journeyswithjosie

This area is also known as Gascony. While cycling from Thuy to Marciac, we passed vineyards, orchards and fields of grain. Animals and plants thrive due to twenty rivers which originate in the High Pyrenees. Farmers specialize in garlic, goose fat, chestnuts, plums and foie gras.

Historically, the residents remain self – confident despite centuries of domination by Romans, English, French and the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy. The fictional character, D’Artagnan, from The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, was loosely based on a man born in the region in 1611. He remains an international hero due to books and over 50 films about his adventures.