Above Conat

Today's walk was a six hour hike above Conat. We crossed this lovely packhorse bridge and then walked up quite steeply for the next couple of hours before stopping for lunch in a remote spot looking back towards Canigou. I am always amazed to see the amount of effort that went into the construction of buildings and terracing that are so remote from any other habitation. Years of toil must have been involved for meagre reward. On the way back we found some cupules on a flat rock in amongst the gorse. These megalithic carvings are thought be fertility sites or sites of religious sacrifice. The lines and hollows may have allowed the blood of the slaughtered animal to flow and collect. All this is of course very speculative. There were also some cross shaped carvings which are supposed to represent men; the sac shaped appendages could represent testicles. They reminded me of some aboriginal drawings I have seen. We then walked past an orri and a ruined Romanesque chapel now used as a cowshed.

Photos of the places described can be found here.

It is now a quick turn around before badminton tonight.