don&margieabroard
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  • The Trip...the first days
    • England & Ireland
    • Venice, Orient Express and Prague
    • A trip to the Pyrenees
    • Off to Spain
    • Arles, Uzes and the ghost of Vincent
    • Agde, Beziers and Rugby @ Narbonne
    • O'Vineyards and Toulouse
    • Carcassonne and Restaurant Barbacane
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      • Athens, Crete & Turkey
      • The Last Days...Singapore
  • Our time in Olonzac.
    • Sunday Lunch @ Auberge La Selette
    • Night out @ Le Brasserie de Sports
    • Christmas @ La Maison de Pierre Olonzac
    • The Last Supper
  • Imagination....the photo gallery
    • The Village of Olonzac
    • Venice
    • Athens ..a photo journey
    • Crete, Heraklion and The Palace of Knossos
  • Food, Places and Interesting Things
    • Food Markets of the World
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  • Food Markets of the World
  • Food Markets Photostory
  • A Trip to Tassie
  • Tassie Revisited ....again
  • Shaken in the Shaky Isles
  • Perth Bangkok and the 25 Emoji Dinner

our time in London, Salisbury, St Austell Cornwall & Bath

Waterford to Roscrea and Bill William's place

Cliffs of Mohir and Galway

A trip to the Pyrenees 

On 16 & 17 November Margie and I took a trip to the west of Olonzac into the foothills of the Pyrenees. The idea was to visit the caves at Niaux and the last stronghold of the Cathars at Montsegur.
The weather was superb and the countryside provided a magnificent backdrop for our excursion. We were in awe of Montsegur and the little village below was charming. First stop after finding the village was the cave at Niaux. 
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Montsegur as we approached the Chateaux and the village
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the road up to the Niaux Grotto
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On the platform outdise the grotto looking down the valley
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the grotto entrance
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reproductions of cave art outside the grotto
Following our amazing journey 800 metres into the Niaux Grotto and marvelling how and why primitive men hauled wood and materials 800 metres under the earth to make these paintings we set off for the Auberage de Montsegur where refreshment awaits. 
Dinner is a regional affair with a wild boar in red wine stew and cassoulet washed down with a local red wine. 
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Auberage de Montsegur
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the quaint little restaurant where I tried the wild boar & red wine
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fires are lit as the sun turns in
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street at Village de Montsegur
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Montsegur floats in the clear blue sky above the village
The next day it was breakfast ant then an assault on Montsegur....but not until Margie had made some new friends
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The start of the climb and what an attacker would be looking at
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Montsegur village from half way up to the chateau
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we look down on a farm...must be a nice place to live
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and this is the view
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just loved the colours and textures here
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200 Cathars were burnt to death on this spot
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the distant Pyrenees in the morning sun
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Margie,dwarfed by the ruins of the chateau takes in the view
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inside the ruins of Chateau Montsegur
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what this was all about
After Montsegur we decided to take the scenic route to Foix through the mountains and the little villages the most picturesque of which was Roquefixade overlooked by another towering Chateaux
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After a short stop for lunch in a really beautiful small park ( with another sad memorial to soldiers killed in WW 1) we resume the trip to Foix...where there is yet another castle
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streets of Fiox
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the castle at Fiox
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