One of the things we love about Toulouse is how quickly we can escape from the city on the weekend and be in a place that feels remote. Thanks to some friends who organized a hike this weekend, we dashed out to the small village of Montgazin for a wonderful 2-hour walk.
Mongazin is a blink-and-you-missed-it town about 45 minutes south of Toulouse. Its main feature is a chuch whose date of origin we couldn’t quite pinpoint.
From the church parking lot, we walked straight back on the main local road which led us to a trail. You can see a detailed description of the hike here (in French), but note that we did the walk the opposite direction of what it recommends.
This is the view from the chruch parking lot, which gives you a pretty good view of the gentle scenery you’ll find here. At moments when the clouds lifted just enough, we could see the Pyrénées in the distance.
The reminders of France’s Catholic heritage were ever present.
Along the way, we wandered through what appeared to be a dog farm. And eventually, we crossed right through the Domaine de Lastronques, which alas was not open for a degustation. However, by this point, we had crossed the border from Haute-Garonne and into the Ariège Departement, another reminder that the Pyrénées are not so very far away.
We managed to get back to the parking lot before the skies opened up and it began to pour. In all, it was a perfect little escape that had us back in Toulouse by mid-afternoon to warm up with tea.