At the beginning of September, Jean and I took
advantage of cheap flights from Bristol to Toulouse to visit the new
home in Aveyron of our friends the Millers.
They had moved there in April 2007. We had little
knowledge of the area which is about 1500 feet above sea level in the
Massif Central.
Time for a coffee before going through security in
Bristol Airport.
Soon on board under cloudy skies
Up above those clouds it's always
sunny...
A few hours later we have picked up our hire car from
Toulouse and driven the two hours or so to Bibal, a tiny hamlet between
the valleys of the Aveyron and the Viaur.
The colour and texture of the local stone is so
interesting and varied. Stone and dry stone walls fascinate me. I guess
that's my Pennine heritage.
Our friends have three cats, one adopted from their
daughter who lives a few miles, sorry, kilometres away.
This is Bertie.
There are some fascinating trees in their garden. I
haven't seen this one before.
Oh, and a rather nice pool.
We eat dinner by the light of an oil lamp. For
atmosphere you understand. The modern electricity is available (for most
of the time!)
The following day dawns and I am off to
explore Bibal before breakfast.
As
my younger son says, I do tend to take a lot of pictures of old and
rusty things.
The views remind me of mid Wales or parts of the
Cotswolds.
Of course, the building styles tell one otherwise.
Breakfast in the sunshine.
This is nearby La Salvetat Peyrales. A small town
with a few shops and, opf course, a regular produce market.
