Gaston III and his bride left Paris in late October or November 1349, after attending the funeral ceremonies for Jeanne de Navarre. For Agnés, who may well have lived most of her life until then in the elegant atmosphere of her mother's court, her loss must have been compounded by the prospect of a veritable exile to a distant, unknown land, among probably uncouth strangers, crowded in the relatively cramped quarters of the Château Moncade. And even though the Count of Foix would presumably not have set out without a strong armed escort, the journey itself would have been cause enough for anxiety. Although we do not know what route the couple took from Paris to Orthez, none was entirely safe. The more direct itinerary meant travelling through disputed regions on the fringes of Aquitaine, where hostilities had never subsided despite truce after truce renewed between England and France, and where local warlords were not always answerable to their royal masters. A longer route, down the Rhône valley, was still relatively free of brigand infestation: it would have afforded the opportunity of a visit to the Papal court at Avignon, before turning west to Montpellier and Toulouse. But then the country between Toulouse and Orthez – six to eight days' journey – was also a frontier of sorts, and indeed it was soon to be the theatre of fresh military action.