Our aim was to walk up to the 12th century castle at Bruniquel. Wandering through the village streets the castle looked as imposing today as it must have seemed when the heretic Cathars were rampaging in the Languedoc against the Catholics all those centuries ago.
The unexpected sunshine was a bonus, warming the natural colours of the massive stone buildings. We walked without coats enjoying this hint of Spring. As I looked back at the castle I couldn't help thinking 'if only walls could talk'.What had life been like in there?
How many people did the castle house?
How did they keep warm in winter?
What did they eat?
And of course our minds then turned to finding our dejeuner....
No problem....
Actually the roti de porc was just one of five courses! Not for the faint hearted or anyone in a hurry I hear you say...well we are in rural France where everything stops for a lengthy lunch break. With these wild beasts looking down on us it also seemed imperative not to argue with the status quo.
Some time later we headed for home....driving rather slowly. A surprise awaited us as we went round one bend.
This particular lama was not impressed by the appearance of my camera and spat with significant attitude to let me know!
Happily I didn't encounter any problems when I took this final photo of the day's expedition - a treeful of mistletoe.....
Your nouvelle hanche must be doing very well to cope with those steep hills!
ReplyDeleteI love seeing trees full of mistletoe. They remind me of the druid in the Asterix books, who was always gathering mistletoe with his sickle.