European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 15, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By Norm Zeigler travel outdoor writer the Sun comes up late Over the peaks above  just upstream from town the River swings into a wide curve spilling Over a gravel bar in three braided riffles before reuniting in a Long smooth Pool and slipping away under the ancient Stone Bridge. There Are surely More spectacular Waters More Remote locations. But it is difficult to imagine a More alluring Stream than the i Rati the Lovely Spanish River made famous by Ernest Hemingway in his 1926 novel the Sun also rises. Perhaps no other european Angling water flows through the american consciousness like the iraqi. Its mystique is As much a part of our myth cultural landscape As Are Huck finn s Mississippi and Thoreau s Walden Pond. Many of us who grew up with a love of Reading and the outdoors have dreamed sometime of visiting the High Basque country where Jake Barnes and his Friend Bill Gorton spent their time hiking drinking wine and fishing for by Trout amid the Solitude of the mountains. A. A a Hemingway was a master of the fishing Story As allegory. He grew up Hunting and fishing and both sports 1 remained lifelong passions but when he wrote about them they became much More. Sometimes As in big two hearted River fishing was a Healing exercise. In the old Man and the sea it became a Noble but ultimately futile struggle for unattainable dreams and a Small measure of dignity. But always it was More than Mere Angling. No one wrote As simply and As beautifully about the sport until Norman Maclean s Memoir of his Montana boyhood a River runs through it came out in the late 70s.the fishing trip in the Sun also rises is based loosely on several excursions Hemingway made to the iraqi in the 1920s during he annual running of the bulls in Pamplona. As in the Book the writer and his fellow Quot lost generation expatriates found the area an exhilarating Refuge from Pamplona s blazing july heat and the wild carousing of the fiesta. They explored the Forest swam in the River and visited the nearby monastery of Roncesvalles but most important of All they Quot had Good fishing. The nights were cold and the Days were hot and there was always a Breeze even in the heat of the  the fish Are no longer As big or As plentiful in the iraqi. For Trout and the Dusty Trail winding through the mountains is now paved. But Little else has changed. In the Gorge upstream from arive the Lush Hardwood forests grow right Down to the water s Edge. Eagles soar in the thermals above the Cliffs and peaks. And the wild Mountain Trout still grow Strong and Svitt in the cold water. Rising out of the Western pyrenees on the Spanish French Border the iraqi winds its Way through some of the wildest most breathtaking scenery in Europe. This is a Region of thick forests and rugged mountains Cut by deep wooded Gorges. Orderly whitewashed villages Dot the valleys and High plateaus. Near the villages kerchief a women and Sun browned men in berets gather Hay in fragrant Meadows. In the door Yards of the houses vegetable gardens spill out Over Low Wood fences. But the tiny towns Are Mere specks of civilization amid the vastness of the mountains. The wilderness is the reality. Ibex Chamois and even Brown bears roam the crags and Heights. And at the River s headwaters lies the iraqi Forest one of Europe s last great untouched stands of beeches and Oaks. Coming Down through the mountains from Burguete and Garralda the first glimpse of the iraqi is of a thin shining ribbon winding through the Valley at arive. Straddled by the ancient Bridge with Cliffs and mountains towering above it is one of the most Beautiful sights in the pyrenees. A couple of Miles upriver from arive the iraqi is a powerful Mountain Stream 40 to 50 feet across smooth flowing and Glass Clear. It varies from knee deep to Waist deep As it glides Over treacherous broken ledge and scattered rocks boiling to life occasionally in gentle rapids or gushing through a Sluice Between two boulders. I first stepped into it Early on a july evening. A passing thundershowers had soaked the Woods and the air had the Damp clean smell that comes after a Mountain rainstorm. Here and there a thin White Mist Rose from the  few Light Olive mayflies helicopter red up off the surface but there were too few to spark a Rise. Occasionally a Small Trout leaped dramatically Clear of the water to snatch one falling Back with a Flat slapping sound. I fished upstream for about two hours keeping an Eye on the cumulonimbus Clouds piling up Over the ridges and listening to the Distant rumblings North of the mountains. I did not raise a fish and the Light was fading in the Gorge when i hiked Back up the Steep slope to the car. A by the time we arrived Back at the Campground outside Burguete the  surged Back Over the mountains from France to come roaring Down through the pass at Roncesvalles. Jagged electric Blue flashes lit up a landscape savaged by slashing downpours and continued on Page b fishing in Europe the iraqi River cuts through the mountains and forests of the Basque Region of the Spanish pyrenees. August 15, 1991 stripes Magazine