We hiked the Gorge de Caranca today! It started out rainy – hard downpours during our morning (really early afternoon since we went to bed late & slept for 13 hours.) We’re glad we stuck it out and went on the long hike instead of the short one as it eventually cleared up. We could actually see our gite from the gorge – it’s that close! The gite is actually a complex of one main building with a courtyard (where we’re staying) and a few other buildings/sheds. The bulk of it was built in the 15th century!! and it was added on to in the 18th century. It’s perched up on a large hill above the town – and we had the best possible view of it and the town below from way up above. The gorge itself is the most spectacular of all – sheer drops hundreds of feet down from “grooves” as our French host says – the trail cut out of the rock face. The entrance to the gorge is the narrowest part – like a slot! As you go into the beginning of the middle part of the gorge (as far as we went), you could see a snow-capped peak in the distance.
As we were hiking, I couldn’t help but notice graffiti and Catalan translations on all of the French signs, something we saw yesterday on many of the Train Jaune signs as well as in Olette. I know that the Catalan-speaking region in Spain, called Catalunya in Catalan (Cataluna in Castillian Spanish), has its own autonomous government and the Catalunans are very proud of their language and culture. Once Franco died and the Spanish government was re-structured, the regions of Spain were allowed to reclaim their unique cultural identities and speak their unique languages and dialects (other than Castillian Spanish) for the first time in many, many decades. The Catalunyans started speaking their language most of the time instead of Castillian Spanish, and re-made all of their signs so that Catalan was first and Castillian second (if at all.) The Catalan-speaking region includes parts of Spain and France – mostly around the Eastern Pyrenees – but the French side does not allow the same autonomy for the Catalunyans. French is mostly the only language on the signs, though we have occasionally seen Catalan second to French on some signs. The Catalunyans are very proud of their language, so I’m not surprised to see graffiti on French-only signs that says things like “Orgull Cata” – Catalan Pride and “En Catala” – In Catalan, as well as the Catalan translations of French spray-painted on signs. We even saw letters changed so that the sign had no French, only Catalan. Catalan is a lot like French and Spanish mixed together, maybe with a little Portuguese mixed in, but you ask a linguist or a Catalunyan, and they will say it is NOT a mixture but indeed its own language formed as any other Romance language was.
I think we’ve gotten into the swing of this lifestyle a lot more in just one short day. We had a lot more time to enjoy the mountains today, I was able to cook dinner much faster, knowing how to light the gas stove and use non-teflon cookware with no oil, and C made a much better fire that burned hotter and actually kept us warm. It’s great to sit by a hot fire in an open fireplace. Cloves playing with the fire 
Houses and yards around here tend to be messy and cluttered with junk. C mentioned that the “campground”/meadow area they have here at the gite is so cluttered that he would consider it a hole in the States, but that somehow it looks or seems okay here. Maybe it’s because everything is so old that it looks unkempt anyway. Our hosts have a plethora of junk laying around in the yard/ruins/and field like rusted stoves, antique-looking machinery, a few old-style mattress springs, wood scattered about, and so on. C also said that this junk collection and untidiness seems to be a trend in the countryside – no matter where you are or which country you’re in.
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Today started very late because we didn’t set the alarm clock. I looked over at the clock and it was 12:45, wow! However, it was cloudy and raining, not a good hiking day at all. We had a brief brunch and Nemo drew a map for us of the gorge trails. We struck out into the cold downpour around 1430, down the hill past the train station and only a couple hundred meters to the entrance to the Gorge Caranças. By this point we were cold and soaked from the knees down (thank goodness for waterproof parkas!). We made the decision to go ahead and do the 3-hour trail instead of the 1-hour trail which was a good idea because it started to clear up shortly after. The rail took us high up on the side of the canyon with specracular views of the extremely rugged gorge, and the ‘grooves’ for the trail on the other side. After crossing the river, the trail became very interesting. There was a water diversion station that sent water into a pipe that went inside of the mountain. The trail followed the pipe (as far as elevation goes) so it didn’t drop much along the whole gorge. Long slots, or ‘balcones’ were cut out of the sheer cliffs for the trail…not one for those scared of heights. The trail followed the tube downhill where it came out of the mountain and down to a hydroelectric station which power the railway line. In some p laces along the trail, horizontal shafts were cut through the rock to the main tunnel, and we could see the 3′ diameter tube in there, and hear the deep rumble of moving water. A light rain chased us back up to Mas de Bordes at 1900. I made a blistering fire while B made a nice dinner of pasta and vegetables. Afterwards, we wandered around the property a little bit before calling it quits and enjoying the fire before bed.
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Your blog is interesting!
Keep up the good work!