A Weekend Away in Luz St Sauveur, August 2004

We decided that it was about time we got out and saw a bit of the surrounding area, so we went off for an overnight trip to Luz St Sauveur. It's only over in the next valley, but it was really nice to get away, do some camping and have a bit longer to look around than if we'd just gone for a day trip.
We drove over the Col du Tourmalet, down through Barèges and stopped at a campsite (Camping le Bergons) in a small village, Esterre, just east of Luz St Sauveur. It was a lovely spot, completely surrounded by mountains, with a view across to the small chateau.

all set up bed-time? view over to the chateau

Having had problems trying to get Sophie to have a nap in the tent after lunch - apart from it all being a bit too exciting, it was quite hot - we put her in the backpack and walked up to the chateau. She fell asleep immediately, but unfortunately woke up half-an-hour later on the way down into Luz. Still, we had a nice wander round, went on the merry-go-round, bought a warm hat for Sophie and a walking stick for Patrick (old man!), which, naturally, Sophie wanted to use. After that, we dropped Patrick off at the campsite (for a snooze) and went down to the river to throw stones in the water.

inside the chateau grounds view from the chateau across Luz on the elephant new hat and walking stick

That was about it for Saturday, then on Sunday we packed up and drove down to Gavarnie, where we cycled as far as we were allowed towards the Cirque de Gavarnie, then walked into the national park a bit further. It was absolutely stunning, although pretty busy. We managed to find another river to throw stones in as well.
the Cirque de Gavarnie looking for stones