Blogs from Ariege, Midi-Pyrénées, France, Europe - page 6

This time last year, new to the business of staying for extended periods in France, we joined a walking group to help us get to know the region...and a few French people too. Our first meeting turned out to be the annual barbecue, and it seems to be that time of year again - how did that happen? Anyway, a travel blog doesn't seem so appropriate any more, so I've just started blogging through Google's blogging site. Let me know if you want to be notified when I've posted something - though you can always access the blog anyway (when I've finally how.... Googling myself didn't work.....)... read more

Things 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 ... read more

Sunday’s often our walking day with the Rando del’Aubo. Not this week, not for Malcolm - he’s still nursing a poorly back. But I went - the excuse was that if it was a good walk I could learn all about it to do it again later with him. It took a long time to get there. It’s well on the way to Andorra, and up a long mountain road - usually single track - that hurtles back and forth through woodlands with streams and waterfalls, with barely a sign of human settlement. We emerged into the sunlight, a reservoir, and space to park. It was a bright hot day, but because of the altitude - 1700 metres as we began, 2150 by lunchtime - it was never uncomfortable. Wonderful bleak mountain scenery - ‘sauvage’, my ... read more

This week began quite badly, in my head, with bouts of homesickness and doubts about being here. But the real low preceded my suddenly feeling better about things. On Tuesday, I suddely felt I 'belonged' at the choir at Lavelanet . No different from usual in reality, the fly on the wall would have noticed nothing. But in my head, I somehow felt more a part of the group, less an English person trying to make a go of things in a foreign place, as we did one of our final rehearsals for a concert later this month. On Wednesday, Malcolm and I had a day out in Pamiers. The best fun was our meal, in a restaurant on an industrial estate which by 12.15 was crowded out with workmen in their bleus, office staff, and ... read more

....... it rained quite a lot. But we had a great time anyway. Lots of relaxing meals with plenty of eating and drinking involved. We explored the heights near Tarascon again, striding sturdily up to the Oratoire de Permissol. We visited Lavelanet's Friday market, where our guests sampled so many different kinds of dried sausage that they felt obliged to buy several. We became pilgrims for the afternoon, and walked part of the Chemin du Piémont Pyrénéen, one of the French paths on the pilgrimage route to Saint-Jacques de Compostelle. We were moved by the pre-historic paintings of bison and other ancient animal inhabitants of the area, deep within the caves at Niaux near Tarascon. And lastly, having waited in vain for the sun to shine on us, we gave Brian his wish, and embarked on ... read more