The winter flew by in no time. We were busy beavering away, remaking the show and looking after our friends beautiful off grid house in the middle of the rocky Garrigue, all the while enjoying the most beautiful sunsets. This one the evening before we left.
If you ever find yourself in need of a place for a family gathering or a little party amongst friends in the sunny south of France this is the perfect place to be, have a look at it on AirBnB
As the holiday season began, the house filled with guests. Although the show isn't quite ready yet, we packed everything up and cycled off into the breathtaking landscapes of le Pays des Cathares.
The Cathars believed that human souls were the sexless spirits of angels trapped in the material realm of the evil god. The Cathars believed that animals were carriers of reincarnated souls, and forbade the killing of all animal life, apart from fish which they believed were produced by spontaneous regeneration. To the Cathars, reproduction was a moral evil to be avoided, as it continued the chain of reincarnation and suffering in the material world. Cripes !
Crusades against the Cathars 1208 to 1229. Inquisitions and burnings and massacres followed, falsehoods and conflictig views. All quite a muddle. Basically war and castles. Now pretty and blending in with the landscape.
Cycling out of the campsite in Cucugnan, we were met by a convoy of Quadbikes thus began the days cycle ride, and so it continued, streams of motorbikes, vroom vrooms of porsches.
You can hear them coming, you can smell them leaving,
it must be the weekend,
the suited, the booted and helmeted.
You can hear them coming, you can smell them leaving
it must be the weekend,
the sporty and smug, the muddy and manly.
gone in 60 seconds,
our senses are then once again filled with the sights, sounds and smells of nature
Onwards to Bugarach where people occasionally gather in anticipation of the end of the world. An ancient prophecy claims that this village will be the only place on Earth left standing when the world ends. Known as the "upside-down mountain", it is a geological oddity where the lower layers of rock are mysteriously younger than those at the top. The mountain also hosts a bewildering number of caves and german hippies.
Onto to Rennes-les-Bains for a well-deserved hour in the thermal springs spend chatting with two local clowns. Here the strangeness continued with UFO sightings, cults, the Holy Grail, and rumors of buried treasure.
One of those days cycling over the rolling hills through this enchanting, gorgeous and enjoyable place we were lucky enough to be blocked off by a Porsche rally that had closed the only road to where we were going, so that they could play at racing drivers for the afternoon.
Which meant we found a lovely camp site and spent the afternoon walking the Gorges de Galamus a pretty awesome gorge all the while watching grown adults having fun jumping down in and around the river with special slidey pants for sliding down the rocks.
Canyoning !
We acquainted ourselves with some giants. We don't know their names. They didn't tell us. But we do know the day will come when Giants walk the earth once again!
The following week we spent in the happy valleys of the Ariege, visiting old friends, making new ones, going to the wonderful markets. We like this part of the world. It brings back happy memories of days spent up the mountains with the cows and the pigs.
Just don't sleep in this barn there...
It was worth the climb!
Our little collection of elks is growing.
In Lescar we stopped to see more old friends and learned about their latest venture Le Triporteur du Gave.
It involves a couple of rickshaw-type bikes and around 20 volunteers who take people for rides in nature, particularly vulnerable individuals who don't have many opportunities to get out. It's a fantastic initiative and a wonderful way to give back to the community.
And then the Pyrenees with a good pair of knees each! Oh my-eeee! We climbed and we climbed and we climbed, hauling too much stuff over the mountains trying to get to Bilbao in time for the ferry.
We were made pilgrims in Saint Jean Pied de Port just by being there. Everyone on foot or on bike is a pilgrim. So we joined them on the Camino de Santiago. We did however stay on the road rather then go the official pilgrims way and stopped at this monument we thought was an ode to stilt walkers.
In fact, it was to honor the Basques who defeated Charlemagne at Roncesvalles Pass, marking the first significant defeat for Charlemagne in battle. The Basque attack was in retaliation for the destruction of the city walls of their capital, Pamplona.
By the time we got to this bench in Pamplona we could kind of understand why people might be getting fed up with the pilgrims.,with over 440,000 in 2023 on the Camino. Nowhere near as many as in Medieval times though. They are everywhere! Hoards of them! So much that every traveler is assumed to be a pilgrim.
French lemons on the left. Spanish lemons to your right!
Basque bicycle art - this says "women standing"
And basque bicycling infrastructure!
We made it to Bilbao without flying over the handlebars with an extra day to spare and finally found out why the rooms and hostel beds were getting more and more expensive by the day: it was the Women's Football Champions League Final, with Barcelona facing Lyon. Nonetheless, we managed to track down a friend from way back who had a sewing workshop where we could stay and keep our bicycles secure.
The ride to the ferry port was fun. We found a great cycle way that took us all the way, oh no past the ferry port. By some miracle, u-turning, heading for the motorway going against the flow of traffic we found our way into the port and onto the ferry to Ireland.
