1st July. Axat

A lovely reality of Spain is the lack of fly's.
With the heat I set off before 7am. As the route east took me away from the high mountains the land was often arid, but as so often happens, as I go over a pass the land turns greener. Some places get more rain than others.
I passed by several ruined villages, including the churches, Is it something from the civil war in the 1930's ?
I decided to head back for the lushness of France rather than go further south to make eastwards progress.
On the Viella road I passed where I got washed out in a prolonged thunder storm last year. At the point where the GR11 passes into the D'Aigues Tortes (the lovliest section of the GR11), the road entered a 5km tunnel to emerge in the Viella Valley , as lush as France, seeing that the tunnel passed under the highest mountains it's geographically France.
In France I drove closer to the high peaks than is possible in Spain.
Once back in France I drove north to avoid the 'route de cols', that I previuosly driven. I passed lovely countryside through the Ariegoises without the big  ascents and descents to Foix, then headed into the mountains where I hoped it would be cooler. I found a great campsite near Axat, by a river in a gorge, with a swimming pool. There was a nice breeze through the gorge to make it ideal after a long drive.