Llo and Behold- a few days in the French Pyrenees

We didn’t really mean to visit the Pyreenes. Jim is a big fan of an overnight sleeper train and wanted to tick visiting the International train station of Latour-de-Carol-Enveitg on the French Spanish border off his train spotting list. One of the main attractions of the station is that it is one of a very small number of stations which services trains on three different gauges, with the French mainline to the north being a 1435mm standard gauge, the metropolitan line to Barcelona in the south a 1668mm Iberian gauge and the train up into the mountains to Villefranche de Conflent (Le Petit Train Jaune) a 1000mm gauge, but I’m sure you already knew that.

It seemed too much to press on to Barcelona following the overnight train, and sampling a little cool mountain air after the heat of Paris was appealing, and so it came to pass that we peered at a map and found a gîte d’etape in the picturesque village of Llo, about ten miles from the aforementioned train station, and booked ourselves in for a four day stay.

Things to do in Llo

It turned out we had stumbled on quite the destination within this part of the Pyrenees. We spent an afternoon sampling the natural hot (and sulphurous) springs at the Bains de Llo. This was also a good spot for ice cream refreshments.

The weather was pretty much perfect, with temperatures in the high 20s during the day, and spectacular thunderstorms between 4-8pm each evening which were a joy to watch, and cleared the air in the evenings.

The walking trails around the area suited us very well, with a hike around the Gorges de Serge and up to the Ermita de Sant Feliu, a little ruined church atop a hill with stunning views. We also scrambled up to a the Tour del Vacaro, a little watch tower quaintly positioned on a hill above the village. The paths were well marked with different coloured markers to define different routes and signposts showing how long it would take to reach the next destination. Rafe and Odessa loved all the lizards and bugs they could spot while roaming about the countryside. We also took a walk in the nearby valley of Eyne, a protected area known for its wildflowers, butterflies and marmots.

The kids were delighted to discover there was a Via Ferrata in the gorge and enjoyed scaling the mountain using the ropes and clips provided.

Possibly best of all, Llo boasts a brand new playpark, opened only the week before we arrived with stunning views down the valley.

The Gîte de Llo

This type of gîte was like a hostel, with spacious bedrooms, communal areas with games and WiFi, a shady garden and plenty of friendly inhabitants, walking couples of all ages and families with small children who all got together to chat in a mix of languages on a variety of topics over the single menu dinner provided of an evening.

Le Jardin D’Alione

We were lucky to be able to book a table for dinner at Llo’s premier (and only) eating establishment one evening. The Jardin D’Alione specialises in fresh, local produce with much of the offerings grown in the garden on site. With the evening thunderstorms, only the inside six tables of the restaurant were open, around a quarter of the full capacity in better weather. Rafe enjoyed an enormous rabbit in mustard sauce (we told Odessa it was chicken), we had huge fresh salads and Odessa ate a chocolate pudding about the same size as her head. A fabulous meal, all the more surprising given the miniscule kitchen it all appeared from.

A surprise trip to Spain

We were also most interested to stumble across a little enclave of Spain within France near Latour de Carol. Llívia is 5 square miles in area and has a population of about 1500. Back in 1659, most of Northern Cerdanya was ceded to the French crown under the treaty of the Pyrenees. However, due to a loophole in the treaty which stipulated that only villages were to be handed over to France. Llívia, a town and the ancient capital of Cerdanya was therefore not covered by the French claim and has remained Spanish ever since. Before the implementation of the Schengen Zone, the enclave was accessed by a 1.8km road from Spain, designated as a neutral area between the countries.

And onwards to Barcelona

Following our brief jaunt in the mountains we headed back to Latour-de-Carol-Enveitg to catch a replacement bus service through the winding mountain raods pas the ski resorts in La Molina and on to Ripoli where we picked up the R3 line straight to Sants train station in the centre on Barcelona.