Maya

On 25 May 1813 Marshal Soult attacked the passes of May and Roncesvalles with 80,000 men, with the objective of raising the allied siege of Pamplona. Maya is 25 miles of winding mountain roads from Roncesvalles. The pass (now called Olsondo) is easy to locate and has a good car park. Mount Alcorrunz dominates the whole area, but a wide modern road makes it difficult to orientate modern maps with battle maps.

The Pass of Maya was defended by 6,000 men under the command of Sir William Stewart. He placed Cameron’s brigade at the pass itself and Pringle’s brigade a mile further east. Pringle posted a piquet on Mount Gorospil but most of his brigade was two miles further south in the village of Maya.

He was attacked by 21,000 men under the command of General d’Erlon.

From the pass there is a modern road which runs in the same direction as the Chemin des Anglais, however the original road winds through a wooded area which is quite difficult to find. There are a number of forest tracks which lead through this wooded area, but unfortunately we picked the wrong one to follow



We had spent a very hot day exploring the area, and unfortunately wasted part of the effort following the wrong track through a densely wooded area. We then had to retrace our steps back to the pass and were too tired to try again. This was not due to lack of research prior to our visit, but an example of how difficult it can be to reconcile a modern map with a diagram of a battle.