On our way to Mont Louis which is near the campsite we were staying at for a few days we stopped at a scenic layby for lunch. There was a slope with wildflowers on it and in the gravel near my feet I discovered my first ever Bagworm! These moth larvae cover themselves in bits of stick or bark or other bits of vegetation as protection and camouflage and just protrude like the one below when they want to move somewhere.
I was really impressed by the matching bits of stick and how well it had stuck those bits on. They belong to the Psychidae family but I can't ID better than that!
Another first for me in this spot was a Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum odoratum). I have never seen one growing wild before.
Mont Louis is a citadel with a small village within, built by Vauban between 1649 and 1681. Vauban was a French military engineer who was responsible for many of the fortresses around the border of France. Most of Vauban's sites are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Looking back towards the village part of the citadel.
This part of the citadel is still in use by the French military and can only be accessed by guided visits.
You can walk all the way around the fortifications and it really is a large site. That's my brother, he manages to get in most of my photos whether I like it or not! 😀
Our campsite was at a place called Pla de Barres, up a bit higher than Mont Louis. We stayed there years ago and loved it. The campsite is fairly basic but has changed hands since we were there and now has a new reception building and basic outdoor restaurant, but hasn't lost its charm.
It's located beside the River Tet and the area is known as Petit Canada because of the pine trees, grasslands and rocky river. There are many paths here and you can walk into Mont Louis along one of the tracks.
Last time here we were lucky to see a flock of Crossbills, but not this time, sadly! Here we are wandering around, me in search of butterflies!
Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene).
The River Tet.
The native Rhododendron of the Pyrenees, Rhododendron ferrugineum.
I remember finding similar ringlet butterflies our last time here but they are hard to ID as there are loads of species and they are nearly all brown with orange patches and black and white eyes. I have hopefully identified these correctly as Bright-Eyed Ringlets (Erebia oeme). "Frequently rests deep in long grass" helped with IDing as this is exactly what many of them were doing!
This scene is right close to the campsite which is on the right of the river. It is so peaceful and lovely there, one of the loveliest campsites, even though it was much busier this June than our previous visit early one September.
The following day was the highlight of our trip - full of butterflies and wildflowers. I have so many photos I shall have to divide it into two posts!
Leaving Andorra via Port d'Envalira involved a lot of going up, and up, and up! The pass is at 2,408m and is the highest paved pass in the Pyrenees. There is a tunnel lower down which avoids the highest part but why would we want to take that? The views from the summit were magnificent. It's also surely got the highest petrol stations in the Pyrenees - there were three of them just before the border, as petrol is cheaper in Andorra (and Spain) than in France.
If you click on this Pyrenean Thistle (Carduus carlinoides) photo, which I saw at the pass, you'll see the stripey bee in the centre.
Once back in France we crossed another mountain pass, the Col de Puymorens at 1,920m altitude.
There wasn't a lot but I found a few wildflowers and butterflies!
Top left: Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) Bottom left: Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus) Right: Violet (possibly Viola pyrenaica)
Top left: Another Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) Bottom left: Rock Speedwell (Veronica fruticans) Right: Rock Campion (Atocion rupestre)
N.B. I am not 100% on the IDs above!
Below is this derelict hotel at the Col, built in the 1930s. It burnt down in 2019 which is such a shame.
Here is a map showing our journey on this day from Andorra la Vella via the two mountain passes to our destination at Llivia.
I mentioned the Spanish enclave of Llivia way back at the beginning of this series of posts. It's a tiny bit of Spain about a mile from Spain but totally surrounded by France and the reason goes back in history to the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees.
Taken from Wikipedia: "Following the Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659), the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 ceded the comarques of Roussillon, Conflent, Capcir, Vallespir, and northern Cerdanya ("Cerdagne") to the French Crown. The treaty thus established the Pyrenees as the border between France and Spain, while separating Northern Catalonia from Catalonia. However, the treaty stipulated that only villages were to be ceded to France, and LlÃvia was considered a town (vila in Catalan), since it had the status of the ancient capital of Cerdanya.[8] So LlÃvia remained a Spanish enclave within France and did not become part of the Kingdom of France. This situation was confirmed in the subsequent Treaty of LlÃvia, signed in 1660."
Llivia, altitude 1,224m, lies in a part of the eastern Pyrenees known as the Cerdagne, which for the most part is a huge plain with mountains around it.
Above the town is a hill topped by the remains of an old castle and we set off up the hill in hot sunshine.
There's some info here in English if you click on the photo. There really isn't a lot left of the castle, but there is Roman history here from before this castle was built and Roman pieces have been found during excavations. Some original castle remains have been found dating to 996 but it was enlarged in the 13th century.
The clouds were starting to roll in and looked ominous!
At this point we decided we had better leg it down the hill, as the black clouds were getting closer and closer. Of course it started to rain and thunder on our way down, getting heavier and heavier and we were absolutely drenched by the time we got back to the Moho! 😀 One of the benefits of a Moho though is that you can dry off and change your clothes in one and leave your wet things to drip in the bathroom!
The cathedral and old part of the town are situated on a high point overlooking the Orb river and the cathedral can be seen from far away.
Raimond Roger Trencavel (below) was viscount of Beziers and Carcassonne and lived at the same time as the crusade against the Cathars. When the Albigensian crusade was on its way towards Beziers, Albi and Carcassonne with 10,000 men, Raimond Roger tried to do a deal with the crusaders, but they refused to meet with him. He fled to the fortified city of Carcassonne which was subsequently surrounded and its drinking water cut off. When Carcassonne surrendered, the people were forced to leave but after receiving safe passage in order to negotiate the surrender, Raimond Roger was then captured and thrown into a dungeon, where he eventually died.
Beziers, however, didn't get off so lightly. The cathedral was destroyed and the thousands of townsfolk were massacred.
The beautiful organ pipes and stained glass circular window, above and below.
The cloister, above and below, has apparently never been finished due to a lack of funding. It looks OK to me!
I really wanted to go up the 149 steps to the roof and my brother came with me. It was all via circular staircase with a break at mid level where there is a balcony inside the cathedral. It got a bit dodgy when meeting people coming down! Keith didn’t want to come but given his size he would have found it pretty tight in there. It was fairly tough and most people were puffing and panting and taking breathers, like me!
We didn’t go all the way to the very top (it was barred off) but came out where there was a small walkway on all four sides of the tower. On this sunny day the views were amazing.
I was using my phone and am surprised my photos came out so well as it was literally point and shoot as I couldn’t see anything on the screen!
Looking down to the Orb river and the old bridge dating from the 12th century on the right, which is not used for vehicles.
Looking inland towards the Montagne Noir. I could actually see the sea from up here.
My brother showing how narrow it was in most places up there!
Once down we walked around to this garden which had a lovely view and where we could even feel some warmth from the sun, despite the temp being about 11C. The trees are all citrus trees but without any fruit on. It was a lovely place to just sit and chill for a bit.
Next Xmas we plan to visit Perpignan in neighbouring Pyrenees-Orientales department, then we will have finally been to all the main towns around here. 😄
We visited Beziers after Christmas for the first time. This is one of the main towns in the Herault department, which neighbours our department, Aude. It's a bit bigger than Narbonne where we went last Xmas, and we were lucky with the weather, although this day wasn't eat outside weather!
Don't be tricked by the snow though - it's all fake! As we were wandering around the town we came to this big open square which was near the restaurant that we were heading for. I absolutely loved these decorations - they really went to town here. I bet it looks great lit up at night as well, but with the blue sky, it looks amazing!
I just loved all these domes filled with different snowy winter scenes.
Here's Santa and his reindeer, and they are galloping/flying down a rill (that's shallow water flowing in the middle there).
The fountains were permanent but fun to watch too as they changed every few seconds.
A reflection of all three of us!
Beziers is famous for its Trompe l'Oeil decorations on the walls. That means 'trick of the eye' and some are truly amazing with the 3D effect (particularly the one below this, as I thought the top balcony was real!). We only came across two of them, but I believe you can get a map of their locations from the tourist office.
Isn't it amazing - all those shadows painted on which look real, and to paint the balcony railings too - wow! Even the door at ground level is painted.
Later in the day we came across this cute petting zoo. I can't resist things like this and there were some teeny tiny goats that were so cute, but it was hard to get close as there were lots of people in that enclosure - and fluffy legged chickens in there too!
We then visited the cathedral but I will put those pictures in another post.
