Tiny Villages and finally some sun.

Saturday 27th May

Market day today and the town was crawling with people. It looked to be a huge market over several areas in the town, and not a park to be had within cooee. There was even a garden market square. We decided to give the market a miss - we really prefer the much smaller ones.

These cattle were being herded along one of the roads in town.
Border collies doing their job.

Time to check out some of the small villages in, lets call them the foothills of the Pyrenees. We headed out in a direction we hadn't been before, over another climb out of Bagneres de Bigorre and plotting our way with the tourist map through some tiny villages. Marsas, Balios, Asque,  Esparros - all charming in their own way.  You almost felt like you were driving through their backyards. The 'roads' were just gaps between the houses. None of the villages had any shops - a long way to go over twisty mountain roads for your daily baguette. 

We stopped at a gorge tourist spot to check out the waterfalls. We thought we were the only ones there until we got right in. The french people are very outdoorsy doing a lot of walks and enjoying picnics. I didnt see any kids out there having a picnic with their mobile phones attached.

Gorge d'Asque.

Mums, dads, kids and dogs all enjoying a picnic.

Gorge d'Asque

Lunch was a problem. Keep driving and stop at the first sign of food. We passed a sign advertising an auberge at 1km on left. It was a long kilometre, especially because the roads aren't travelled at 100kph. In the end though we found the restaurant and enjoyed a lovely lunch.

Just a pleasant drive in the country.

Sunday 28th May

Time to move on today, heading further east towards the Mediterranean.  First stop though was the supermarket for lunch and dinner provisions. Tomorrow is another bank holiday so we are trying to be prepared. 

Tower in Bagneres de Bigorre, where we spent the past 4 days.

Not a lot of views of the snow on the mountains, as there was a lot of cloud. We stopped in a small town along the way and enjoyed our picnic lunch - in the sun! Maybe the weather is finally improving. I think it hit 27 today so we might get in to the next layer of clothes in our suitcases.

The roads today were much more open, less hilly, but there were still a couple of areas Dora took us through which were more demanding. We came through one place on the way where there are caves to tour, and the main road actually runs through the caves for about 500m. It was very impressive. We might go back and do the tour if we find ourselves with spare time. 

These beautiful Maremmas came out to greet us as we drove past. 

We are now staying in a town called Pamiers for a few days. Tomorrow we will go to a couple of villages which are on the list of beautiful villages in France.