Just over an hours drive from Chateu de La Lanette in Salechan, up over the Col de Peyresourde and down the other side is the rather beautiful Lac de Genos Loudenvielle. Wanting to explore the area, we chucked the kids in the car and headed off to check it out.
As an avid cyclist and long time Tour de France fanatic, it was fantastic to drive over the Peyresourde which features fairly regularly as climb in the Tour. The roads all the way up were covered in messages and drawings related to the race (lots of “Go Wiggo”) and it made me really wish I was on the bike. The fact it was 34 degrees and I was sitting in a nice climate controlled car did manage to help me get over it though!
Down the other side of the mountain and down we headed (with the kids screaming WHEEEEE as we flew down the mountain) to Lac de Génos-Loudenvielle. We spent the morning at the open air pool, trying out the waterslides and swimming pool. After lunch, to let our food go down, we took a wander along the side of the lake, the kids then decided to ‘paddle’. It was absolutely freezing! It didn’t stop the kids though and we spent the next couple of hours throwing stones and building stone castles. The scenery was stunning and the water was crystal clear. Wisps of clouds were the only blemish in the clear blue skies and it was a fantastic way to spend an afternoon.
Just next to the swimming pool is Ludic park where the kids then warmed up again running around on all the inflatables, trampolines and the giant inflatable slide that had water jets running down to speed it all up. Unsurprisingly, my two had to thoroughly test it out!
by Chris Legg