Early in the morning we drive to nearby medieval fortified town of Camon. There we explore the impressive walls and old streets and buildings, then go back to Mirepoix.
Mirepoix has a gorgeous old town. The central square (Place de Couverts) is perfect – all the houses around have extraordinary wide arcades were the souvenir shops and tourists swarm. One of the houses has crossbars with carved faces.
On a way to the airport we decide to visit Montreal. Not one in Canada – but the real one 🙂 Unfortunately it is raining in Montreal. When the rain stops we have a short walk in old town and take a look at the huge cathedral.
Then we say farewell to Montreal and go to the airport.
We go to Vicdessos to return the keys of our apartment. To our surprise we find a message on the door that the office is on strike. Fortunately – only till the noon, so we can get rid of the keys in afternoon in Auzat office. This does not fit with our plans but we decide to change them and to visit places around we did not seen yet. First we drive to Miglos fortress. We decide walk to the fortress from Junac et Capulet village that stands just below the fortress. The way is longer as we have planned still we soon are at the fortress. To be accurate – what has been left from once impressive Miglos fortress.
On a way down we taste delicious grapes that grow near the road. Then have a look at Junac village and drive to Auzat where we have an excellent lunch at the garden café.
We return the keys and drive to Pas de Ours (bears pass) viewpoint. It’s foggy but we can see Gorge de Frau below (we were there recently) and fortress of Montsegur.
Having enjoyed the view we drive further to Mirepoix.
Sunny. We start a walk from Saleix village first by the road then by a wide path through a forest. The path runs through deserted, ruined houses, covered in moss. Long ago there was a village. After a while the path leaves a forest and goes through meadows up to Saleix pass. Further on the steep path ascends to Pic de Girantes alias Mont Ceint (2088m). We leave there a message in a notebook kept in a bottle. We read what other hikers have written – somebody have been here during the war at age 14, and next time – at the age of 84.
The view from the summit is excellent – to the surrounding mountains Mont Valier, Pic de Troix Segneurs. A flock of sheep join as (not to enjoy the view actually). In a while on a way down we see a sheep with a newborn lamb.
When down we stroll through the Saleix – two donkeys perfectly fit into village idyll.
We drive then to Vicdessos and explore the old town, then further to nearby Suc village.
Despite the cloudy weather we decide to go up in the mountains to Refuge de Pinet – the place where the hikers usually start the walk to Montcalm summit. The track starts the same place where the one to lake Montestaure we visited recently.
On the way up we see a local man with three mules. They move faster than we. Later on the way down we meet them again. This time the mules are loaded with heavy charge. It looks like a miracle how they keep balance on a steep narrow path. One of the mules lags behind all the time.
We ascend to the Refuge de Pinet. It is three story building near a lake and can host about 50 visitors. The place does not stand empty as the track to Montcalm is very popular. We proceed with our walk up to about 2400m altitude, further the path is covered by clouds. The Montcalm summit is still above us some 700m – two much for one day walk.
On a way down we take a detour to see Cascade d’Artigue then walk down to the parking place. A squirrel watches how we pass by.
We drive to Olbier village to explore Montreal de Sos. On the hill between Vicdessos and Auzat there recently was uncovered a ruins of a fortress. To get on the hilltop we use the steep path and several caves. Nice view to Auzat, Vicdessos and Olbier from the top.
Getting down to Olbier we drive to Sem to look at the Dolmen (the huge stone – monument of the prehistoric time) and the village.
Sunny. We start to ascend in pass Col de Tracadou (1200m). The track is perfect – not very steep road that turns into path closer to the summit. After a hour walk we leave the forest and follow up by the grassy mountain ridge. The view is gorgeous all the time as we go – to the mountains, to Tarascon-sur-Ariege and Foix. The view of the Foix castle is the best. We spend a hour on the Fourcat summit to enjoy the views of mountains, Foix, Lavelanet and fortress of Roquefixade.
We are back in the parking place at 1pm having spent 2 hours walk to the summit, one back and one hour on the top.
After a short rest we drive to Mercus village then by Tarascon-sur-Ariege we take Ax-les-Thermes road to Lordat. We wish to explore the fortress of Lordat. Not a surprise – the fortress is on the top of the hill. To get there we drive uphill to the Lordat village. Then proceed on foot to the fortress were we arrive to catch the last sights of the performance with vultures. Eagles, vultures, owls and other creatures live there in cages or on lace. Ilze takes a shots of a particularly lovely vulture.
