Tour of Canigou: Sacred Mountain of the Catalans

Five days around the Canigou, the sacred mountain of the Catalans, whose summit receives the Saint John's flame every 23 June before it is carried across the Catalan lands. The route starts at Vernet-les-Bains, a spa town at the foot of the massif, climbs to the abbey of Saint-Martin du Canigou, an eleventh-century Romanesque monastery perched at 1,094 metres, then to the Cortalets refuge at 2,150 metres, base camp for the 2,784-metre summit from which the Mediterranean is visible, before Prats-de-Mollo, a town fortified by Vauban in the Tech valley. The abbey can only be seen on a guided tour, after a steep twenty-minute walk up. The Cortalets track is for four-wheel drives only, so walking up is the better option.