Saturday June 24, Argeles-Gazost

Our first overcast grey day for ages and temperatures only reaching 17 degrees. Have to say we are really enjoying it and even decided to make a chicken casserole dish for dinner – a change from the barbecues. You can buy a really nice seasoning mix that comes with its own oven bag, and just need to put the chicken and the mix in the bag and add some extra vegetables and dinner is done…and no dishes to do, even better.

We have really enjoyed travelling in this area, and love the Pyrenees with their tree covered hillsides and small villages. There are a lot of ski towns with quite modern buildings but not at all pretentious. As we dropped down on The D929 and around to Lourdes it was quite hilly with lots of small farms and cropping in small patches. A very pretty rural area.

Having so enjoyed our cycle the other day, we found another one, the Voie Verte des Gaves, following an old railway track and river from just out of Lourdes to Cauterets. Looked good, so tonight we are camped in a Carrefour Supermarket carpark in a special area set aside for campers to overnight. There are tables outside and view up to the mountains and is surprisingly quiet as it is away from the traffic. There are already about 10 other vans here and with the cooler weather we are not concerned about having trees for shade! And it is only a very short ride to pick up the cycle trail. Should be much cooler than the last one.

Spoke to an English chap this evening who is on his way to meet up with a group of 10 cyclists from England. He is leading them on a 7-day cycling tour through the Alps and The Pyrenees, on “real” bikes, not like ours!

Not much exciting in the way of photography, just “drive by” shots, but a glimpse of the countryside we are travelling through!

Evidently, according to Ian, Piedmontese cattle!

Tonights "squat", not the most scenic, but handy to the rail trail.