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| The Clock Tower - entrance to Auvillar |
I hear you and I'm sorry. 2 months away is almost inexcusable. I say almost but I do have a tiny (well, 3kg sized) excuse. A new grandson! We abandoned poor l'Avenir for 6 weeks so I could fly home to Australia combined with stop-overs in Scotland. We've been back on board for a week now but I'm still not quite into the swing of things.
As we were flying from Bordeaux we decided to leave l'Avenir in Buzet. We know and like the port and it's not too far from the main railway line. Last time I wrote we were in Montauban and so we once again retraced our water steps along the canal de Garonne. We have been up and down this canal so many times that we sometimes feel we know what's around every corner and that there's nothing new to be discovered. Not true of course.
Our horizons have been extended a little by a rather wonderful purchase. I happened to be sauntering through a village en route to buy the morning baguette when I saw a rather nice, new looking, 2 wheeled vehicle 'a vendre' in the front garden of a cottage. The owners were sitting out front as well enjoying the sun so we got chatting. The lady wanted to sell because it was 'too fast'. Before long we had negotiated a price (my French teacher might even have been a little impressed) and now we have this marvellous machine. Does it go fast? Yes - 20kph uphill. I may feel as though I'm in the Tour de France as I fly past red-faced cyclists with a cheery 'bonjour' but I'm sure they are unimpressed.
There are one or two drawbacks of course- you can't leave it lying around, we only have one between two of us and my hat keeps blowing off (I know- wear a helmet). But in a country where many of the interesting old villages and towns are built on top of hills it's been great and it allows us to see places that bit further afield.
One of those is Auvillar an ancient Occitan market town and port on the River Garonne (also one of the 'most beautiful villages in France' - invariably at the top of steep hills). The village is a staging post for pilgrims on the popular St Jacques du Compostelle route all of whom struggle up the steep hill on foot, many carrying heavy looking rucksacks. (They climb up a steeper but shorter route than the road so sparing me any feelings of guilt.)
The main square (which is actually triangular) in Auvillar has La Halle as its beautiful centrepiece. It is still used as a marketplace.
River Garonne from Auvillar. Nuclear power station in background.
