Aragnouet

We left Carcassonne at 8:30am, filled up our water which is a 100 litres tank, emptied the toilet waste and our grey tanks and set off. It took a while to escape the city traffic during the rush hour but once we were away from the city we were moving freely doing a steady 50mph through the back lanes to Grotte le Mas D’azil. We had been there before but time and bad weather were against us, so this time the plan was to explore the caves, but to our disappointment the caves are shut on Monday and Fridays during low season.
We made breakfast and had a cup of tea before setting off for the Tunnel de aragnouet, we drove through the Pyrenees and some of the most spectacular landscapes with mountains, rolling hills and beautiful villages. We both agreed this was probably the nicest stretch of road we had been on so far, and the alps was spectacular.
We had to wait about 10 minutes for the light to go green at the tunnel and when it did we were through those 3km in no time and into Spain. Russ had seen this route on La Vuelta and had wanted to drive it for ages and it didn’t disappoint, huge rivers of crystal clear water with golden and white rocks, surrounded by pine trees and the back drop of the Pyrenees mountains. Vultures soaring overhead, while all the time we were descending at a steady speed of 45mph and taking it all in.
Our first stop would be an airè we had found on park4night next to a castle, we had no idea what it would be like or if we could even get to it but pictures had shown other motorhomes at the site so that was our plan.
It took us about 45 mins of slow driving but we soon came to the little town of Ainsa, the castle was just up the hill and although the road was narrow we got to the car park and it was great, mountain views one side and a castle the other. There were also about 30 other motorhomes in the car park and maybe 20 camper vans but it’s big enough for all of us and there’s more than enough room for everyone to have there own private area should they want it.
The first thing we did was check out the castle, it’s mainly ruins but there’s a few things in display and exhibitions about the Pyrenees and it’s all free. The best part of this site is the town itself. It’s a traditional medieval village with all original doorways dating back to the 17th and 18th century, the streets are all original with the old cobbles and it really does look like something from a film set but it’s all real.
We spent ages looking around, had some dinner in Wanda and then went back in the late evening to get some night photos, this so far is an amazing place.Read more