Finally back on track after laptop breaking (literally - it cracked and split!) and searching for a replacement photo editor. Still have to get the right boitier to transfer three important files that weren’t recently backed up, but otherwise seems to be back to normal apart from the unfamiliar dark Photoshop interface).
Anyhow, enough of that. This week’s walk was from Lunel in the NE Aveyron, which on account of its rolling high plateau hills and forests could easily be mistaken for the southern Cantal. Lunel’s quite high up, around 650m above the Doudou valley (tributary of the Lot via Conques) so it was quite a drive up there on hairpin bends - with the driver’s concentration not being aided by frequent cries of, “You’re going too fast!” (from someone who scarily brakes at the last minute when approaching a roundabout).
Nonetheless, we arrived in good humour (apart from a minor argument, sorry bicker, no, sorry ‘discussion’ -perhaps better described as a ‘very dignified debate’ as to whether we’d last done this walk in '24 or '25). OTOH, the view from the village car park was indisputably a promise of what we’d be walking through.
The group was smaller than usual due to vacances / meetings with artisans / temporary incapacitation, etc, but still good company and perhaps going a bit faster than usual. But afterwards was still surprised to learn we’d averaged 5.2kph over steeply undulating terrain, and the following morning my knees certainly confirmed that.,
Ten minutes walking up from the village we got a panoramic view of the Cantal mountains that still had a fair amount of snow on top. Brrrr…
Beyond,stretches of open countryside alternated with tracks through the forest -
Just another photograph. but you can also see the intense green of the new pasture
And below, a boring bit of track, but sometimes boring tracks can lead to interesting places…
The track led up to a long, and similarly boring straight stretch of departmental road at the end of which we came across this (I’d seen it before but completely forgotten). Despite, or because of a lifetime in the professional art world, I find rural ‘outsider art’ absolutely enchanting, but at the same time can’t help making judgements of quality - some of it’s better (more mainstream, or more weird) than others, and for me this expo’s a mixed bag.
These were my favourites…
For several years I was a trustee of the Owl House a world class outsider art site in South Africa. Unfortunately (for basically racist reasons!) the post-Apartheid ANC government wouldn’t support my application to the very wealth Getty Foundation for funds for its preservation. Nevertheless, through two successive site-specific art biennials, we managed to greatly increase the tourist footfall in the village and the surrounding countryside and rais ethe profile of this weird site and its stunning, but austere location.
But meanwhile back in the Aveyron, there was an interesting, old pollarded(?) tree -
More boring track (not really, it was nice to just be walking along on the level)
And then, I recognised a building on the horizon (that tiny reddish point in the middle of the photo). Was gratified that despite everything, visual memory seemed in fairly good shape.
And I was not wrong, but before we got there, there were other interesting conjunctions - directly opposite one another -
Old barn -
New barn -
and then…
Over the past ten years or so I’ve been passing this propriété à vendre and noting its slide into ruin, but happily it looks like it’s now changed hands and is on the up.
Continuing, I recognised another event on the horizon - Lunel again!
However, I also recalled the climb up to it after a long walk, but in the end although it was a bit of a schlepp, this year for the first time, I managed it without stopping for a breather, One of the pleasures of my weight training regime, is that apart from gradually being able to lift heavier weights, also one sees the practical benefits of it in real life. Which of course, is why I hope that eventually my wife’s training will enable her to carry more of the shopping…, which despite it
Back in Lunel, the church, which looks like a recently restored C19th Gothic Revival (though I’m happy to be proven wrong) is fairly typical of many in the area that were either built or rebuilt in the C19th. I’d love to know why - in mid C19th England there was a big Catholic church building programme for very specific local reasons, that wouldn’t have been relevant in France.
But returning to more important matters, finally - the picnic!
