Day 13 - Eh bien, c'était intéressant!

Well, that was interesting! The D117 & D118 to Matmale.
Early start today as we had a relatively long way to go, 160 miles, which both the sat nav and Google were telling us would take 4 and a half hours; but we knew it would take longer. (In fact it took us over 6hrs🫨) We were heading East, further along the Pyrenees to eat up some miles before going further still, towards Perpignan and the coast. Narrow mountain roads would take us back to more gentler green areas, farm lands, large towns then back up into the mountains but mountains a little bit different to what we had seen and driven thru before.🤔
Slowly we picked our way up and down sections of mountains, hair pin roads and the odd bit of traffic a little too wide of their lane. Thru little villages, each one with something unique to try and grab a photo of while still keeping a spare set of eyes on the road for Jill trying to spot the 'killer' high cubs at junctions, old ladies and stray cats.

The town of Foix came and went with its churches and castle high on the rocky outcrop....

Then the roads started to get interesting... the D117 twisting its way down to the town of
Quillan  with its distinctive red tile roofs...
More little mountain villages; every now and then with interesting wall painted signage, almost always related to alcohol 🥴
Then it was onto the D118 starting with the Gorges de Saint Georges : Saint Georges Gorge.
This particularly narrow canyon , over its entire length, has a road dug into its side, close to the river Aude which runs about 10m below. The road was actually covered when the gorge flooded on January 23, 2020. The river has eroded the limestone resulting in a fault that is 300m long, 15m wide at road level with steep cliffs over 150m tall. Work to actually make a road thru the gorge rather than the path which only existed when the water level was low, was started in 1813 and took 20 years to complete. The traffic light system to make it one way was only installed in 2013 😮, can only imagine what it must have been like before that, travelling along it and meeting something half way lol.



All very stunning, we loved it, but it got better. The D118 then seems to hug the side of the mountain ridge and goes way up in the mist. We had rain, drizzle & rocks on the road. I tried to take photos, but a lot of them came out blurred. We had overhangs, not knowing how tall they were from the road and if we would fit under them without hitting anything. 



We even had mini tunnels, archways..."how tall is it, are we going to hit the aerial?"..."don't know, no sign, head for the middle.... in fact get on the other side of the road, nothings coming, cos the aerials on your side anyway".

Round the bends we went, never knowing what was on the other side. Startled car drivers, not overly confident, wide eyed, as a campervan with yellow and white daisies on the front and some fool in the passenger seat waiving a mobile phone about,  came hurtling towards them, taking eyes off the road. 🫣 
Jill of course took it all in her stride 🥱.

We even had tunnels, then just when you thought you had seen it all, up popped Frankenstein's substation ⚡🫨



Dotted here and there were derelict or abandoned buildings, a shame really, things from a bygone time when the Pyrenees was all new and exciting; hotels, hostels, petrol stations, tiny road side cafes 😔

Eventually the road started to drop slightly and we entered the start of the Pyrénées Orientales National park and a valley that sits at almost 5000 feet above sea level.

Our stop for the night was just south of Matemale, in the forests surrounding the lake of the same name and which is fed from the same Aude river that ran thru the gorge we had passed thru earlier. A 40 pitch Camperstop carpark that sits at ..

...and for some reason was totally empty !
As the rain started to fall, alongside the temperature, we battened down the hatches and settled in for the night after a very enjoyable day. Probably just as well, as there were signs we might not be alone in the woods after all 😱






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