Aston () is a commune in the Ariège department in the Occitanie region of south-western

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Geography

Aston is located some 90 km west of

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...

and 30 km south of

Foix Foix ( , ; ; ) is a commune, the former capital of the County of Foix. It is the capital of the department of Ariège as it is the seat of the prefecture of that department. Foix is located in the Occitanie region of southwestern France ...

. It is located high in the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

with its southern border the border between

and

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

. Access to the commune is solely by a local road from Les Cabannes in the north to the village which lies at the northern tip of the commune. The D522 road from Les Cabannes passes down the eastern border of the commune in a tortuous route which terminates at the Angaka ski resort just east of the commune. Except for a very small area around the village the commune is extremely rugged and heavily forested.Google Maps
/ref> The Aston river rises in the south of the commune and flows north, passing through the village, to join the Ariège at Les Cabannes, gathering a very large number of tributaries from all corners of the commune.

Neighbouring communes and villages

Géoportail

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

Climate

Administration

List of Successive Mayors

Demography

The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Astonnais'' or ''Astonnaises'' in French.Le nom des habitants du 09 - Ariège
habitants.fr

Economy

The commune has two dams for the generation of

Hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

: the ''Laparan'' and the ''Riète''. They are operated by

Électricité de France Électricité de France SA (; ), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational corporation, multinational electric utility company owned by the government of France. Headquartered in Paris, with €139.7 billion in sales in 2023, EDF ope ...

Sites and monuments

*The Étang de Larnoum

References

External links

Aston on Géoportail
National Geographic Institute (IGN) website
''Aston'' on the 1750 Cassini Map
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aston, Ariege Communes of Ariège (department)