Turn off the N125 at Valcabrère, and the road to Saint-Bertrand traverses the site of an ancient Roman settlement once occupied by a population of 60,000. It was laid waste in the 5thC, and a later village on the wooded hillside fared no better, but its ruins were chosen by Bishop Bertrand of Commignes as the site of a great cathedral founded in 1120. Today it’s one of the most interesting stops for pilgrims and others walking the Way of St James to Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain. 

A man-made highlight of the Pyrenees, the pale, weathered facade of the Cathédrale de Sainte-Marie-de-Commignes sits above an attractive village square edged by a clutch of 15th-16thC houses. To the left of the stout, aisle-less nave an ornate 16thC organ loft is reached by a spiral staircase alongside the pulpit. In the superb High Renaissance choir, the 66 carved choir stalls are worth lengthy investigation. Each stall is an individual masterpiece: hounds, monkeys, cherubs, slathering grotesques and human frailties from envy and avarice to lust clamber around the misericordes and arm rests; canopies are inset with stars and backed by relief portraits of saints. Behind the altar, St Bertrand’s shrine is decorated with scenes from his life dating from the 15thC.

Then take a turn around the cloister overlooking the valley and admire the capitals to the distant chime of goat bells drifting up from the pastures.