A short walk in the Luchonnais...

At the height of the canicule, or heatwave, this summer we fled to the mountains for a couple of days. A simple hotel in the Luchonnais, a few hundred metres above the spa town of Bagnères-de-Luchon, and we were away from the heat and dust of the plains. Above us towered the high peaks of the Pyrenees - the Maladetta massif stretching away into Spain towards the highest Pyrenean point, l'Aneto - in a jumble of wooded hillsides and craggy cliffs.

One day was spent exploring the Lac d'Oô, an expanse of blue-green water captured in a cirque above the village of Oô. The next we stumbled on a series of remarkable little chapels - practically every village in this valley and the neighbouring Vallée de Louron has one - most untouched since the 15th century and beyond.

The one in Caseaux-de-l'Arboust, pictured below, has a stunning array of murals dating back to mediaeval times. Well worth a visit.