Local Areas of Interest

Local village-castelnau Durban

Castelnau Durban is a twenty five minute walk form Tourné-almost exactly two kilometres by road along the Artillac valley. it can also be reached by footpath via Lacazas, see below for details. 
The village has a bakery and general store where most essentials can be bought. it also has a tabac, a bar and the locally famous Chez Victor cafe and restaurant. This restaurant is nearly always full at lunch times so reservation is recommended. The food is highly regarded by locals for being simple and nourishing. in addition to the daily menu of 11 euros there is a full a la carte menu of more elaborate dishes. a family run restaurant for three generations, nearly everyone who lives between St. Girons and Foix knows of it!
Tuesday is market day in the village. On market day you will find a full range of fresh vegetables, a fine organic epicure, a bakery, a butcher. these are the regular stalls, there may be surprises at any time. the market services the local community and although it is small, it is one of the main focal points of the week in Castlenau Durban. There is a post office in the village. 
Between May and September there is a local crafts and artisans shop selling craft products as well as a wide variety of local food such as goats cheese, preserves, oils and spices, paté. It is an excellent place to shop for gifts of high quality crafts and well presented food stuffs as well as local wines and beers. 

Lacazas-12th century church

Lacazas is a small hamlet that can be accessed on foot from the gardens at Tourné. The path leading to Lacazas is ancient and has been walked for hundreds of years. Along the way you will see ancient mine shafts where semi precious metals were mined and brought down the footpath to Tourné. at the Hamlet of Lacazas can be seen a fine example of a twelfth century church and a chateau after which the village of Castelnau Durban was named-the new castle at Durban. From Lacazas the walk continues to the village of Castlenau Durban,  by bridge that crosses the Artilac river, the same river that passes through Tourné. from the village one can return to Tourné using the Artillac valley. This is a very pleasant walk, in all a comfortable seventy five minutes. Along the way you will see mountain views to the south and the views to the north offer rolling hills of the Couserans. 

Lac de Mondely

The lac de Mondely is a twenty five minute drive across rolling hills that give fine views of the Pyrenees mountains. It is a swimming lake of 50 hectares. During July and August there is a supervised swimming area but even in the height of the summer, the lake never has a feel of being busy. A vast expanse of water nesting in a high valley at about 600 metres, it offers excellent walking as well as swimming and canoeing. During the season there is fishing and there are as many as eleven different species of fish in the lake. 

There is a sandy beach area and the 8 kilometre circumference of the lake offers many areas of grassy and shady areas where you can feel completely alone. 

During the summer water temperatures can rise up to 24 degrees centigrade. Depending on prevailing weather the lake is warm enough to swim between April and late October. 

it is truly a delightful swimming experience, safe for children, comfortable for casual swimming and challenging enough for those who wish to swim longer distances.

During the summer months there is a cafe that serves full lunches as well as snacks and drinks. 

Ariege Pyrenees Web site

This is one of the best and most informative websites on the Department of the Ariege Pyrenees.