Bagnère-de-Bigorre, Occitanie (Hautes-Pyrénées)

It was very hard to leave Sarlat, we really enjoyed the village and the Dordogne region. But it was time to hit the road again and head into the Pyrenees mountains. It was a longer drive this time – roughly 350km due south, passing through Toulouse, but it wasn’t long before we could see the mountains in the distance – from over a 100km away.

Once we reached the mountains the scenery changed once again. Beautiful mountain villages, surrounded by steep mountain peaks.

When we reached Bagnere-de-Biggore, our base for the next 3 nights, it felt like a ghost town. There was absolutely no one around and almost everything was closed. It felt really strange and was a stark contrast to the previous places we had been and the thousands of people we had to jostle through. Bel then remembered it was Sunday, and everything WAS shut, many places until Tuesday in this region 🙂

We drove around town for a while and then found a place for a late picnic lunch.

And then explored on foot, still a bit shell shocked at the quiet. We also remembered that the French, UK, and US holiday season was over too – Yay!

At 5pm we were able to check in to our BnB, a really cute old house with antique furniture throughout and a vegetable garden and orchard in the grounds.

And then went to dinner – while exploring earlier, we found a place that opened at 6.30 on Sundays.

The BnB is owned and run by a chef, Christophe, and as we found out at an amazing breakfast the next morning, he uses all of his own produce to make beautiful jams and buys local honeys – 13 flavours of each. My favourite was the orange and peach jam, Bel loved the white heather honey. He also freshly bakes bread for breakfast each morning, 3-4 different types each day – it was so good!

After breakfast we were back in the car to do a tour of the mountains. First stop was Col du Tourmalet, a famous peak ridden in the Tour de France. It was incredible, the climb up was steady early, but then got steeper and steeper. I used to have dreams of riding it ( we saw a few brave cyclists at the top) but have changed my mind – the kick at the end was a killer.

The drive down was crazier than the drive up. Lots of loose rock, sheep, goats, alpacas, and cows to dodge, including their slippery poops everywhere.

Next stop was Garvarnie, about another hours drive. It was our main goal for the day – including the walk into the Cirque de Garvarnie. The drive was windy and steep, passing through the winter ski villages.

We had left early to beat the crowds and forecast weather change, so parking was easy and we were quickly on the trail. The walk to the base of the Cirque ~4km.

When we reached the base we stopped for a coffee at the hotel. We then decided to do the walk in and up to the main waterfall.

As we made our way up the weather started to change and we could hear thunder in the distance. Just short of the top a few rain drops started to fall, so we decided to turn and make our way back. A few moments later the storm hit and it was hailing!

It was only small, but it was amazing how quickly the weather changed. The hail stopped after a few minutes and we made it back to Garvarnie only a little wet. The weather had changed once again and we dried out over some lunch.

Christophe also offered dinner as part of his BnB, and that night we had the first of his gourmet dinners. Three courses, with aperitif and wine, with most of the products fresh from his garden or from local providers.

We shared dinner with a couple from Belgium, Gerry and Martine (who we discovered was also a primary school teacher). It was fun as Martine had no English and Gerry just a little. We were the same with French, but between us we managed to piece a conversation together.

The next day we toured Lourdes, only 30 min drive away.

First was the grotto, site of Saint Bernadette’s miraculous visions of Our Lady.

We walked through the cave and touched the wall with the water seeping through. It is said to have miraculous properties, so I rubbed it on my bald spot. I’m expecting a full head of hair by the time we get home.

After lunch we toured the castle overlooking Lourdes and the museum inside. It was a really interesting tour, well sign posted and lots of relics from past life in the Pyrenees.

Our last stop In Lourdes was the Funicular.

Unfortunately we got our timing wrong and turned up just behind a tour bus and the local tour train, so it was very busy. It was also very hot, around 34, making the long wait more uncomfortable, but we eventually made our way up and the wait was worth it.

Back at our BnB we celebrated our last night with Gerry and Martine, and another of Christophe’s beautiful dinners. This time he cooked us a specialty of the region – Black pork which, like many things in France, is under strict naming (appellation) control. Once again most of the product was from his garden :-).

The dessert was an amazing chocolate cake that melted in your mouth and lavender ice cream freshly made. It was so good I forgot to get a photo.

Our stay with Christophe was a really special experience. Every morning we looked forward to our breakfast to see what breads he had baked for the day, and what fruits from the garden he had used in the fruit salad. Once he realised Bel didn’t like seeds, he even customised her fruit. On our last morning I had a board meeting so he happily baked even earlier so that I could eat before my meeting. We were sad to leave Sarlat, but even sadder to leave Christophe’s home – Bel actually shed a tear. Perfect.