Cooling off in the Pyrenees
Millau Viaduct is very impressive but it doesn't cast much shade! After another flying visit with our son near Toulouse we headed south into the Pyrenees to find some cooler weather.
The first stop was at Luchon de Bagneres, a spa town in the middle of the Pyrenees. It proved to be a great spot for going walking! In the mountains above Luchon there is a ski resort called Superbagneres at 1800 metres altitude. The wind was almost cold!
It is possible to hire a mountain guide from the Guide Office in Luchon and go for a guided walk to see marmots, amongst many other options.
Our walk to find marmots was foiled by the weather, heavy rain and thunder kept the animals in their burrows. Just because they are small and furry doesn't mean they are stupid! Unlike me, who got back to the car to find I hadn't closed the windows all the way.
Our guide seemed almost embarrassed about taking his fee but we had really enjoyed the walk, he had pointed out two isard in the distance and being inside a thunder cloud was a novel experience. I did take a picture of the isard which are the local kind of chamois but it was raining very hard and almost dark so the result is not worth posting!
The guide recommended another good walk up to Lac d'Oo. With the benefit of hindsight I think he had overestimated our level of fitness. We did walk up to the lake and we walked back down again but we were pretty slow. The lake is part of an hydro-electric scheme and the water level was quite low when we got there so the lake was not as pretty as it could be. It was some compensation to find an Auberge with good lager on draught. I was trying to work out how they got the barrels up the mountain when I spotted a quad bike with an extra rear axle (a hex-bike?) Even with six-wheel drive it must have been fun getting up the track.
The first stop was at Luchon de Bagneres, a spa town in the middle of the Pyrenees. It proved to be a great spot for going walking! In the mountains above Luchon there is a ski resort called Superbagneres at 1800 metres altitude. The wind was almost cold!It is possible to hire a mountain guide from the Guide Office in Luchon and go for a guided walk to see marmots, amongst many other options.
Our walk to find marmots was foiled by the weather, heavy rain and thunder kept the animals in their burrows. Just because they are small and furry doesn't mean they are stupid! Unlike me, who got back to the car to find I hadn't closed the windows all the way.
Our guide seemed almost embarrassed about taking his fee but we had really enjoyed the walk, he had pointed out two isard in the distance and being inside a thunder cloud was a novel experience. I did take a picture of the isard which are the local kind of chamois but it was raining very hard and almost dark so the result is not worth posting!
The guide recommended another good walk up to Lac d'Oo. With the benefit of hindsight I think he had overestimated our level of fitness. We did walk up to the lake and we walked back down again but we were pretty slow. The lake is part of an hydro-electric scheme and the water level was quite low when we got there so the lake was not as pretty as it could be. It was some compensation to find an Auberge with good lager on draught. I was trying to work out how they got the barrels up the mountain when I spotted a quad bike with an extra rear axle (a hex-bike?) Even with six-wheel drive it must have been fun getting up the track.
posted by Richard Galle at 11:24 am
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