Classic Chemin de la Liberté

Collection at Toulouse Blagnac airport and transfer to Seix which takes approximately 1.5hrs. You are free to explore this lovely small town. You will spend the night in one of 2 traditional family run auberges in Seix. For Sepember treks and smaller groups you will stay on N1 at www.chezarran.com apartments with pool, thai cushion area and large gardens with a morning transfer of 1 hr across the Pyrenees to reach Seix and St Girons. Visit to the Tarascon sur Ariege Evades memorial may be possible depending on your flight arrival time.

Toulouse was a major gathering point for the crossing of the Pyrenees and many fugitives gathered in the Hotel de Paris, managed by Monsieur and Madame Montgelard, who were both eventually captured and deported to concentration camps in Germany; only Madame Montgelard returned. From here escapees headed both to Tarascon Sur Ariege and St Girons to begin their escapes into Andorra or Spain.

We often visit the Chemin de la Liberté museum in the morning in St Girons and then walk from La Soumere – Aunac (3.5hrs) taking lunch at the Louis Barreau memorial. After this we contour down and round before making the final ascent to Aunac on a forested path around a curious cone shaped mountain. It is easy to see how people could remain well hidden in this terrain! Overnight accommodation is provided at Aunac Auberge which used to be a meeting place for escapees or Esbintz depending on the size of our group. (B,L,D)

After a hearty breakfast with wonderful views, we head off through the forest for a long day of trekking. Our path takes us steeply up to the Col de le Core (1395m) – this is a fairly demanding ascent but the views around us are spectacular as we gain height. Here we enjoy a buffet lunch and collect our kit for tonight. The hard part of today’s trek is behind us as we contour around the mountain-side, getting a glimpse for the first time of the terrain that awaits us. At the col de la Core you will take in your night it for the next 2.5 days but our team will take out your sleeping mats after the wild camp. In less than two hours you an undulating path leads to Subera wild camp in approximately 2hrs. Subera is set in pasture meadows at the foot of towering cliffs and you may be lucky enough to meet Gilles, the local berger, who looks after the wild horses and cows around and above the refuge. Night camp at the Subera Hut (1449m). From now on we move further away from the road and you will at times be 3.5hrs from the nearest road which gives a splendid opportunity to detach and feel at one with nature and the enormity of the challenge escapees experienced with little kit and food. (B,L,D)

A challenging day lies ahead of us today, as our trek heads into serious mountain terrain towards the Col de Craberous (2382m), passing the crash site of a British Halifax bomber. 80km off its intended route, it sadly crashed on a training flight in July 1945, killing all seven on board. Wreckage is left untouched out of respect, and a plaque commemorates the crew. We continue to climb to the top of the col de craberous and descend to Espugues refuge and towards a beautiful mountain lake for lunch. We’re likely to see wild horses in this area. As we near the snow-line, the scenery becomes more impressive; craggy peaks and towering cliffs, with patches of snow between the jagged rocks. It’s hard to imagine how those escaping France would have felt, making this journey in the dark and in fear of betrayal and capture. Rising up from the lake there are some bouldery steps where hands are needed and it’s neccessary to put one or more walking poles away. After our last steep climb trends across over glacier scraped granite slabs up to the cap de pecouch. We descend over boulder-strewn slopes to the Estagnous refuge. (2245m). +1500m (B,L,D)

We set off from our hospitable refuge, and trek downhill to the lovely Lac Rond (1929m), stretching out any aching muscles in anticipation of the next challenge. Lac Long lies only about half an hour away, but is 200m above us, and the path to it is extremely steep. In places there is via ferrata cableway to assist. Once at Lac Long (2125m) the border at the Col de la Clauère is almost within sight. Our path crosses a deep gully, usually filled with snow, which provides an arduous slog to the top (2522m), where we gaze into Spain – another stunning view! We traverse across before descending on vague sheep track paths to reach a lake. This is swimmable in on warmer days. Afterwards we continue the descent past some small waterfalls and an abundance of sunny side of the mountain flowers. We get into our waiting transport and drive to the Spanish ski resort of Vielha. 3 or 4* hotel. (B,L)

Morning transfer to Toulouse Blagnac Airport from Viehla. Enjoy the magnificent sporty town of Viehla, it’s cobbled streets, tapas bars and also a museum should you wish. We are free until it’s time to transfer to Toulouse Airport for our flight home. Departures are usually late morning or early afternoon. (B)