This round trip route allows you to progress through the gorges of the Frau to the town of Comus (Aude). Over 3km in height, the Hers dug a veritable canyon 400m high in the mountain.
The gorges of La Frau
The Frau gorges © Tourist Office of the Cathar Pyrenees - Ariège Pyrénées Tourisme

In summer it is an ideal hike offering shade and freshness. The shaded route along this steep path lets you discover the biological reserve. In a bucolic setting, this hike begins with the ascent of the surprising "Gorges de la Frau" where the traces of an old path are still visible, a remnant of an aborted route...

But above all, this walk will invite you to follow the steps taken by the former royal foresters such as the famous Louis de Froidour (forest engineer in the time of Louis XIV). It's been 400 years since this man bound these drills with engraved lilies in order to protect the trees, especially for the famous "Royal" military navy of the Ancien Régime.
Having miraculously escaped the pangs of Revolutions, vandalism and others, these engravings still cover an altitude territory, thus reminding us that the shipwrights of the 17th and 18th centuries used, among other things, Pyrenean woods.
Finally, there will also be a question of the life of the former inhabitants of the "Basqui", whose ruins of the hamlet are still visible.

Note: the Gorges de la Frau are the result of a long geological evolution. The Frau mountain is an accumulation of strongly folded and compressed secondary layers sculpted by glaciations, heavy snowfalls and numerous floods that cut the valley into gorges.

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Location

Cathar Pyrenees

Located to the east of Ariège, on the border of the Aude, this territory, labeled "Country of Art and History", revolves around [...]

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Your itinerary

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1 - Departure of the hike

From Pélail take the paved road for 1km and pass in front of the "Fontaine de L'Esqueille" continue on the road until you reach the entrance to the Gorges gorge.

2 - Waypoint 1

Take the narrower and steeper path: walk 2km700 in the Gorges to the forest road.

3 - Waypoint 2

Turn left towards Comus to arrive at the foot of the village (2km900): on the forest road, you will pass in front of a block of stone surmounted by crosses, and a little further on the path of “L'Ourza”.

4 - Arrival at the village of Comus

Your hike is over.

For the return, take the same route as on the outward journey.