Strolling on, we soon reached the bridge over the River Gave d’Azun, and leaving the old structure “whose glory has departed” on the right, we crossed over and continued along the road for a short distance, till we noticed a lane leading off to the left, which we followed.  This in time bore further round in the same direction and suddenly ended at the entrance to a field.  However, keeping straight on, we came in view of the river’s bank and to this we kept, recrossing by the railway bridge below, and then back by the fields home, completing a round none the less pleasant because a captious critic might have called it trespassing.

As lovely a ride or walk as can well be imagined, even by an imagination as fertile as this lovely valley, passes by way of the four villages of Ges, Serres, Salluz, and Ourous.  Although the weather was rather unsettled, we started one morning about 9.15, and following the road towards Lourdes for about two hundred yards, took the sharp turn to the left (with the telegraph wires) up into the town.  Gaining the church, we bore along to the right into the open “Place,” at the left corner of which the Route Thermale to Eaux Bonnes and Eaux Chaudes begins.  For about half a mile this was our road also, but after that distance, the Ges route branched off to the right, and the views of Argeles, and the rest of the valley from it, as we wound upwards, were particularly lovely.  The horses were very fresh, having only lately been brought from the mountains, after a winter of idleness, and they walked at a fast pace fretting at any stoppage whatever, which they did not endeavour to disguise, any more than their inclination to shy at anything they possibly could.  As far as Ges the way is easy to follow, but it is wise to inquire frequently afterwards, as so many equally important (this importance is decidedly on the negative side) looking paths branch off in every direction.  The good people we saw in Ges, a village of thatched cottages looking the worse for rain, said we should find the “road vile,” but this did not daunt us, and with a “bon jour” we passed on.  We had not gone very far, however, when to our dismay we saw a huge tree right across the road.  Our position was an awkward one.  The road was rather narrow and without any protection; there was only the steep hillside above, and the steep hillside below.  To go up was quite impracticable, to go down was destruction!  My horse approached the impediment very quietly, and allowed me to break off several of the worst branches, and then scramble by.  Miss Blunt’s horse came close up to it as though intending to pass quietly, but, instead, wheeled round on the extreme edge of the path in anything but a pleasant fashion, either for the rider or the observer. [Illustration] Dismounting and tying my steed to one of the branches on the near side of the road, I held back as many of the others as possible, and the horse came up quietly again, but repeated the disagreeable business, still more