Marion, our host at Bed in Bellongue, served us a very nice dinner last night. We started with an aperitif (delicious but deadly on an empty stomach), followed by a gazpacho, then duck confit with potatoes dauphinoise, and a slice of pear tart for dessert. So good! The other guests enjoyed it too, I think. They were all French and all men. Four were travelling by motorcycle (one was obsessively polishing his Harley-Davidson this morning) and one travelling on foot. I noticed some Camino signs in the first couple of villages so perhaps he was doing that. There is a Chemin du Piémont Pyrénéen from Narbonne-Plage to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port where it joins the big one, and it passes through Mas d’Azul, which he was telling me about before dinner.
I knew it was traditional to move one’s herds or flocks to higher pastures for the summer. I didn’t know this was called “transhumance” or that it was a public event. This one took place the same weekend as the one through Biert
Scott AndersonWell, that’s freaky. It looks just like a flower I was about to post myself. They’re both campanulas (bellflowers), though google Lens thinks they’re different species. It thinks yours is a campanula patula and mine (a darker, lavender shade) is a campanula poscharskyana. Reply to this comment 10 months ago
Bill ShaneyfeltMaybe balloon flower?
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/141623-Platycodon-grandiflorus/browse_photos?place_id=6753 Reply to this comment 10 months ago
Jacquie GaudetTo Bill ShaneyfeltI think Scott’s got it this time. The photo doesn’t show the height but campanula is the correct size and habitat. Reply to this comment 10 months ago
Decision time. Should we go this way? Nah. I’ve done it before and Al doesn’t mind skipping it. All I remember is getting wet and cold on the way up and having an omelette in the bar/restaurant at the top, after I’d put on some dry kit in the bathroom. An advantage of lugging all your stuff up the climb.
And then we did this. I zoomed past the start-of-climb sign, carrying speed from the descent of Col de Buret, but the grade was at or about 5% all the way. Very pleasant!
It was a nice descent from Col des Arès but we were keeping our eyes peeled for food. We hadn’t passed anywhere to pick up supplies or even have a snack stop so we were hungry. We made it all the way to the bottom and almost to our destination before we saw any food possibilities. Then it was a big roadside restaurant, visible in the distance with many cars and even a couple of transport trucks parked nearby.
Al had a burger with fries and a beer and I had a gigantic salad and a glass of wine. Well-earned.
Cierp-Gaud, based on what we saw of it, seems to be a bedroom community rather than a village with many services. We were glad to have booked half-board.
Les Deux Rives, the B&B where we stayed. Very friendly host with a very British sense of humour.
