Having made our way across the south of France in no particular hurry and certainly not in a straight line, we finally arrived in the area of the mythical Pyrenees, the historical mountainous boundary between Spain and France. Not quite as high or as trumpeted as the Alps, they are nonetheless a vast and rugged sweep that create their own natural and human particularities. We would be in the foothills of the Pyrenees for this next WWOOF stay, in the department of Haute Garonne... and then move on northwards to the fabled city of Toulouse...
THE PEOPLE:
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| Bo on an afternoon stroll. |
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| Pascale found a mole in the garden and brought it up to show Bo... |
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| ... she would release it in a neighboring field far from the garden. |
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| A local personality who cozied up in the compost heap. |
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| Katy and Bo, still breastfeeding at age 23 months. |
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| Pascale, Jeff and Bodhi. Pascale wowed us with her top-notch compotes and jams, and also with her knowledge and use of wild and medicinal herbs and plants, not to mention gardening skills. |
THE PLACE:
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| Just a few short minutes on bike away, we have direct views like this onto the Pyrenees. |
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| The farmhouse where Pascale and her partner Christian live, since 10 years ago. |
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| Bo having a look about the place. |
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| The open barn. |
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| Our lodging, a very charming little private cabin! |
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| A garden gem: poireaux perpetuels, or perpetual leeks. |
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| Liberal use of re-used cardboard for weed suppression. A practical - but not very beautiful - solution. |
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| Renouee de Japon, or Japanese knotweed, which we collected and cooked up, one of several wild plants that Pascale and Christian prepared. |
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| Mesange charbonniere, or great tit, an effusive and ubiquitous presence around the place. A bird haven, the days were spent hearing choruses of singing cuckoos and nightingales, along with blue tits. |
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| chevreuil, or Roe deer, which come to try and snack on the young trees and bushes that Pascale and Christian have planted! |
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| The Pyrenees were/are the last holdout of the brown bear in France. A very contentious political issue, for now reintroduction efforts are on hold due to strong resistance from local farmers, who claim the bears eat their livestock. Only 20-30 are estimated to survive in the French Pyrenees. Long live the brown bear! |
THE WORK:
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| Work here revolved around the garden. Here Katy is preparing a bed for planting, and Bodhi lends a hand, sort-of. |
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| Jeff takes a sickle to an overgrown greywater treatment basin... |
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| ...which looks like this when cleaned up. A prime facet of permaculture practice, these phytopurification basins utilize reeds and other wetland plants to filter and purify greywater which comes from household water use. |
OUT AND ABOUT IN THE REGION:
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| Scenes like this abound in the region. Wheat fields in the foreground, farmhouse in the midground, and golden rape in the near background |
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| Steepled churches set against the backdrop of Pyrenees and buckled hills. |
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| Beef cattle (seen here) and dairy cattle are common in the area. |
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| The prominent peak on the right is Pic du Midi de Bigorre at 2877m. It is one of the most famous of the French Pyrenean peaks. |
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| Lush green fields and winding roads with mountain backdrops are the theme on weekend rides... |
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| Jeff out riding near Aspet. |
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| Colorful horses. |
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| The Ger River as it leaves Aspet. |
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| Wild skies as big thunderheads approach. |
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| Just moments before a torrential rain, the Pyrenees foreboding... |
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| Bo with Nana and Granda, who had come on a second visit to France at this time and stayed on the Mediterranean coast near Bezier with Bo and Katy. |
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| The medieval village of St. Martory along the Garonne, where Phil and Maureen brought us for dinner. |
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| Half-timbered house in St. Martory. |
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| Katy heads out of Cassagnabere under blue skies and with fine mountain backdrops. |
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| Our lunch break features Bodhi doing some fast downhills. |
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| The impressive pink-brick church of Le Fousseret. |
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| Dazzling sunrise from our campsite. |
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| Bo greets the new day. |
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| Nearing Toulouse, we ran into this lively cycling club at Muret. |
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| Pont Neuf, which crosses the Garonne and enters the old town of Toulouse. |
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| The impressive church at the Couvent des Jacobins. This is the birthplace, in 1216, of the Dominican order, a Catholic order dedicated to preaching. All that is well and good, but the Dominicans were founded nominally to convert/persecute the overwhelming majority of Cathars who resided in Toulouse at the time. By order of the Pope, the Cathars would be the victims of a savage genocide over 20 years known as the Albigensian Crusade, which had the goal of eradicating Catharism from Languedoc. (Yet another shining moment in the history of the church.) |
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| The church is notable for its palmier vaulted ceiling, which takes the form of palm trees. |
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| Katy and Bo |
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| Bo takes to the streets of Toulouse. |
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| The unforgettable Capitolium of Toulouse. |
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| The gardens of the Musee des Augustins. |
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| Who's that roaming the galleries? |
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| A fabulous Toulouse-Lautrec seen at the Musee des Augustins. One of our favourite French painters. |
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| The Musee des Augustins, from 1793, is one of France's oldest museums (after the Louvre) and has loads of quality works. |
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| Our stay in Toulouse was made possible by Bertrand and Delphine, whom we had met the previous summer while cycling on a section of the EuroVelo 6 near Montbeliard. |
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| All smiles with Bo and Bertrand. |
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