Lac de Gaube

Cauterets

Nestling at 1,725 metres above sea level in the Pyrenees National Park, above Cauterets, the lac de Gaube spreads its emerald-green waters over some 19 hectares, ringed by peaks of over 2,600 metres and dominated, further off, by the Vignemale massif, the highest point of the French Pyrenees at 3,298 metres. The site owes its Romantic renown to a tragedy of the 19th century: William and Sarah Pattison, a young British couple barely a month into their honeymoon, drowned during a boat trip on the lake, their craft drifting out of sight of witnesses behind some rocks. The exact circumstances remained mysterious, between an unlucky stroke of the oar and the absence of the usual boatman, so that the news item soon turned into legend: 19th-century travellers' accounts spoke in turn of a double suicide or of the husband dragging his wife down with him, while popular tradition claims that two ghostly figures still embrace each night on a spectral boat. A monument of white marble was raised on a rock overlooking the lake in memory of the couple. The site remains accessible to walkers today.

Getting there : Reached in about 1 h on foot from the Pont d'Espagne (road from Cauterets) or by seasonal chairlift; the GR10 runs along the western shore; hotel accommodation on site in summer.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound