The French Pyrenees have far exceeded our expectations.

We’ve spent the last 3 days chilling in several tiny mountain towns. Highlights
of our visits include – staying in the town of Lescun (a former leper colony),
“earning” a free beer for paying our bill in a small local pub just off the
highway and spending the last two nights in the high thin air of a wonderful
Chateau retreat.

We haven’t done much but relax for the last few days. We’ve done a lot of
reading, sleeping and yesterday we took a good long hike up into the hillside.
The views were absolutely wonderful making the punishing hike well worth it. It
was great to get out and get some exercise, but it also shows that we need to do
more of it. The hike was great, but more difficult than it should have been.

We’ve also been enjoying some fantastic French food in this region. Ample
portions with beautiful presentation seem to be “what’s done” here – I suppose
the food has to be hearty to feed the appetites of the hikers passing through.
The number of Gites and hiker hostels is vast. In some ways, we wish we had
chosen to stay in one, just to meet  a few of the hikers...