Category: Hiking

When waking up in the morning I see stars through the window – means today will be a sunny weather.

We drive to parking place Artigues – here starts several tracks, to Montcalm in particular. Our destination is lake Montestaure. We start to go by the steep forest path. It is cold because we are in the shadow of the hill – dew drops in the grass are frozen.

Out of the forest we cross the bridge and enter the next valley and ascend further up to the lake. We proceed further to the Montestaure pass, but did not manage to reach it. The path is not clearly visible, we try to get higher by the hillside full of rolling stones but fail and have to go back.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Still foggy. We decide to go North to search for a better weather. The destination is Pamiers – a town to the north from Foix.

We drive highway to Toulouse and miss the correct exit. It points to Pamiers South which makes us think there should be another one to the center. Still there is not – and we arrive in Pamiers from the North side after a short detour.

The officials of the tourist information office of Pamiers does not welcome my English. Thank God Ilze knows French therefore we get the map and a couple of useful booklets. Following the map we visit a couple of churches, a park and a marketplace. One can by, in particularly, a hay in the marketplace. And one can enjoy the performance of local musicians.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Having done with Pamiers we proceed to one of the most famous Cathar fortresses- Montsegur. The impressive fortress stands high on the top of the hill. We follow the steep path to take a closer look. The path is full of tourists – we wander how it looks here in the high season.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Later we visit a museum down in Montsegur village. We return in Illier in the dark of the night.

It’s foggy and we decide to explore the neighboring villages. We select a track from our hiking guide: Illier – Orus – Sentenac – Vicdessos – Aronac – Illier. Mountains are hidden by fog and we can’t see the hills on the opposite side of the valley. The hillside is full of blackberries – they are delicious no matter if there is a fog or not.

The path goes uphill initially (from 900m of Illier to 1060m at the highest point). Then it goes down to Vicdessos. The last stage from Aronac to Illier the path ascends back to Illier. This last one appears to us a little tiresome…

The villages are small and lovely – narrow streets, old houses (some of them dated back to 19th century). A lot of houses are uninhabited and need repair. Each village has a town hall, a church, a phone booth and a mailbox.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Later at night we drive to Tarascon. The center is on a rise. Beautiful views to the town from the old tower standing here.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Our destination for today is the Orlu Nature reserve. A popular tourist attraction here is a wolf reserve in Forge d’Orlu. We decide in favor of mountains though and drive by a narrow mountain road 5km beyond Forge d’Orlu. A parking place is at the end of the road.

We start to ascend by a forest road, then we turn to NW and keep ascending by the long steep path through the forest full of hornbeams. Although the weather is not particularly hot and it starts to drizzle, we perspire more than in a sauna.

The first lake Baxouillade (Etang de Baxouillade) appears just after the end of the forest. Further on the way to the second lake Baxouillade we meet five lovely marmots. We follow further to the Baxouillade pass (2276m above see level). Roc Blanc is here above us – still we understand we have no time to get there. So we enjoy the view and start a way back. While descending we enjoy the view on the famous Dent d’Orlu – the mountain that looks like a huge fang. Here we notice an interesting road sign. It is made from bones of cows.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The way downhill through the forest of hornbeams is much easier then the way uphill. Still we are outworn when back in parking place.

On a way back we make a stop in Ax-les-Termes. The church there has a wooden ceilings and contemporary stained glass.

Download file: ariege-09-roc-blanc.gpx

We drive to St. Giron through Tarascon and further 60km to the West. There we stroll through the paved in pink marble (local production) streets of the old town. The River Salat that runs through the town is crossed by numerous bridges. The most beautiful is the old one (Pont-Vieux).

Next we proceed to the neighboring St. Lizier – the ancient Gallo-roman town with 20 centuries of history. The town is dominated by the bishops palace-stronghold built on the hilltop. Unfortunately a restoration goes on there hence we can take a look from the outside only. When descending back to the old town we get for a while a company in form of large Pyrenean dog. When we are down in the town center the dog is already there – standing in the pool of the town fountain. As we find out later the pool is full of fish.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

After a short stroll through the old town we decide to have a lunch in a street café near the fountain – 11 Place d’Eglise. The café has impressive tea collection and I have to select accurately to avoid offending the host.