The only practical route between the valleys of the Tech and the Têt, especially if you're hitching, is the D618 across the eastern spurs of Canigou from Amélie-les-Bains to Bouleternère. It's 43 slow kilometres of mountain road, twisting and climbing through magnificent woods of holm oak, cork oak, regular oak, chestnut, ash and cherry, with explosions of yellow broom and tangles of wild honeysuckle, past isolated half-derelict farms or mas, some still tenanted by survivors of the post-1968 migration that repopulated the abandoned countryside with utopian-seeking urbanites. About halfway along, the three-house hamlet of Belpuig stands on the road. One of its buildings is the Chapelle de la Trinité, a tiny, dark Romanesque church in grey and yellow stone with elaborate doors and a particularly fine crucifix from the twelfth century. Past the cemetery and up the hill beside a pine plantation, a path climbs to the ruined Château de Belpuig, some fifteen minutes' walk from the road with long-range views over the surrounding country.From here the road descends into the valley bottom, through the pretty hamlet of Boule d'Amont, before climbing again to the remarkable Prieuré de Serrabonne (daily 10am–6pm; €3), some 4km up an asphalt lane above the road, one of the finest examples – perhaps the finest – of Roussillon Romanesque, and offering spectacular views over the rocky Boulès valley and into the valley of the Têt. The interior of the church (consecrated in 1151) is breathtakingly simple, making the beautiful carvings on the capitals of the pillars in the tribune even more striking: the carvings vividly depict lions, centaurs, griffins and human figures with oriental faces and haircuts – motifs brought back from the Crusades – all in the local pink marble. The altar is made of the same stone, as are the pillars and equally elaborate capitals of the cloister, which is set to one side of the church on a high terrace. Despite the rigours of monastic life here – all abandoned now – the settlement was well developed, and the remains of terraced cultivation and irrigation systems are still visible.
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