We left the Rousillon region and headed north to the Aveyron region. This region is north east of Toulouse and is one of the most remote regions in france. The landscape was so different from where we were and we instantly fell in love. It took us about 2 hours to get there and once we did we knew we definitely stepped up in terms of beauty, the landscape is like a dream. Best of all, the Aude valley has...no WIND! The picture above is our beautiful restored 13th century barn on the property of Nala and Neerva McEvoy. The hamlet is called Finnerols and it's in the middle of the countryside, the road is 1 mile long and has about 6 houses along it, ours is the very last one on the top of the hill. This area is in the gorges de l'aveyron, surrounded by the Aveyron river and huge limestone cliffs.
Tonight we went to dinner in Najac a beautiful village about 15 minutes away. The first thing we see when we get out of the car is this little frenchie. Just sitting outside of the restaurant. He was so cute we just had to get a picture of him. The grey-tiled houses of this beautiful village tail out westwards in a single street along a narrow spur that connects the valley side to the castle hill. It's a long walk up to the 12th century chateau, but worth it. We ate dinner at L'Salamandre and had our best dinner yet with the full complement of aperitif, wine, entrees, plats and desert. The creme brulee was the best we have ever had. Before we left we had a great conversation with the owner who fled Paris with his family to settle in Najac. He told us that the restaurant he worked at in Paris would go through 10 kilos of coffee in a day, almost 1500 coffee's. He and his wife and daughter (17) work in the restaurant and they live upstairs. They are closed November - February! Not a bad life.
We got out for a nice ride through the beautiful landscape and discovered that the roads - at least nearby - go two ways - UP & DOWN. We are going to burn off every croissant we eat! We road from the barn house to the villages of Lunac _ Lescure - Laoul and back around. After some lunch with drove to Villefranche de Rourgue, a beautiful small city on the Aveyron right. We made dinner in tonight, pasta with Jambon, peas and goat cheese. Along with it we had a delicious 3 euro Chateau Chateloup Bordeaux and for dessert a cafe eclair.
The next day our host - Nala (Patrick) took us down the road to his friend Jacques house. Jacques is 60 something and a huge cyclist. He actually has an arsenal of bikes, two of which are very close to being lightest in the world - we were in the middle of nowhere and here is this man, living in our hamlet, in a 13th century home and he has tons of bikes...expensive bikes! It was mind blowing. He offered to take us on a 30 mile ride along the rive viaur and we road and talked most of the way. He would become a great friend. We had dinner at his home with 4 other people and went on many other rides with him. Our original itinerary was to spend 1 week here and then head back to Spain and spend 1 week in Girona. Well, after 3 days here we have decided to extend our trip here and not spend 1 week in Girona. We have found the area we love...we don't want to leave.
The next day we packed the bikes in the car and drove northwest to Cajarc, in the Tarn (the department next to us), we had a great ride along the river tarn and cliffs to the beau village of St. Cirq Lapopie (above). The ride was mostly flat but the few hills made the 26 mile ride feel like 46. This village was so pretty. We had lunch here and I visited a potter who told me that she is open April - September and spends October - March throwing, bisquing and glazing. Not a bad gig! We stopped in Villefranche and got some croissants and had sandwiches at the Cafe des Arcades. They have the best jambon and brie sandwiches for only 3 euros.
Today was a rest day for us. Our legs are killing us from all the hills! We woke to more sunny skies - we have had the most beautiful weather here and no wind! I didn't have a converter that worked here, so I had not been drying my hair....I needed to dry my hair! So we ventured to the Hyper U, which is a sort of mini target/walmart/grocery store. It sure lived up to it's name, it was 10 am and it was quite hyper. It was a Wednesday, so children were not in school (they don't go to school on Wednesday). I found my hairdryer and it was our first investment in relocation...a french hairdryer! This afternoon we decided to check our emails. We were told that the library in Najac had internet access, so we headed over there..only to find that they are only open Saturday from 10:30 - 12:30 - so french! Alas, no news is good news.
Here's Bruce in front of the biblioteque....of course it's not open.
Today we were tourists. We drove to Cordes sur Ciel (above) to explore a bit and found a studio of a couple who make etchings. The wife makes the plates and the husband prints them. L'homme etais tres sympa (the man was really nice). We bought two small etchings. We had pizza for lunch at a lovely restaurant. We then went to Villefrance to the Thursday market - it's huge and there is everything you could imagine - food, spices, veggies, fruit, clothing, toys, pottery, leather goods, etc....a bit overwhelming. We picked up some fromage, fruit, rose and honey. Then we drove south to Albi and visited the Musee de Toulouse-Lautrec. Albi was hot and as always the musee was tiring, so we drove back stopping for some cafe and rose before returning home.
Tonight we stayed in and I made lamb for dinner. Our friend Jacques stopped by to show us his sprained ankle. We had a great time talking with him and Nala even came over for a chat. We had some vin rouge de Gaillac s'apelle Marquis d'orial 2003......so good.
Today we went to visit a village called St. Antonin Noble Val (what a great name). We have discovered our favorite village as of yet. Just the right size with a nice mix of people, it is really pretty and friendly...it could be the one!
St. Antonin Noble Val sits on the river's north bank beneath the beetling white cliffs of the Roc d'Anglars, where it developed in the ninth century around an abbey said to house the remains of the evangelizing St. Antonin. The picture above was taken in the place de la Halle, the main square in the ville. The building in this picture is the Maison des Consuls, the town's finest building, whose origins go back to 1125. This picture below is about 1/2 mile outside of the village...
Bruce is obsessed with these hay circles. They are everywhere. Today we went on a long, hot and hungry 50 mile tour de Jacques through the Aveyron gorge with friends Anka and Fabrice and Jacques girlfriend Fabiene, with Jacques in tow in the car due to his sprained ankle. There were lots and lots of hills and not enough food, it's made us very tired towards the end, although you only have to look around to appreciate the suffering. We finally made it back to the car and had sandwiches and ice cream in Cordes as our legs stiffened up. We went to dinner in Najac at a restaurant called Belle Rive, which was below the chateau Bruce had real Roquefort cheese...quite blue and very furry, but packing a big taste. Another world from the blue cheese at home. We have tried many things new on this trip. Rose, aperitif, duck, lamb, fois gras, pate, Roquefort all new tastes.
Our neighbors
Last night we were invited to a soiree a' chez Jacques. It was tres intereseant. It was Bruce and I, Jacques, his daughter, Nala and their friend Francious. We enjoyed a great dinner with soup d'Averyon, salad with fois gras, confit de canard, potatoes, cheese and great wine. It was difficult to follow the conversations, always at least two at once, but fun to try. Our french is getting really good but when a debate explodes we get a bit lost. We stayed until almost 1 in the morning and ended only because I was falling asleep at the table.
This is a view from our restored barn. I could never get tired of this view. We leave today....we are both very sad.
Left takes you to the motorway....and home. Right takes you to paradise.....which way should we go??????
As we crossed the border into spain, we say au revior to france in search of a place for the night. We are heading to Barcelona and on to home. We took our last ride yesterday from our favorite village and hopefully new home soon, St Antonin Noble Val, where picked up a ring that was handmade for me. It was hard to say goodbye, we stopped at Anke and Fabrice's home and later at Jacques. We made some great friends on this trip and the Aveyron and around could be the best place we've yet been. We packed up and said goodbye to Nala and we both had to choke back the tears.
We will be back....sooner than later!
