The drive from Sarlat to Luz-Saint-Sauveur (in the French Pyrenees) was straightforward - picking up Laurie in Toulouse on the way. On the way to Luz, we stopped in to look at Lourdes, the famous pilgrimage centre in the foothills of the Pyrenees. We're staying just outside Luz in a nice little stone house, part of a small complex, with mountains all around. From here, it's about 30m drive in all directions to various mountain valleys with walking trails. We've had two big days of walks so far, with scenery far more spectacular than I thought likely or that photos can illustrate. Here are some pics......
On the street to the main shrine in Lourdes, there are countless shops selling all manner of religious fare - how to choose!?......
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View back from the main church complex to the castle overlooking Lourdes.....
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Main church complex (3 churches in one)....
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The grotto which (below) which started everything, when (Saint) Bernadette saw visions of Mary as a young girl - hmmmm.....
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This is our little stone house in Luz (on the left) .....
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Long view to Cirque de Gavarnie (yesterday). It's easy to see why it's the most popular walk in the Pyrenees. The cows had bells....
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The walking group....
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Very picturesque scenery on the way.....
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Water is everywhere and pumping due to glaciers and the scale of the landscape.....
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As we got closer, we could see more and more waterfalls and the scale of the major falls (420m), being the highest in France. Look closely for the tiny specks of people below. Not everyone heads up to the falls from the end point, where we had a great lunch on a terrace looking at this view (with a very cute Westie!)....
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Up close and personal under the major falls - random people show scale. All up it was about a 500m climb from the start of the walk, to the base of the falls.....
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Today we headed to Cauterets and up to a mountain refuge for coffee. At least the first part was by a little gondola and chair lift. We climbed about 350m and came down about 600m, over 15km. But it was mostly rocks underfoot so slow going. The views were unbelievable the whole way. The wind at this first Lac de Gaube was incredible - almost blew us off our feet!.....
This is the destination, being a mountain face (Vignemale - 3,298m) with glaciers high in the Pyrenees. If you look close you can see Marian and Laurie at the bottom of the photo.....
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We kept thinking we were almost there - wrong......
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Marian on a bridge over the constant water presence throughout the valley - down the middle and down the sides......
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Looking back along the glacial valley we came up.....
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Finally at the end point where a refuge served coffee. A diagram inside showed about 30 different climbing routes up the mountain faces - hard core! Several people were continuing on up the mountains to other refuges - we headed back whilst the weather closed in a little.....
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On the way back - looking back - Marian in photo at bottom - the scenery was epic.....
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A short clip showing the view on the way down back to Lac de Gaube.....
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The wind seems to be very severe—Marian’s coat is doing a fandango on the bridge! Never seen such imposing mountains in such clear weather—make the most of it! Cheers
ReplyDeleteJust seen this on the big screen....spectacular !!🔆⚜️⛰️🏔️🌞
ReplyDeleteLooks like Lord of the Rings territory!
ReplyDeleteThe scale of the scenery is breathtaking Steve
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