A very hot week

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Another week of general busyness. What to write about? Perhaps our walk to Leran, the next village along in the middle of the week. We couldn’t resist the wild cherry trees we passed, and somehow tottered home with 2 kilos which have now become jars of cherry jelly and cherry jam.

Or the Rando des Artistes on Saturday. Three local villages, all on the pilgrimage route to Compostella, laid on art exhibitions, and arranged a guided walk from Vals back to the 3rd village, Manses, where we all had lunch, picnic-ing in the seats already laid out for the village's communal meal that night as part of their fête, and back to Vals again, this time via Teilhet.

One of the walkers was a botanist, but even more fascinating than his observations about flowers and plants were his other sightings. ‘Look! There are wild boar prints. And that muddy pool over there in the trees, that’s where they take their baths. You can see how the tree bark nearby is all rubbed smooth where they have a good scratch afterwards’. It was such a hot day that the art exhibitions were welcome oases of cool. Varied quality, from thoughtful, atmospheric collages to run-of -the mill- landscapes and slightly frenetic large oils. We enjoyed the company of the artists and our fellow walkers, but by half past five, were wilting in the heat.

Not for long. We had to go out again. In this part of the world, communities mark midsummer by holding bonfires, Feu de la St. Jean (don’t know why ‘la’- it’s John the Baptist we’re talking about). Really a pagan throwback, I think, and an excuse for general jollity. Here at Laroque, there was an African-inspired meal, with local people showing off the African dances they’d been learning, and a Latino-style band afterwards as the fire took hold.

We were pleased to meet people we knew, and had a thoroughly convivial evening. At table, we found ourselves with friends on one side but on the other, sitting next to members of the band, who instead of groaning at their ill luck at ending up with a boring couple of The English Retired, decided to have fun practising their schoolboy English and generally making us laugh.

Another walk next day. As ever, wonderful scenery, good fun. But next time you think of taking a long walk in the hills, when the temperature’s about 35 degrees - don’t.

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Photos

It might have been very hot at Roquefeuil....
.....but it was still worth it for the views

A dog joined us in the village as we started...
...plodded round with us the whole time, leading the way, then wandered off without even wagging its tail to say 'Goodbye' as we returned to our starting point