Caves and Cathars in Gascony

Gascony, in the SW of France, is frequently written up as a beautiful gourmand's paradise at the foothills of the Pyrenees. Stretched for time we could only manage a day trip, in which there was much to see and much reason to return. Unfortunately we can't vouch for the food - we had a nice enough lunch in Foix, but the town was full of pizzerias (which appear to have conquered the world but we're not interested in until Italy) and offered limited options of interest.

Some highlights of the day:

• The underground river (Riviere Souterrain) at Labouiche. You travel (are pulled along by your guide) in a flat-bottomed boat.  The trip takes about an hour below the earth, traveling through a series of limestone caverns complete with waterfall - a wonderful experience, though not for claustrophobics.
• Meandering along windy roads in the foothills of the Pyrenees under glorious sunshine. Pierre's top came off and we soaked up both the sun and the setting.
• A great old bridge Pont de Diable (Bridge of the Devil)  - named from an old legend - someone did a deal with the devil in order to get to market.  The devil would build the bridge but in exchange take the heart of the first person who crossed it.  Apparently no one would dare cross so they sent across a cat (heathens) but this made the devil so angry he fell into the river...yes really.
• The old Cathar fortress of Montsegur (also called the Cloud Castle), which was the setting for the Inquisition's ultimate putting-down of the whole Cathar faith in 1244.   Astonishing location & you can see how 150 Cathars held out for 12 months against 10,000 Catholics.  It certainly wasn't easy to get to, the walk up was a climb of around 200 metres altitude up steep steps and rocks...at least we didn't have catapults aimed our way.