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Published: October 2nd 2008
At the Fete de la Noisette....
...threshing the old-fashioned wayThings you wouldn’t read about in the Harrogate Advertiser:
Front page news in today’s La Dépêche du Midi:
‘Beehives attacked by bears’ &
‘Vultures attack young lambs’
Things we now know that we rather wish we didn’t:
All those sheep and cattle returning down the mountains in the annual transhumance are now actually transported by lorry, and only walk the last little bit back to their home village.
So what have we been up to recently?
The name Lavelanet is actually a corruption of the Latin ‘avellana’ - hazelnut, so it’s not surprising that the town celebrates the harvest of this particular nut by holding yet another festival. So off we went last weekend: at the farmer’s market there were hazelnuts a-plenty, certainly, made into meltingly delicious French-style macaroons, exquisite fillings for hand-made chocolates, earthy peasant-style breads and hot and tasty crêpes. But there was also a log-splitting contest, which we succeeded in missing, and exhibits of ancient tools and equipment, from deeply spiked pattens to get you through the winter snow, to extraordinarily gruesome teeth extractors and other things to remind you how grim life could be in the bad old days. Besides that were beautiful large
And this is a hairdryer.....
...though it looks less painful then the tooth-puller work horses, as strong and purposeful looking as our Suffolk Punches, but slightly smaller and more muscular in appearance. One extremely handsome chestnut specimen was for sale, and I can think of at least 3 readers of this blog who could well be tempted to put in an offer……. Add to that a Flintstone style band parading noisily up and down the streets, as well as other more conventional musical offerings, and hot sunny weather, and you get a great day out.
Sunday brought a different treat. We’re quite fond of the countryside round one of our local villages, Dun. They’ve opened up a couple more walks in the area, and the locals planned an inaugural stroll for walkers, cyclists and horse riders, followed by a festive lunch. This had lots of appeal (it was the lunch that clinched it, probably), and our group of walkers seemed to be about 70 strong. It sounds a bit of a bun-fight, but actually it was fun to climb together through the deciduous woodland, just beginning to colour up for autumn, and enjoy the views across the hills to the distant Pyrenees. Look at the pictures to see all 150 of us
enjoying our Sunday lunch.
And on Wednesday, it was back to Dun again for another walk, this time past the domaine responsible for producing the wine we’d enjoyed on Sunday. You could tell we were in France. The group we were with spent as much time grubbing for mushrooms in the woodland, walnuts below the trees at the roadside, and windfall apples as they did walking and talking. We’ve got a bucketful of walnuts ourselves, picked over the last few days. Who needs shops, now that autumn’s here?
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