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France

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-- From 2022/08/23 to 2022/08/27
-- From Foix to La Franqui
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 The GPS tracklog Clic on the pic for opening it
 from Foix to col de la Gargante, 1310 m
 from 2022/08/23 to 2022/08/23

Tuesday, August 23 I left Foix at daybreak to get out of town. Then at the end of the asphalt an excellent track in the Micou forest followed by the Calmil forest road. Bucolic walk to Seignaux at the junction with the asphalt road that leads to Comus. Back on the track to reach the Col de la Gargante. Excellent morning which began in the mist to end with the sun at the pass where I stopped to set up camp near gigantic tree trunks. Where there is no GSM network and, consequently, no Internet.

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 the GPS tracklog Clic on the pic for opening it
 from col de la Gargante to Puylaurens
 from 2022/08/24 to 2022/08/24

Wednesday, August 24 was another beautiful day of trails in the undergrowth without navigation problems. Along the way I made a commemorative stop at the Maquis de Picaussel stele. I stopped at the beginning of the afternoon in the large parking lot of the Château de Puylaurens where, of course, I was not going. Asthmatic Internet!

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Stele of the Maquis de Picaussel
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 The GPS tracklog Clic on the pic for opening it
 from Puylaurens to D19-WP171
 from 2022/08/25 to 2022/08/25

Thursday, August 25 was another five-hour day of driving on unremarkable tracks that were more often stony, brittle and lined with trees and bushes shingling the bodywork of the cell. Admittedly, there were interludes of paved roads. I passed again near the ruins of the Cathar castles of the 12th century, largely destroyed by the savage hordes of Catholics. Religious wars are nothing new in the 20 and 21 centuries. Exhausted I stopped on the departmental road D19 after the WP171 near a cistern The heat is again in the ascending phase, back to the heat wave!

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 The GPS tracklog Clic on the pic for opening it
 from D19-WP171 to WP-247
 from 2022/08/26 to 2022/08/26

Friday August 26th was the penultimate day of tracks for the Rb34 road book, which ends on the shores of the Mediterranean at La Franqui. The tracks in the Roussillon mountains are rocky. At WP34-351 the road book announces the Gorges de Gouleyrous. But at the entrance to the WP34-230 track which leads there, a no entry sign announces that the track is closed from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Bingo, it's 9:20 a.m. Alas at the following WP two vehicles block the track in front of a large rock. Welcome tourists! I bivouacked at WP247 shortly before the start of variant-2 which bypasses the descent of a narrow track lining the cells; mine already have plenty of it. Tomorrow I will take variant-2.

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Gouleyrous gorges: Access blocked by a rock
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 the GPS tracklog Clic on the pic for opening it
 from WP-247 to La Franqui, Béziers
 from 2022/08/27 to 2022/08/27

Saturday, August 27, the hike on the tracks of the Cathar country, road book Rb35 and Rb34 of Vibraction ended at the beach of La Franqui at the edge of the pond of Leucate not far from the Mediterranean. Of course the parking spaces were occupied, but I had no intention of lingering as I was not a fan of sunbathing. In the morning at daybreak I enjoyed a sublime sunrise over the mountains. Like the previous days, the track is very stony, making progress difficult and slow. The last hectometres were cooler. After filling up with diesel at Total Energie and reinflating the tires, I continued on my way to my home sweet home, which I will reach on Monday, August 29. The trip lasted +100 days in the southwest of France passing through forest fires caused by psychopathic arsonists. I remember going through gigantic forest fires in Canada in terms of the size of the country. Information taken these fires were intentionally organized by the responsible and competent authorities to regenerate the ecosystem. On the other hand, I cannot fail to clarify that traveling is not wandering; the synonyms of this last word are to stroll, to stroll, to stroll, to stroll, aimlessly with your nose in the wind.

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Lever de soleil, Sunrise
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