Les Grottes de Niaux

Another day out, we headed to the caves at Niaux, about a two hour drive from here at the foothills of the Pyrenees. The drive was spectacular – clear blue skies and snow on the mountains. The van was fun to drive, even when we got spectacularly lost on some very minor and unplanned roads on our return journey and ended up exploring some fairly off-the-beaten-track places.

The tour of the cave consists of walking approx. 1 kilometre in, using only a torch, over sometimes wet and uneven ground. Unfortunately I didn’t read the bit about ‘sensible shoes’ but came to no grief. At the end were the prehistoric cave paintings which were indeed impressive. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the cave, but I’ve included a couple from Wikipedia.

We also managed to fit in the obligatory visit to La Cite at Carcassonne before heading south to Niaux, and consequently missed all the crowds.