Photo : Jcb-caz-11 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Les Gorges de Galamus
The Galamus gorges form a narrow passage between the Aude and the Pyrénées-Orientales, between Cubières-sur-Cinoble to the north and Saint-Paul-de-Fenouillet to the south. They extend over about 5 kilometres, of which a stretch of about 2 kilometres is the most spectacular. It is the Agly, whose name is sometimes translated as "river of the Eagles", that carved them in limestones and dolomites dating from the Lower Jurassic to the early Cretaceous.
The D10 road, completed in the 1890s at the price of hard manual labour, runs along the wall in places as a corniche. Narrow, it is sometimes subject to alternating one-way traffic in summer, which calls for patience. According to the original record, in the first part of the gorges, water accumulates in giant's kettles carved into the limestone, and the Tirounère resurgence brings cold water at the exit of the gorges.
On the wall stands the hermitage of Saint-Antoine, mentioned since the fifteenth century: the chapel was developed by Franciscan monks and remains a place of pilgrimage. Canyoning and hiking are practised seasonally in this area.
