Laruns Artouste Fabrege.

September27-28 This was one of the places I was looking forward to for some time. A cablecar ride to a little train ride to a lake. The little train (le petit train) is the highest one in Europe and was originaly built to ferry materials and men to build the dam for the Artouste lake,part of the hydroelectric scheme. It didn't disappoint. We arrived at the village late on as it was a lengthy jouney and we neede to shop, so we booked the trip for 11 am the following day, found a space on the side of the road, with a number of other vans, overlooking what should have been a large lake, Lac de Fabrèges. It was empty, again part of the hydroelectic scheme and there were a number of heavy machinery working in the lake bottom. The following day, loaded up with a couple of sandwiches and a bottle of chilled Rose wine for out picnic, we walked from our van to the ticket office and took the cablecar to the summit, fantastic.

We had a good look around at the summit and admiring the scenery.

Then onto the train.

The train ride was stunning, the track clinging to the edge of a beatiful valley fantastic views that lasted the best part of an hour, loads of video that will be uploaded later. We arrived at Lake Artouste and ate of picnic sitting on a rock with the water lapping around our feet.

The return journey was just as spectacular. A fantastic day.