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Writer's pictureThe Cornish Maid

The Three Valleys

So, we couldn’t get a site at Oust; that sent us to Seix a couple of kilometers back up the road. The site is OK and has everything we need - maybe the weather being a bit gloomy on arrival had us at a disadvantage but it looked - sorry! a bit rough - we slept really well again, it was very dark outside last night (one notices these things when one has a doggy that needs a pee last thing). We had to use a torch to make sure we didn’t lose him. So after breakfast, we decided to take a walk down this gloomy looking road towards the village and see what’s what. There was no air of expectation here at all. As we walked down towards the centre of the village, the road narrowed dramatically - we knew it had to be fairly narrow, as it was signposted a one way street. It seemed as the road narrowed, the buildings either side of the road grew taller to compensate. The first glimpse of something a little bit special was when the oddest looking spire came into view. We found ourselves very quickly in the centre of the village - the entrance to the church was right in front of us - Alan suggested we turned right here to see if we could find the patisserie - whilst he popped into a shop, I walked on a few yards with Tom in tow and spotted what I thought was a lady sat at her dining room table - after a double take, I realised this was tableau set in a museum environment and it was very odd and slightly spooky to see (on closer inspection) 3 mannequin dressed in historical clothing around a dining table - two men and a lady. Once I stepped back in this very narrow street, it became apparent this was a museum but sadly not open. Anyway, Al reappears and we turn to go back from whence we came and the patisserie was right in front of us. Al went and got the bread - which turned out to be the chewiest, crunchiest, ........ oh I could go on, but I won’t. He also bought us a Tarte-de-Pomme - more of that later. So, off I trot, to the church but not before I settle Alan in a nice little hotel/cafe where he decides to have his coffee. I toddle back to the church and upon entry, find it is completely devoid of any lighting at all! A bit strange and maybe a bit spooky (that’s two spookys in quick succession)- I nearly stepped back out, but, had a little chat to myself and continued in. My eyes soon got used to the darkness and, although the interior was lovely, it just didn’t have the impact of most of the places we have seen. (Lack of light might not of helped) so I took a quick shot on my iphone and continued to the outside where I continued my sightseeing. To the right of the church was a hairdressing salon - do take a look at the social media photographs - it was a darling building. Very tall and so beautiful. To the right of that building was the river thundering down a narrow gully into the main tributary. It had a little covered bridge over it just like the ‘Bridge of Sighs‘ in Venice, only not quite so long. Then I realised further down this gully, someone had build a conservatory off their house across this gully as well. How daring! As I turned to go back across the river to meet Alan, one could not fail to notice the architecture here - the Alpine nature of the place. The River Salat is very wide here and in a few months, the clear alpine water will be thundering through this place. Everywhere you looked was a photo opportunity and, believe me, I took loads of them. It is always so difficult to choose the ones to keep and the ones to delete when you get home. We are very close to the central Pyrenees now - about as close as we dare get - in fact about as far as the ‘sensible’ roads will take you. So we will move on tomorrow towards Perpignan - I want to go to Carcassonne as well so we haven’t decided whether to do that first and jog down to Perpignan or the other way around. You often find, once you are on the road, it becomes obvious. When we got back to base - it was a lovely walk - somewhat chilly but dry - and I popped the remains of the Cottage Pie in the oven and we enjoyed out lunch. Alan then cleared out the garage and Tom was very sweet and kept him company - later we had our coffee and Tarte-de-Pomme. OMG is all I will say - now we’ve found something else to add to our list of favourites here. We fully intended to walk back down to town tonight to spend some time but around 5 o’clock it started with the high winds and rain again, so gave that a miss. Instead we did our map planning for tomorrow and settled down to our books before bed.

Nighty night




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