Day 27 - In Figeac - Gorging in France ...Then Basquing in the Pyrenees - 2023

May 14, 2023

Day 27 - In Figeac

On Mothers Day, We Rested

Today was an off-bike day spent in this low key but interesting medieval town. We got the normal ‘rest-day’ stuff done - laundry catch up, blog catch up, forward planning focused on and near term plans made, etc etc.

What follows is largely a photo dump of what we saw today and what we thought was interesting.

After a nice sleep in and the regular French breakfast, we went for a wander around town. It was a beautiful morning, cool but comfortable, blue skies and no wind. As usual, we were drawn to the town centre and the inevitable church. Howver, since this was Sunday, and Mother’s Day no less, there was a fairly packed out Sunday service going on. We peeked in a side door of the church and were quite captivated by the service that was going on. It choir was beautiful and there was a particularly gifted soloist … and the acoustics of these cavernous churches are quite magical. The most intriguing scene through were the young kids (maybe 3 - 5 years old) who were clearly interested in anything but what the priest or choir were saying or doing. Classic kid stuff or writhing around on the pews, poking each other and so on. Would have like to grab a few pic’s but it would not have been the right thing to do, we’ll just have to preserve the memories in our minds.

The rest of the day has been somewhat documented in thr pic’s that follow though. Food wise … well it was Sunday and not much was open. Had a really good burgers and beer for lunch, and it reminded us hat we are North American and we like this stuff! Dinner was more classical French than last night. Good and well executed, but more 1973 than 2023 like last night.

With that, we’re off down the Celé river tomorrow to Saint Cirq Lapopie replaying one of the big hits from CB 2022 . This one was covered by TA (of course) along with Susan Carpenter, and the Maher-Weary’s.

SOTD - Tiny Hands by Quantum Tangle.

Figeac was the birth place of Jean-Françoise Champollion, the decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphics. There’s a museum here dedicated to his works and more broadly, the development of scripts in various cultures around the world that gave rise to written knowledge and learning.

Over dinner, as our conversation turned to this part of the day, I was drawn to the notion of many of the Native American cultures had no script and relied on oral learning and history, and how this was severely eroded (being kind) and replaced by western script and language. Long build-up, but tiny hands speaks to the tradition and power of native drumming and singing as tools of culture and learning.

And it’s a great song.

Roses have been every where on this tour so far. Spring is wonderful

Intense green. I wonder if this will turn purple through the summer?

Great burger and beer siting outside in one of the main squares in Figeac

Gary’s other friend, also Gary, who wasn’t so skittish

Looking south to the ridge that separates the Lot valley from the Cele valley. We rode over this yesterday

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