After only being able to get 1 week's holiday to Tenerife this year during May, my better half Sharon decided that we needed a second week's holiday during the school summer break (with a premise to keep it cheap) and started searching European campsites on the internet. Unfortunately most places were fully booked but in the end a caravan was found available for the last week of August in a campsite in the Ariege region of France. Last time I'd been to France was over 17 years ago in the Brittany/Normandy region. Back then my interest in lepidoptera wasn't that strong but I do remember seeing Swallowtail butterflies and Jersey Tiger moths. Since then, I've heard lots from various butterfly enthusiasts extolling the virtues of France as a country to see lepidoptera. "This will be just the ticket" I thought, my expectations racing away
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
The campsite, L'Arize is near the little town of La Bastide de Serou around 130Km south of Toulouse. After realising the option of driving all the way there from Woking was a no no, in terms of the time we had available and the distance involved (ferries do not run to Bordeaux these days), I booked us a cheap return flight to Toulouse and a hire car (Fiesta) to pick up from the airport. It was only when the online booking was done that I realised we'd be taking two flights to get there and two to get back
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
A few days before we flew out I met up with Wurzel at Shipton Bellinger for Brown Hairstreak and got the low-down on his butterfly sightings in the Czech Republic. He listed around a dozen species I'd never seen before
![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
![Twisted Evil :twisted:](./images/smilies/icon_twisted.gif)
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
Sat 22nd: On the drive down from Toulouse the weather was glorious but as we approached the hills of the Midi Pyrenees dark clouds loomed in the distance
![Confused :?](./images/smilies/icon_confused.gif)
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
![Neutral :|](./images/smilies/icon_neutral.gif)
Two nights of pitter patter on the caravan roof and on Monday morning, 3rd day in, it was still raining
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
![Evil or Very Mad :evil:](./images/smilies/icon_evil.gif)
![Crying or Very sad :cry:](./images/smilies/icon_cry.gif)
The previous day in Foix we'd met a friendly English couple who apart from giving us advice on "what to do when in France" remarked about the extreme weather and said it had caused flash floods in Montpellier (cars washed down the streets). We also were learned about the shocking and sad air disaster at Shoreham
![Surprised :o](./images/smilies/icon_surprised.gif)
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Among the recommendations given to us was to pay a visit Carcassonne which we'd already planned to do. And so on that wet Monday morning we set off for a 100km+ drive east to that destination.
Notes on driving in France
In all I drove around 1400Km in our holiday week. French roads and driving? On the minus-side: generally narrow with raised kerb 'tyre biters' nowhere to pull in at scenic points of interest
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
![Neutral :|](./images/smilies/icon_neutral.gif)
On the way to Carcassonne we stopped at a town called Mirepoix. In the square surrounded by old medieval timber-framed buildings it was market day and it was absolutely packed with colourful stalls shops and cafes catering for almost anything you could want. Unfortunately (perhaps) we bought some stylish looking 'Rustic bread' but we later found out that it had a crust made from concrete
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
By midday the market was finished so we headed back on our way to Carcassonne. The weather was brightening up and at one point I'm sure I spotted what looked like a Moroccan Orange-tip on a roadside verge as I drove past. I wished I'd stopped to check it out but as I said pulling-in points were virtually non-existent on these country roads.
After getting some petrol at a one-pump station, waking up the old-boy attendant slumbering in his chair, we made up the final 25km of the journey into Carcassonne and to La Cite, the old town fortress for which Carcassonne is famous. The weather was fine now as we toured the medieval narrow streets within the fortress walls, as well as the visiting the Count's castle (Chateau Comtal) and Cathedral. My first butterfly photo was taken, a Large White at distance. However I promise there is plenty more to come. Phil