Too hot in Toulouse so maybe a trip into the Pyrenees would be cooler.........so much for that theory...39 today. Very prehistoric area. Went to the caves at Niaux to see the cave paintings. .........all booked out for the week! Luckily, we arrived just in time to be shortlisted for a tour that was departing in 5 minutes, and the group that was booked didn't arrive....so we got to go in. Interesting to see everyone else putting on jumpers and jackets just to go underground...heaven.....it was only about 18.

Cave is in complete darkness, not like the ones we went in in Oz. So you only have your weak torchlight to see by. For the most part you're walking on the actual cave floor, so very slippery in places and full of pot-holes. A couple of very narrow passages saw Ian having to bend double and go sideways! About 500m in you come across early 19th century 'graffiti' from early explorers.......dirty mongrels. Then about 1Km in the first 'art' - simple red and black lines and dots on an outcrop in the vague shape of a mammoth. Further on and the 'paintings' of the horses, bison and oryx - astonishing! Very lifelike and clever how they used the shape of the walls to add 'dimension' to their paintings.

More slip-sliding on the way out and Sally stood in a big puddle.

After the cool and dark of the cave for 90 minutes, the sudden emerging into the humid and bright outside was a bit overwhelming, especially for Sally who'd decided to have a mild allergic reaction to lunch about half-way in! Not to worry, a quick anti-histamine and she started to come right.

Decided to drive a bit further into the lower Pyrenees - very stark contrast to what we've been travelling in so far, as the valleys became steeper and the hills greener. Still some snow on the highest peaks that we could see. Drove back via Foix to see the Chateau before wending our way to Toulouse via the backroads.