Luchon to Audressein Pyrenees France

Travelled:78km from Lys Valley to Luchon, St.Beat, Col de Mente, Col d’Aspet to Audressein parking (42.9293,1.0231)

After a quiet night we drove a 2.5km to the end of the valley to go for a walk to the Cascade d’Enfer.

This little guy reminded us of a platypus.

The area is part of the EDF hydro scheme.

Interesting stats…

We decided to go further up the hill +190m alt/1.5km/30mins to the Gorge d’Enfer…

And then we back tracked down back to Bluey. We drove out of the valley and once again stopped in Bagneres de Luchon to dump the grey and black waters and then to fill up on food and fuel at Intermarché. We then continued along the valley to Saint Beat, parking next to the Garonne river.

We walked along the main street to have a closer look at the sculptures made from the local white marble. The quarry having in existence since the Romans.

We had a look at the Chapel La Roch which has the appearance of being abandoned ( as much of the town).

The old time loos… dumping into the river

 So we up we went to the Col de Mente 1349m but we’re stopped before the summit to allow the skate boarders to finish their run. As they were boarding the trucks to go back up we were allowed to continue our journey.

Next was Col d’Aspet 1069m also popular with cyclists and motorbikes.

We made our way down into the next valley to Audressein , a small village in the Ariège département of the Occitane région.

The lavoir..a little dry atm

Some pretty floral arrangements.

The local clog maker.

An old pigeon coop.

As we walked around we spotted an old Hydraulic Thresher built in the 1800’s. 

But the most notable building was the Church of Notre Dame de Tramesaygues (14th C), world heritage site on the route of Santiago de Compostela.

 The portal had some medieval paintings.

Some were also uncovered inside the church.

 We then enjoyed a relaxing evening.