Hostellerie du Grand Duc Gincla

... that belonged to a family in the 11th century. Then the French king took it over at some point and it was expanded in the 12th & 13th centuries. At least, that's what Conrad gathered. It wasn't what I thought it would be. I expected it to just be a castle surrounded by buildings that we just got to walk through and look at. This was partly true. But, inside the ...

firstly this keyboard has the letters in aalll the wrong plqces qnd hqrd to find punctuation so sorry for the spelling....

we are nearly finished with france after two weeks, we have been very lucky and had sun the whole way!!!! no one told us that pretty much all the camping closes in france at the start of september so we have struggled to find places to stay; but , managed!! hoping that tomorrow we will get to ...

... 1.6 Euros! (ok, fair enough, maybe you guys do have a point, but food and wine are as key to the french culture as the medival ruins and churches) So, anyways, back to the care.....I figured a bottle of red and a bottle of white (ugh, now i have billy joel in my head for the rest of the night.....) but Jason, being the practical english man that he is, thought it better to get a bottle of white (and mind you when i ...

WHAT THE BROCHURE SAID: This second day of riding is a big day that travels over the most feared cols in the Pyrenees,
but it is also some of the most spectacular riding. Firstly we have a nice gentle warm up to
Laruns, base camp to the stunningly beautiful Col D’Aubisque (1709m). The cafe on the top
provides a perfect ...

... the 25th September and need to fit in some time to pack and make different arrangements. The days following my arrival in Merens have been incredible, helped by fabulous weather, I'm going to regret saying this. However, I have not needed any wet weather gear since my arrival. There I've said it; the kiss of death, I'm now going to be washed away in a monsoon. I've also met the usual wonderful hiking community that frequents the GR10 ...

... town a few of us went to the main square and had a couple of drinks. In preparation for our trip to Barcelona the next day I tracked down a Sangria, yum!

That night we stayed in the new town opposite the main square where they had a Spanish festival happening. After dinner a few of us decided to go for a wander around town. One of the couples had the unfortunate experience of witnessing a homeless person give their dog an extremely friendly rub, if you know what I mean ...

... and additional fortifications were added. It was restored meticulously.

I first check into the hostel which is within the castle walls. It affords gorgeous views, has a patio area that is terrific. The inside is pretty generic but what a location, next to 5 star hotels.

I get out just in time to get into the castle itself which is a museum. They do a fairly good job of explaining the purpose of various features (eg, wholes in the floor for dropping ...

I had the day off yesterday (a nice little treat because to be honest the work is so cruisey it hardly feels like work at all) and went to the city of Carcassonne. It was very cool.

There are two parts to it, the old and the new. The old city is a full on medieval castle with a wall around it, it was awesome wandering ...

Just outside Toulouse is a quaint village called Villefranche De Lauragais, where the Charbonnier's lived. (The exchange family soren stayed with during his exchange).We went to see the village, which again seemed so much bigger 14 years ago. Found the pharmacy that the Charbonnier's live at. As chance would have it soren recognised the pharmacist and asked about the Charbonnier's ...

... a restoration of the city was undertaken by Viollet-le-Duc, who decided that the turrets ought to be topped by some anachronistic witches-hat roofs. The citadel is lit up amazingly every evening, and contains within it a wealth of shops, restaurants, and a few hotels, including a youth hostel. It also contains a church and a palace, which houses a decent museum, and by taking a paid tour we were actually allowed to walk up along the ramparts and stand ...