Fort du Portalet

South of Borce, the valley of the Gave d’Aspe is so narrow, that the GR653 (aka "Via Tolosana") merges onto the N134.
Traffic is pretty heavy. Lots of trucks use this road, so I had to be cautious.

Overlooking the valley is the "Fort du Portalet", a strong fortification. The construction started in 1842 under the orders
of Louis Philippe, but it took upto 1870 to complete the fort.

During WWII the Vichy regime interned political prisoners here. Léon Blum, Georges Mandel and other politicians were
imprisoned in Fort du Portalet.