Dave and I are on our own today while we wait for Katie, Randy, and girls to arrive sometime around dinner time tonight. Dave has a plan but we need groceries.
First order of business, the market in Mirepoix. We arrived there around 10, just when the market is the busiest. But we found a parking place a block from the SuperU and headed into the city center - me on my scooter and Dave with shopping bags in hand.
We stopped first at the cheese counter. After getting our wrapped (in paper) cheeses, the cheese merchant told us he wouldn't be at Mirepoix or Pamiers for the next 2 weeks because he's getting married. After giving our "Félicitations!" - congratulations - we left wondering if we'd see him again before leaving. He has the best cheeses.
Our next stop was at a merchant selling nesting wooden dolls from Russia. (I checked that they were really from Russia.) The merchant was happy to explain all about the dolls to us in English and in French. I've been looking at these dolls as possible souvenirs. They're not French, but they do represent the variety of a French market. He's at market every week, so we took a photo of his Russian dolls table and continued our shopping.
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| Who wouldn't want one (or more) of these charming dolls? |
With 2 bags filled with salad things, zucchini, peppers, and eggplant for ratatouille, and lots of fruit, we headed back to the car. After packing the bags into the car, I drove my scooter the block or two to the SuperU grocery store while Dave moved the car over to the supermarket parking lot. We made short work of our list and were home before noon.
After lunch, Dave innocently asked, "Would you like to go for a ride?" The Tour de France (bicycle race) starts soon and one of the stages ends at the top of the Plateau de Beille. Dave wants to see what that looks like. We'll be back by 5, he says. So off we headed toward the Plateau de Beille.
It's a quick half hour to Les Cabanes where the climb will begin. Over 12 miles, the narrow mountain road climbs 1253 meters (4111 feet) to a winter sports area at the top, 1785 meters (5856 feet). The climb looked like this on our GPS:
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| The GPS in our car. |
And the driver looked like this on those switchbacks:
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| His knuckles might have been white. |
As is usual, the mountains started closing in as we drove into the Pyrenees and from sun into clouds.
The broom bushes were in full bloom and provided a colorful contrast to the greens of the mountains. When we found a pull-off (there are not many along this road filled with switchbacks) where we could get a picture, even if not the most spectacular array of broom that we saw.
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| broom colors the meadows |
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| looking toward our car |
Just a bit farther on we came to an unexpected stop. A truck was coming down the mountain and there were 2 cows standing on the road.
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| The cows did move at the urging of the truck (who was stopped in this picture) |
A note about cows and mountains - In both the Alps and Pyrenees, there is a practice of "transhumance" where sheep, cows, and goats are migrated from winter pastures to the high mountains. We've been noticing that this is a time of celebration with towns advertising their festival of transhumance. Tickets may be sold; participation is limited; there are often meals and music involved.
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| This cow was right outside my car window. |
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| These cows seem to be asking "What are you doing here?" |
Clearly, these cows, many with bells around their necks, have finished the transhumance ritual and are now grazing freely in the mountains.
Transhumance is also good for the pasturage used by these cows. It allows winter pastures to grow and recover and keeps summer pasturage trimmed of self-seeding trees and brush. This article gives some photos and information about moving the cows to Plateau de Beille. https://www.pyreneanway.com/2018/05/transhumance-in-the-ariege-pyrenees/?lang=en
We finally reached the top - completely in the fog of a low-lying cloud.
The signs for the finish of the Tour de France were already in place and we discovered that this stage will be run on Dave's birthday, July 14. What a gift!
The trip home was faster (downhill all the way) and we did make it home by 5 pm.
We haven't heard from Randy and Katie who should, by now, be on the road from Barcelona to here. While we were waiting, we made the planned ratatouille and a bread pudding - I know the girls love bread pudding. We ate our empanadas for dinner.
At just after 8, Evie burst through the front door, announcing her arrival. Joy, laughter, and a lot of noise for the next couple of hours as the girls are squirrely from the confinement of their travels. Food is high priority. The girls scrounged in the frig and ate lots of fruit, while Katie and Randy made dinner out of the ratatouille and baguette, followed by bread pudding all around. Lots of exploring, lots of monkey-business, and a dip of the hands into the swimming pool to test the water temperature. (The girls have come prepared with their wetsuits, so they will swim whatever the temperature.) What a happy reunion!
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