A low level drizzle and a morning friend on a skylight window, and we were off towards the border: to the Pyrenees and La Grotte de Niaux. Theodora “Dora” Varvarigou and Theodoros Panou managed to rent a car the day before and planned to meet us there for our ticketed tour at 1:30 pm. We’re never early risers, and they hit the road earlier than we did. We were texting and they were halfway there by the time we got underway.

The road to the mountains was stunning with snow-capped peaks and lush landscapes. We were quite near the border with the country of Andorra. Timothy argued that we should go—even though it would make us miss the cave—because then we would have gone to two countries on the vacation, which would make it twice as exciting in the telling. We stayed in France.

La Grotte de Niaux has a huge and dramatic cathedral-like entrance—very Lord of the Rings. The cave is also very rustic—no lighting, no handrails—the most undeveloped we’ve been to so far. It was a half hour trek by flashlight just to get to where the paintings were. This was not a reproduction.

The guide wouldn’t let me use my crutch or even a cane; she argued that if I needed it, I wasn’t going to be able to make it and urged me to wait in the car. But I did make it without a fall thanks to Timothy—he kept a good grip on me most of the way. It was a hard trek, but well worth it! Others were not so lucky. At the first low overhanging, just at the entrance, our first casualty: a man smashed his head so hard he had to turn back. His sister later told us that he was bleeding. For long sections, the floor of the cave was wet and slick. Christopher slipped once, and he was not the first; Nicholas kept a good hold on him and saved him from falling several times. Just on the way out, Christopher did manage to walk into the very same low-hanging rock that bonked the man on the way in.

Theodora and Theodoros met us when we exited the cave. We were afraid they were going to miss out, but they got lucky. There was space on the next tour and they were allowed to transfer their tickets.

While they were on their tour of the cave, we went to find food in the rain. Again, in rural France, this is not easy in the late afternoon. There was nowhere to eat for many towns.