After completing the Munich to Wengen leg of our trip to Europe in 1994 Dot and I spent a few more days walking in the Bernese Alps before travelling on to Chamonix where we admired Mont Blanc from a number of vantage points. We then spent a day walking on the wild flower covered plateau of Plan du Lac in the Vanoise National Park. Afterwards we visited the Cevennes National Park near La Malene where we canoed about 13 km downriver through the Gorges du Tarn and spent the following two days walking on various trails above the gorge. We then proceeded by bus to the small village of Gavarnie and spent a day walking the trails of the spectacular Cirque de Gavernie in the Pyrenees National Park.

From Port de Gavarnie near the Spanish border we walked down to the village of Torla situated next to the Ordesa National Park in Spain. The next day we walked along the high trail - the Huntsman's Trail - above the Ordesa Valley to the Cascada de Cola de Caballo and returned along the valley floor following the Rio Araza. The vertical, orange cliffs rising above the tree line and picturesque cascades and clear pools of the river were a magnificent feature of this beautiful National Park.

Added June 2004