5 February 2019

Randonnée

At Montcagnou
Monday was such a glorious day. After breakfast, I set off courtesy of Pierre - my silver grey Citroen. It's just a short drive to the small town of Varihles. Leaving there, I was soon on the N20 autoroute heading down to Junctiom 10, north of Foix.

Thence to the D919, heading in a north westerly direction. It was a long, quiet road and I knew exactly where I was heading because I had spotted it on page 90 of Susi's guidebook "L'Ariège à pied" or "The Ariege on foot". This part of the Midi-Pyrenees region is known as L'Ariège.

And soon I was there in the charming hilltop village of Carla-Bayle. My starting point. I strolled around the ancient settlement for a few minutes, noticing its ramparts, its marvellous views of the snowy Pyrenees and how some of its quaint medieval houses have now been acquired by artists. The village even has its own website. Go here.

In the village square there was a fountain dedicated to a seventeeth century philosopher called Pierre Bayle. He was born here and upon his death the village changed its name from Carla-le-Comte to Carla-Bayle. I must admit that I had never heard of him before but in his time he was apparently an influential thinker whose work perhaps foreshadowed The Age of Englightenment in the eighteenth century.
And then I was off, marching down to the nearby lake and then along its northern shore. The route was not very well-marked - occasional yellow stripes on trees. Up to Bellecoste and then down a muddy track into a wooded valley and up again, meeting the lane that leads to Barthe. It's little more than a sprawling farmhouse with outbuildings and baying hunting dogs that were thankfully behind bars.

Down into another valley. Leaping over a stream and then following an overgrown farm track to Montcagnou. The place was abandoned and the farmhouse in ruins. Had there been a cataclysmic fire? Its former inhabitants appeared to be buried there and it seems that they died on the same day in 2006. I wandered around the shell of their home, filled with wonder.
Onwards till I met another track. Treacherous in places with soft mud. Why is French mud so slippery? Fortunately, I didn't fall.

Up ahead, Carla-Bayle was coming into view again. Along the lanes and up the hill to Pierre. In his boot (American: trunk) there was a bottle of water which I glugged like a camel that has just traversed the Sahara.

It was time to head back to Pamiers to buy some things in a "Super U" supermarket.

I spoke very briefly to just four people yesterday. A sun-tanned woman hiking by the lake with a big rucksack. An old man with a flat cap enjoying the sunshine by the roadside at le Badoune. A small, middle aged woman who wanted me to get a pack of  water bottles from a top shelf in "Super U" and the woman on the checkout till. In total twenty three exclusively French words were exchanged - if my arithmetic is correct!

Today is grey and rather miserable but not so cold. The internet is so slow here that photographs take an age to upload onto "Blogger". You can do so many things while waiting. Have breakfast. Clean out the fireplace. Get some more logs from the shed. Stroke the more amenable cats. Take the compost caddy to the big bin by the vegetable patch. Make another coffee.

Four nights gone. Another six to go.

25 comments:

  1. There was indeed a fire in Montcagnou, apparently:

    https://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2006/12/15/67481-le-carla-bayle-montcagnou-les-ruines-gardent-le-silence.html

    My French isn't good enough to gather all the details, but perhaps you can figure it out! Looks like a beautiful area for walking. If only you didn't have to bother with those grumpy cats!

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    1. (Google translate sorts that article out pretty well!)

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    2. Thanks for that Detective Reed (West Hampstead Branch). My suspicions were accurate. I wonder if they ever did find the wife's body. I suppose they must have done given the grave and everything. What a terrible way to finish their long and peaceful lives...but most rural properties hereabouts rely on log fires for heating in the wintertime.

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    3. What a sad story and it does make you wonder about the wife and what happened to her.

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    4. Later - I learnt that she had been almost totally incinerated by the fire but a few fragments of burnt bone proved that this was indeed where she met her death.

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  2. Those snow capped moutains are stunning in the sunlight.

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  3. I seem to have been the victim of a French gremlin. I left a comment before I went out - or if I didn't then I'm losing my marbles. Anyway I've now caught up with your travels whilst I've been away from Blogland for a few days.

    You are further south than my usual French stomping grounds although I do know the area en passant so to speak. Indeed I recently drafted a post about Pézenas. Obviously the situation is perfect for you to get some walking in a different place for a change.

    I hope the weather holds and you enjoy yourself.

    Bonne vacance.

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    1. Tomorrow should be okay for walking. I have been stuck inside the house all day oday and haven't spoken to a soul.

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  4. Are you able to get by in French, then? Good for you!

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  5. That was an interesting walk across the French countryside! Those mountains do make a beautiful view for the ones living in the area. Your French must be good for you to manage your encounters with others as well as you do. I took French but I was better at reading it rather than the spoken language.

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    1. I speak French in the manner of what Americans might call a total dumbass! Quelle horreur Madame Bonnie!
      P.S. Google says that the French word for "bonny" is "beau" but that's masculine. The feminine version is surely "belle".

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  6. It sounds like you are having and will continue having a lovely time during your stay at "Pussy Galore Manor", Yorkie.

    You've alerted my curiosity now, and I'm wondering what the story is about that Montcagnou couple. There is a story to be told there, for sure.

    Grab your magnifying glass and don your deerstalker cap...I'm sure I'm not alone as I await with baited breath.

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    1. Dearest Lee,
      Please see the link in Steve Reed's comment above.
      YP x

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    2. Being busy this morning, unfortunately, I didn't have time at the point of reading your post to read the comments of others...however, thank you for pointing out to me Steve's link. I have now read it.

      Dirty works at the crossroads it would appear!

      I wonder where Mrs. Whatsits and her lover are hiding. They may have jumped a ship and headed Down Under!!!!

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    3. Some people say that's where most fugitives end up but I couldn't possibly say.

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  7. Enjoy your time and learn some more French. 23 words will never do you.

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  8. It looks delightful. Sad story about the dear couple lost to fire - a tragic end.
    Here in Victoria Australia we have just commemorated 10 years since the Black Saturday bushfires that killed 173 people and injured many hundreds more let alone the devastation and loss of both wild and domestic animals... the mountains near us with their wonderful snow gums has not yet recovered - still hillsides of stark dead trees.
    Presently it is a balmy 34deg!! and we have had it as hot at 44.5Cdeg or around 112F - unbelievable.

    Enjoy your companions... they look purrfect!!

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    1. 173 peple! Wow! For friends and relatives left behind it must still seem like yesterday. Thanks for calling by ELLe and remember - Slip! Slap! Slop!

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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