A Quick Trip to the Pyrenees

We had a free day yesterday (I know, don't laugh, your perspective changes on a long vacation, I suppose the word I should have used was "unscheduled"), so we decided to take a quick drive up to the Pyrenees, which on the map look to be less than an hour from our house.  It didn't turn out that way, due to the fact that everyone with a car in France seemed to headed the same way on the A61 as we were, and when we turned on the radio in the car to get traffic info, all we heard was "bouchon, bouchon, bouchon, bouchon, bouchon," all over France, "bouchon" being the word for a "stopper" or a "cork," used commonly to describe bunched-up, stopped traffic on a road.  Right after the toll booth outside of Toulouse, we were stuck in a major, major bouchon for about 10 kilometers, which frustrated me to no end, because I had actually gone on-line in the morning to the Bison Fute site (explanation here for those who haven't been reading along closely) and read that traffic was going to be bad, and could have avoided the autoroute entirely by going on smaller, local roads, but didn't.  Eventually the traffic did clear up, and the autoroute south off of the A61 toward the Pyrenees was completely clear.

Very shortly after the turn south, you come over a hill and are presented with a grand view of the mountains in the distance (this photo was taken on our return, but gives a sense of the view):



Our destination was a small town called Foix, located in a scenic valley along the River Ariege.



As seems to be the case every Saturday, there was a small market going on in the center of town, with vendors selling food and other things (including some antiques that were quite interesting and beautiful).  After eating a lunch that Suzie had prepared,



we walked through the market and eventually bought some bread, some cookies, and two large pieces of a walnut/caramel tart-like creation, which was sweet and tasty but defintely not low-fat.



Foix has a beautiful old chateau, which sits on a high outcropping of rock near the center of the town. It dates from about 1000, and served as the seat of power for rulers of the area for centuries. More info on the chateau can be found here. We didn't make it inside the chateau, but it was an excellent photo target, its medieval austerity contrasting with the comfortable, more modern buildings in the town itself.


After our tour of Foix, we were ready to go out into the mountains. Our trusty Michelin Green Guide said that there was an outstanding viewpoint a short drive west of Foix, at a place called the Tour Laffon, which it described as "15 minutes on foot round-trip. Follow the path to the right behind the hut at the Col de Marrous." The guide promised a "magnificent vista of the central and Ariege Pyrenees." We found the Col de Marrous, and followed the path to the right behind the hut, and were in the middle of a beautiful, dense forest of birch trees and ferns.



Unfortunately, after walking for 15 minutes, we were still in the middle of a beautiful, dense forest of birch trees and ferns, no Tour Laffon and no magnificent vista appearing. So we back-tracked to the hut, took another path to the right (following a group that seemed to know where it was going), and found ourselves on the edge of a dense forest of birch trees, with views to the south over dark green fields of ferns.


Unfortunately, after walking for 15 minutes, we again saw no Tour Laffon, and no magnificent vista, so we once again retraced our steps, passing on our way back the group we had originally started to follow. Explaining that we were looking for the Tour Laffon, they told us to descend around the restaurant (not the hut) and described how magnificent the view was. So we attempted to descend around the restaurant, but there seemed to be no path down from there, only a path up, so at this point we decided that the Tour Laffon and the magnificent vista were simply not meant to be, and gave up. The kids were complaining about having to hike for nothing, but Suzie and I were both happy to have had two fairly good hikes in beautiful spots.

We drove further up into the mountains, taking a left turn down a narrow, single-lane logging road, which eventually provided us one glorious view, but unfortunately it had begun to rain and, fearing the Citron was not the most nimble, agile vehicle on slippery, winding mountain roads, we returned to Foix, bought groceries, and drove back to Toulouse, this time on local roads, avoiding another bouchon scene.

I love driving on the narrow, winding, scenic French roads, and so yesterday I took a little video of the very last part of our trip, which is posted below. Unfortunately it is a bit long, so those of you not interested in a 5 minute drive should advance the video to the 3/4 mark, to see the last little bit of our drive (very scenic) back to our house in Aigrefeuille.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZPFH8P728A]