeks exploring Wellington’s 1813 battlefields, and had based ourselves just outside the small French village of Sare. We were fortunate to have a detailed diagram of the area in November 1813 and both our Gite and the Redoubt were marked on it.

Our plan was to walk into Sare and then around the area until we found the Redoubt.

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The Petite Rhune

Our first day in the Pyrenees did not start well. Waking to light rain we set out to walk up The Petite Rhune. However we were directed to the wrong path, the rain turned from light to heavy and we climbed The Grande Rhune - the wrong mountain! Things could only improve, and they did. Returning to Sare the rain stopped and we felt much better after a hot meal. We were directed to the correct path, and followed it far enough to confirm that it went to The Petite Rhune.

You can read the full story at:

http://walkingpyrenees.blogspot.com/

Salisbury to Sare

The first two days of the holiday cover the journey to Sare and a brief introduction to the Battle of the Nivelle, in which Sare played an important role.

Unlike the previous blogs about Walking Napoleonic Battlefields, this one will be a diary of our 16 day walking holiday in 1996. The aim was to explore the whole area, and in particular the Rhune, Vera, Maya and Roncesvalles.

This time we would have plenty of time to wander at will, and try to find some of the less well known locations. Some would be worth the effort, others not really.

We would also have time to revisit Maya and Roncesvalles and try to find paths and locations which we had failed to find the previous year.

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Walking the Pyrenees

The latest blog in Walking Napoleonic Battlefields will deal with our 17 day holiday in the Pyrenees in 1996. The previous holidays were designed to visit as many battlefields as possible and involved a lot of driving to reach each one. This time we were based in the small French village of Sare for the whole holiday, and the aim was to spend more time on each battlefield and explore them in great detail.

On the previous blogs each entry covered a different battlefield, with a brief description of the battle and our visit. This one will be more like a journal of the holiday, and will go into more detail about our exploration of each site.

The first entry covers the planning and preparation for the holiday and can be found at

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San Sebastian

On the last day of our holiday we had to drive the 140 miles from Fuentearrabia to Santander to get our ferry back to UK. On the way we paid a short visit to San Sebastian to visit the site of the 1813 siege.

San Sebastian is now a very popular holiday resort, and like many Spanish towns not the easiest of places to find your way around. We had a battlefield map, but that proved of little help as we drove down the fast two lane road along the river into the town. At one point we found ourselves on the wrong side of the river!

Our destination was the Castle of La Monta which sits on a very large hill which in turn dominates San Sebastian. We followed the road as far as we could go, and were relieved to find we had arrived in the castle car park.

We climbed to the top of Mount Orgullo and were rewarded with spectacular views of San Sebastian, and were at last able to orientate ourselves. Unfortunately the small musuem was closed, but we were able to explore the castle for a couple of hours.

We then walked back to the car park and found that we were in the old town. Another hour rambling around the narrow streets and we had found a lovely cafe in an old square where we had lunch and read a description of the siege in Jac Weller's "Wellington in the Peninsula".

You can read about our visit at :

http://northernspainandpyrenees.blogspot.com/

The battle of the Nive is a complicated battle fought over a wide area south of Bayonne.

In December 1813 Wellington moved against the city with 64,000 men. Marshal Soult held Bayonne with 67,000 men.

To drive Soult away from the city, and open the way to invade France, Wellington split his army in two, either side of the river Nive, and advanced against the city from the south and south west.

The battle raged for five days. The French held the bridges at Bayonne and could reinforce either side of the river at will. Wellington relied on a bridge of boats, which were damaged and left Rowland Hill exposed on the right bank without support.

Soult held Bayonne, and Wellington was forced to screen the city to advance into France. Bayonne would not surrender until Napoleon was forced to abdicate.

The story of our visit is at:

http://northernspainandpyrenees.blogspot.com/

San Marcial

The monastry on San Marcial

The battle of San Marcial is one of the lesser known of Wellington's battles.

On 31 August 1813 the French held city of San Sebastian was about to fall to the allied siege. Marshal Soult determined to make one last effort to raise the siege. The most direct road to the city from Bayonne was along the coast, however the road bridge had been destroyed.

Two French divisions stormed the heights of San Marcial, which was held by three Spanish divisions under General Freire, and supported by a British division. The Spanish held the ridge against the determined French attack. At the crisis Friere sent a request to Wellington to send the British reinforcements. Wellington was convinced that the French were already beaten, and wanted the Spanish to take full credit, so he declined to use the reinforcements.

The Spanish held. By mid morning the French were in full retreat back over the river Bidassoa into France.

Our visit to the battlefield in 1995 is described here:

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