La route de l'eau à Laruns

Park in the station car park.

(S/E) Follow Avenue de la Gare to the roundabout, passing the gendarmerie.

(1) Cross the square, where the drinking fountain in the centre is made of white marble from Louvie-Soubiron. Head up Rue du Bialé and pass in front of the Church of Notre-Dame-d'Ossau. At the top of the street, as in every neighbourhood of the village, there is a wash house. Walk past it and continue to the right, staying on Rue du Bialé. At the top of the Bialé, a cattle track begins, surrounded by low stone walls, which was used for transhumance.
Turn left, staying on the road, and cross an old canal, the Arrec de Soum, which carried water to the wash house and powered eight mills and a rosary factory. To the right, further up, an old tower served as a lime kiln. You’ll reach a junction.

(2) Turn left and head down Rue Barthèque. Pass the school and turn right immediately afterwards. Go down a flight of steps, cross the garden of the war memorial and turn right onto Rue du Port. Cross the bridge, opposite the Hourat hydroelectric power station.

(3) Turn left and walk down alongside the Arriussé.

(4) At the end of the street, turn right. In the Pon district, the narrow houses and streets are a reminder of its medieval origins. At the end of the street, turn left.

(5) Take the footbridge over the Gave d'Ossau and head up to the left to reach Espalungue Castle.

(6) Turn back and cross the footbridge again.

(5) Turn right. Walk past a campsite, head up into the Pon district, turn right and rejoin the Arriussé.

(4) Cross the bridge and continue along the road. Take the first left, Rue Soupon, then turn right. Walk uphill and turn left onto Rue du Bourgneuf Escu. At the end, turn right and return to the roundabout you passed at the start of the walk.

(1) Turn right onto Avenue de la Gare to return to the car park near the gendarmerie (S/E).

The arcades beneath the town hall host the market every Saturday, as well as the large cheese fair held every first weekend in October.

Rue du Bialé, which in the Béarn dialect means ‘main street’. Lined with farmhouses, it reflects the village’s primary vocation: pastoralism.

Rue du Port. This name may seem strange for a mountain village, but in the 18th century Laruns had a port on the Gave d’Ossau. Fir tree trunks intended for ship masts were stored there and then floated down to Bayonne.

The Hourat hydroelectric plant collects all the water from the lakes of Artouste, Fabrèges and Bious-Artigues. Hydroelectricity is one of the valley’s most important economic activities.

The Arriussé, which means ‘dry river’. It has, however, experienced several major floods. Stone groynes have been built in the riverbed to break the current.

Espalungue Castle, dating from the 16th century. During the Wars of Religion, it was the scene of a tragedy in which the Baron d’Albère was hanged and his daughter thrown into the Valentin by Captain Bonasse and his men. Later, the Musketeer Aramis retired there with his family and died there.

Rue du Bourgneuf Escu. Very narrow, its name comes from ‘escu’, meaning darkness. Its houses are rich in keystones, lintels and engraved cartouches. These were intended to protect and bring fertility and prosperity. One finds hearts, plant motifs, but also religious motifs sometimes salvaged from old abbeys or churches, and shells evoking the passage of the Way of St James through Laruns. The theme of the guilds is represented by the mason’s square and spirit level. Often the date of the house is inscribed, or the surname of the owners.

And also churches, wash houses, farms, etc.