It was bittersweet to leave Gite Auberges les Cascades this morning. We really loved our time there.
We ate another delicious breakfast (fluffy-as-pillows chocolate croissants in place of brioche), then soaked up the view from the lawn for just a bit longer.
There was another hiccup. We did not know that you needed to reserve the local bus the afternoon before! No bus was coming to get us at 9:30 (we know because Karine called on our behalf). But with incredible generosity, they volunteered to drive us to Bagneres!
Truly, our ride with Gilles was one of the highlights of my stay—we talked the whole 30 minutes and he gave me a hug when we got to our destination and said, “You and I have same hearts”. I will from now on pretend he is my French Père. AND the drive was gorgeous.
Next we had arranged a taxi to take us from Bagneres to Tarbes. This driver was polar opposite of Gilles and quite stoic, but a fine driver.
We then caught a train to Toulouse where we transferred to another train to Foix (we had to run to make that one). Then it was a 2-hour wait for the bus to take us to our next stay in Castelnau-Durban.
Foix was funny because we walked out of the train station and were like, whoa, there’s a castle.
We ate a light lunch at a “meh” French fast-food style place, and mom walked around the touristy part of the city looking for a money changer (without success). It was actually sort of spooky/-darker, less populated, and thunder threatening rain the whole time. Luckily it didn’t really start raining until we got on the last bus of the day.
We got off in a town called La Bastide-de-Serou. We bought three-days worth of meals and then were picked up by our host angel Lieve (originally from Belgium) who picked us up from the grocery store and drove us to the Gite she runs beside her own house in the beautiful hamlet of Castelnau-Durban.
This is another place Bonhelped pick. She fell in love with it at first sight in Airbnb months and months ago, and it lived up to her vision.
We were happy to cook our own meal. Happy to feel the cool after-rain breeze. And happy to be someplace where we catch our breath for three nights before visiting more bustling cities.
Signing off.
P.S. There are a couple dogs here, and the scruffy Bushka is River’s new best friend.
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