12 October 2011 We continued westward along the Pyrenees through forest covered hills to the Gorges de Kakuatta. The narrow steep sided gorge gave us an exciting two hour walk along cantilevered catwalks and rough slippery paths. From there we drove along the final section of our Pyrenean traverse to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, an attractive town on one of the major roads giving access through the mountains into Spain. We had last stayed on the municipal campsite in 2007 on our way to Portugal. It very conveniently placed close to the centre of the old town. We had a pleasant evening meal in a small restaurant talking to a Belgian couple who over the last two years had walked to St-Jean from their home in Liege. Next year they are planning to complete their Camino pilgrimage to Santiago ... read more

10 October 2011 In May 2007 we saw the devotion of the pilgrims at Fátima in Portugal. Today we were equally moved as we joined the many visitors to the Grotte de Massabielle in Lourdes. The Grotte was the place where in 1854 a local girl, Bernadette Soubirous, had the first of 18 visions of the Virgin Mary. Since then it has become a major Catholic pilgrimage site, two large Basiliques and several other churches have been built. ... read more

08 October 2011 We watched France beat England in the Rugby world cup and thereby get revenge for the English victory 4 years ago which we saw at Rocamadour in the Auvergne. Then we tackled the Col de Tourmalet (in the van not on the bikes), at 2115m the highest in the Pyrenees and the site of many Tour de France epics. There are signs every kilometre telling cyclists the height they have reached and how far they have to go to the summit. I don’t know if this is a help or not. From the summit the exposed roads drops steeply to the ski resort of Barèges and then to the spa town Luz-St-Sauveur. From there we drove south up the valley to the village of Gavarnie which is spectacularly situated below the 1500m high ... read more

06 October 2011 We went back to the Auberge de Montsegur to use their Wi-Fi and had another long chat with the friendly waitress who had served us our dinner the night before. She was reading the blog on her laptop almost as soon as I had posted it. Finally we got away and drove to Mirepoix. The outstanding feature of this small town is Les Couverts, one of the loveliest surviving medieval arcaded market squares in France. We carried on past the town of Foix and are staying at a France Passion farmhouse with wide rural views. ... read more

04 October 2011 This area of the Pyrenees is dotted with castles left over from the brutal crusade launched by the Catholic church and northern French nobility against the heretic Cathars. They are in amazing remote hilltop locations with superb views. Today we visited three of them, Aguilar, Quéribus and Peyrepertuse. The approach was always up narrow twisting roads and then we were faced with navigating steep and irregular paths with many polished steps, but it was all good fun. We stayed at an aire in a superb location outside the hillside village of Duilhac below Château Peyrepertuse. ... read more