Yellow Train in winter: two days of Vauban fortresses between Villefranche-de-Conflent and Mont-Louis

Carnet de route en Pays catalan

Between Villefranche-de-Conflent and Mont-Louis, the River Têt climbs by around 1,000 metres over just thirty kilometres. It is this natural staircase, a veritable lock between Roussillon and Cerdagne, that Louis XIV had secured after the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, when the border with Spain was established right in the heart of the mountains. Two and a half centuries later, the engineers of the Cerdagne line followed the same valley: the Yellow Train, which runs all year round, now connects the walled town at the bottom of the gorge to the citadel perched on the plateau in just over an hour. In December, the journey takes on a different character. The Cerdagne and Capcir ski resorts open for the season, the Christmas holidays begin on Saturday 19 December, and the train, which alternates between open and enclosed carriages depending on the season, can be boarded in warmth. This two-day travelogue follows the stone frontier from bottom to top: one day in Conflent, around the ramparts of Villefranche and two castles far older than Vauban, then a train ride up to Mont-Louis and the medieval watchtowers that once surveyed the plateau.