KYQ4: Ariege

Mirepoix

Wednesday 29 August to Sunday 2 September 2012

Getting to know France has been an ambition thwarted by my lack of language skills and the difficulties of getting there from Scotland without having to travel through the London hub airports. I had never visited the Midi Pyrenees or Rousillion departments although they have long been on my list of places to visit. We headed for Toulouse via Gatwick and hired a car for 15 days to travel these parts and then move on to our favourite haunt in the Ardeche.

Arriving at Toulouse mid-afternoon we were confronted by an overcast sky and an empty modern airport. It made the car rental hire quick and we were soon heading south around the complex road networks that inevitably serve regional airports. Our destination was to the east of the Ariege region and we departed from the main roads north of Foix to forage around the rural roads. It was a sparsely populated region and when we arrived at the town of Mirapoix, a glorious collection of timber-framed houses around a church, market place and square. We had arrived in that rural idyll that defines France, the carousel in the square and the coffee eased us into a holiday mood. We continued the journey and 20 minutes later we arrived in the rural village of Leran to stay in a typical large French house that had been splendidly preserved. The cafe across the road provided a classic French 3-course meal with an odd cast of customers who were described by our host as 'marginals' but seemed to be indigenous ageing hippies who worked on the land.

The end of summer was apparent by the absence of holidaymakers and the arrival of grey skies, strong winds and some rain. The next day we headed through wonderful scenery to Carcassonne, passing through Limoge on the way. I asked Aileen what is it famous for but we couldn't recollect. Sparkling wine was the answer as we remembered the next day when some of our fellow travellers returned with two crates of the stuff. La Cite of Carcassonne was made even more seductive under dark clouds with the red and grey turrets spiking the threatening sky in the way that the Cathars had challenged the Catholic church and led to the plundering of the Cathars by the Crusaders.

We returned via Mirepoix and, after an evening run to the nearby Lac de Montbel, we enjoyed a splendid meal in the Chambre d' Hote with two other couples. Friday was to be a venture into the Pyrenees but the high winds persisted so we curtailed my intentions with a visit to Foix, which had recently hosted the Tour de France, and then onto Niaux to visit the caves. We returned via Monsegur, an impressive Cathar castle that entailed a 250-metre climb. In the evening Leran held its weekly street festival with locals far and wide congregating in the street which was furnished with tables and lined by purveyors of local dishes. It was slow food with fast dancing and the night terminated with a fine firework display. It was a celebration of the end of the summer that coincided with the occasion of a farewell party for a former work colleague that I was missing at home.

Saturday saw us make the longish journey to St Giron for the market and then onto St Lizier, another World Heritage site. It is a quiet but beautiful village where we were treated to magical skies as the weather began to turn and at last, we were treated to distant views of the Pyrenees. We returned and visited the ski resort at Monts d'Olmes. The Ariege is an area that beguiles you and seems to have escaped the passing crowds. A place where you can live well on modest means, and at the same time ski, walk, cycle and enjoy many of its charms whilst witnessing some of the less savoury aspects of French rural life.