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Marmot Tours has based itself
in The Ariege, a little known and underpopulated region of Southern
France that straddles the Pyrenees from Comminges in the east,
the principality of Andorra in the south, and the area of
Rousillion in the west. Neil Lands, in his book on 'The
History, People and Places of the French Pyrenees', stated
that it was in fact his favorite region of the whole area,
"because it is full of little hidden valleys with
castles and towers", amongst wild and beautiful
scenery.
The area is rich in natural
beauty and history and remains wonderfully unspoilt, despite
being only 90minutes from Toulouse, and as such is a perfect
base for many types of holiday.
A bit of History:
Ariege, as a region within
the Midi Pyrenees, was originally part of Aquitaine, and has
retained many hallmarks of the Gascon culture and
language (Gascon being a dialect of Occitan). Today's
region was created during the French Revolution in 1790, when
the counties of Foix and Couserans were renamed, using the
River Ariege as a namesake. The medieval city of
Foix, with its stunning 3
turreted Chateau, is the administrative capital, however the
towns of Pamiers and Mirepoix have also historically served an
important role. The Chateau in Foix has been besieged
and attacked many times during its history, but never
successfully, and perhaps because of its fortitude, has been
used as a prison in the past. During the Middle Ages the
area was ruled by the powerful Comtes de Foix, who earned their
fortune from mining iron ore in the Vicdessos valley.
This seam was so rich that it was only worked out in 1931.Today
the Chateau has an interesting museum throwing some light on
its history, plus, from its elevated position, it offers
fabulous views over the rest of the town.
The Ariege has been inhabited
by man for thousands of years and has the largest
concentration of grottes in the whole of France. Prehistoric man left his mark
here in the form of some of Europe's oldest cave paintings
(bison, horse and ibex) at the famous Grottes de Niaux and the
Grotte de Bedheillac in the Vicdessos
Valley.
The region also provided
refuge later, in the Middle Ages, when the
religious sect, the Cathars were
besieged by the Catholics during the Albigensian Crusades and
later, the Inquisition. The Cathars have been linked to the Grottes des
Lombrives, in the local village of Ussat les Bains,
where local folklore says 600 Cathars were walled up and left to die
during the Crusades.
Today, apart from tourism,
agriculture remains the predominant industry, despite the fact
that more than 50% of the Ariege is mountainous.
The methods of farming have stayed traditional however, and
the medieval practice of transhumance still happens.
This involves leading livestock up to the high mountains in
May or early June, and then bringing them back down to winter
in the valleys from about October. Often whole
villages will follow the livestock up into the mountains
during a transhumance festival.
Until this century, farmers
and their families would all move to higher pastures during
the summer, to live in stone huts that you still find dotting
the mountainside. If a 'patre' should be looking after
his flocks independently, he would be likely to be living in a
stone 'orri' in the mountains. This most basic
accommodation was actually like a stone igloo, with grass
roof, and no facilities. Many orri's continue to stand
in good condition in the high pastures, and hanging valleys of
the mountains. Due to depopulation of the
countryside and industrialisation, though transhumance
continues, the farmers and their families now remain in the
valley during the summer and travel up to the mountains to
maintain their livestock.
The geography of the Area is
dominated by the Pyrenean mountains that rise up to 3000m
along the border with Andorra and Spain. You can even
see the peaks from the huge city of Toulouse which is 90mins
drive in the neighbouring Department of the Haute Garonne.
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