26 Apr 2012

Gorges & a telling off...in French.



"I like this place Tanya." I've noticed this several times as we have travelled round and stopped in different places. A feeling, of  OK'ness or comfort in some places whereas in others you get an uncomfortable feeling. If its the latter we usually move on pretty quickly. This place though, I like. Belvianes et-Cavirac is a very small village just 3km south of Quillan. We arrived last night and a large, flat and empty square next to the church invited us to park right at the edge overlooking the pretty red tiled roofs of the village and out across to the steep, green and scrub covered large hills on the opposite side of the valley. It was warm and sunny and as usual there were very few people about and those that were took no notice or greeted you with a cheery "Bonjour".

I do not worry any more whether I'm supposed to be where we are or not and we settled in for the night. This is a leisurely affair with initially a little time spent levelling up Sadie and checking we're not obstructing in any way. I usually have a look around as well to see whether our presence overnight is overly invasive of anyone's privacy. All's well and usually by this time I'm getting pawing on my foot reminding me of a certain little dog's impatience and eagerness to explore this new location. She is very good and never goes running off on her own unless I get distracted and don't take notice of her request for exploring time.

The exploring here at B et C comprised a slow and leisurely amble around the narrow alleyways of this delightful small village perched as it is on the steep valley side. This leisurely stroll has an ulterior motive too. In this case I was not looking for a more suitable local spot to move Sadie too. Often on previous 'settling in' walks a better location is found and Sadie duly moved. What we did find on this walk, and what I regularly look for now, were the local fountains/taps where we could top up with water and the local public toilets, which invariably are clean,  respectable and working. These I have used on several occasions to empty 'the Telford'.

A good night was had. Very peaceful. A civilised rising, breakfast and then off we went for our planned walk up and onto the high part of the steep gorge we would later be driving through. (see photos) Excellent walk although extremely steep and literally on the vertiginous edge of the gorge.

We arrived back at Sadie suitably exhausted to be jovially met with a "Bonjour" from a very rat faced but charming middle aged lady.  I think she was boss lady of the village or whatever. She spoke rapidly in French for some time and I picked up enough words to understand two things. Firstly;I was getting my first, and very good humoured, slap on the wrist for overnighting in the village square. Secondly; I was welcome to stay in the village but would I mind moving to the cemetery where there was a big open area for parking. Well I thought it all rather nice and my mixture of mime, odd French words and beaming smile seemed to be doing the trick and eliciting ratty faced and yellow teethed smiles of agreement.

Tanya then appeared from behind Sadie and worked her charm too with Mrs rat faced yellow toothed official crouching down to speak universally understood doggie language. She of course received the obligitory hand lick from her lady dogship.

We all parted on good terms and it was not long before the tarmac was rolling beneath Sadies wheels and we were on our way down through the very gorge we had walked above earlier.

Boy oh boy and what a trip. I mean, I have done French windy up through the gorges and into the mountains roads before. The D118 from Axat is just that and more. Sadie being a 3.5ton 7ft wide motorhome is definitely not a car. I found it really enjoyable and a lot of fun but it required full concentration, a lot of 3rd gear work and the ability to drive with one or two millimetres only separating edge of wing mirror and rock face.

We finally reached:-

La Creu, 66210 Fontrabiouse, France

This is the Col, or top of the hill and is at a height about 1900mtrs. I was exhausted but we stumbled on a grotto or cave tourist attraction with a nice large car park and stunning views of the snow covered mountains

I quite fancy doing a cave visit and this looks a good one. So with a promise to be there for the 1030 am trip tomorrow they were quite happy to let us overnight in their car park.

All in all a good and busy day made all the more pleasant by a warm shorts and sandal type temperature and clear blue sky. Ahhhhh! Now that's more like it!



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