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 5 months ago
Bill ShaneyfeltMaybe balloon flower?
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/141623-Platycodon-grandiflorus/browse_photos?place_id=6753 Reply to this comment 5 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 5 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.
