www.luz.org. A minor ski resort close to Lourdes (via N21/D921; daily bus service), Luz guards the only approach to the spectacular Cirque de Gavarnie. While in Luz, you can pick up hiking information from the tourist office, and stop off for a look at the Eglise de Saint-André, built in the 12thC and fortified by the Knights of St John two centuries later. The squat, sturdy complex is encircled by crenellated ramparts, there are carved escutcheons around the roof of the circular donjon, and a carved porch.

Gavarnie is a further 20 km S (daily bus service) via the aptly-named stony wilds of the Chaos de Coumély. You can also walk it on GR10. Mules and donkeys ply the trail up to the Cirque de Gavarnie (a 2-hour round trip), but it is a pleasant walk through beech woods. Glacial erosion swept out the magnificent natural amphitheatre measuring 3 km across, with walls that rise in three distinct tiers to a height of more than 1,600 m, backed to the east by 3,000-m peaks. A vertical breach, the Brèche de Roland, slashes 100 m into the wall, said to have been carved by Durandal, the magic sword of Paladin Roland, one of Charlemagne’s 12 legendary knights. To the left, Europe’s highest waterfall, the Grande Cascade, plunges 442 m down to a fast-flowing river.

Try to avoid weekends and time your visit for the early morning or late afternoon in order to miss the over-burdened mule trains.

Alternatively, take the left-hand fork out of Gèdre (D922) to the impressive, but less popular Cirque de Troumouse. In Gavarnie you can eat very well in the delightfully decorated La Ruade, F, (tel. 05 62 92 48 49).