Tapp's Travels

I rather abruptly abandoned the story at Vallons-sur-Baise.  Now I’ll take it up again, but at Valence-sur-Baïse – the correct spelling!  In the valley of the Baïse, nicknamed the “happy valley”, the river flows a distinctly yellow colour.

The Baïse is connected to the river network of the waterways of France via the Canal des Deux Mers at the port of Buzet-sur-Baïse, some 64 km to the north (As the river flows – crows can probably do it by a shorter route!!)  In days of old, barges transporting wines and spirits towards the port of Bordeaux would have used this waterway.  While trying to find out why the water is this yellow colour, I came across this unattributed comment on the subject:

If customary brandy is amber, the weird colour of the water of the Baïse is not a colour, it is a sensation, an emotion, a scent.

Personally, I suspect it’s more to do with the suspended clay particles.  But weird it is – just like last year!

Downstream, at Condom (where the water is still a violent, jaundiced colour) we find D’Artagnon in conflab with the Three Musketeers (as he was last year) outside the cathedral.

Maybe they were early pilgrims on the Camino Trail which passes right in front of them.

And inside the cathedral, we find the massive pillars and stonework …

… which contrasts in magnitude when compared with a similar view inside the chapel of the hermitage, La Fontaine de Notre-Dame-de-Tonneteau, on the outskirts of Gondrin.

A beautiful, peaceful space, with serene gardens and statuary.

As we left the hermitage, we passed, unknowingly, one of the access point for the local “green way”, the Voie Verte de l’Armagnac.  This follows the route of the old railway line, extending from Condom in the northeast to Lagraulet-du-Gers via Gondrin.  A distance of about 20 kms.  Plans are afoot to extend this to Eause further to the west.

We want a shady place to walk.  We want to try out the “Green Way”.  We found Lagraulet on the map and saw there was a carpark with access to the path.  Excellent!  The first clue to what the upcoming experience would entail was the town “square” with it’s “chateau d’eau” …

Second clue was the grandiose Castel Pierre de Lagraulet.  It looked like a hotel, set in its own grounds.  But no reception.  No restaurant.  No bar, even!  No-one around.  Needing a gardener and possibly a handyman.  No coffees anyway.  (Subsequently, research has shown it to be a holiday home for rent.  Suits a group of 18 people.  It comes complete with a sauna.)

Third clue was the single track, “I-REALLY-hope-this-is-a-one-way” sort of road.  It wound down a steep hill out of town.  But it was totally blocked by a white van man.  We can wait!  Well, really, we have to!

Eventually, we reach the carpark.  As marked on the map.  One disabled space and just two other slots.  Lucky for us, no one else had found the carpark!  We headed towards Gondrin.  Half way through we had an extended chat with André, a local on his bike.  One of those two-way communications in which neither party really knows what’s being said – for ten minutes!  We met him again later for a catch-up as he was cycling home.  We still didn’t know the price of biscuits – or indeed, anything we didn’t already know!

One of the “exciting” discoveries on our walk was a clump of orobanche, a parasitic plant which doesn’t produce chlorophyll.  Hence it can’t survive without nicking somebody else’s nutritional supply.

Other than that, the path was a rather uneventful experience.  But at least we now know where the path meets Gondrin – just near the hermitage!  We have made arrangements to meet André tomorrow while walking a different section of the path.

Walking, even on a largely shaded path, at 30 – 40 degrees isn’t much fun.  Let’s get home for a swim!  En route, we passed a field of corn with a runaway big-bale.  Luckily it had run out of steam before reaching the road!

It’s time to head north, anyway.  Nineteen days in one place is the longest we have ever stayed!  Next stop Brantôme!  We used to pass this pretty town when we travelled to the Dordogne with the boys nearly half a century ago!  But I don’t think we ever really stopped for any length of time.  There are two likely campsites, one in town, a shortish walk from the centre and a second about four km to the south.  We elected for the latter.  Located in a pine forest.  Well a pine wood, anyway.  We need shade!

Well we have shade!  But do we have level ground?  Do we ever?  Having chosen our pitch, we spent the next hour or two trying to work out a way to get the caravan level.  A one directional slope is one thing, but random unlevelness in two or more directions takes some cunning to deal with.  Plus a pile of bricks and a couple of baulks of timber.  Even then we need a fourteen rung ladder to get in the front door!

Brantôme Abbey and one of the town bridges over the River Dronne.  We may have moved a little north, but it’s still excitingly hot.  One of the local river monsters had hauled out of the water to catch some rays.

There is a statue of Brantôme, himself near the abbey.  Brantôme de Bourdeilles.  Born at Bourdeilles (obviously) in the Périgord, Brantôme was the third son of the baron François de Bourdeille and Anne de Vivonne.  He was given the lay abbacy of Saint-Pierre de Brantôme.  But he didn’t fancy a career in the church and went off to be a soldier.  Among his more illustrious associates were Mary Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth I.  Now he’s stuck on a fountain in full sunshine outside the Abbey.

We are in birthday territory now.  And we need to find somewhere to celebrate my 22nd birthday.  It’s on a Sunday this year.  Sunday lunch at one day’s notice – could be difficult.  The campsite had given us a list of six possibilities, with one, the Ferme Auberge, Un Gout de Nature, near Condat-sur-Trincou said to be the clear favourite.  We stumbled on an interesting looking auberge by pure chance by following an enticing road-side sign.  We’ve done this lots of times.  So many, that after a few kilometres, we say “Think we are looking for a wild goose.  If it doesn’t show in the next five minutes, we are out of here.”  At 4 minutes and 59 seconds we found ourselves in the carpark of the auberge.  And it turned out this was the top recommendation.  When they aren’t serving food they sell fruit and veg.  Well, just melons really.  We bought a melon – seemed like a good choice!  Then we discovered they were “complet demain”, but available tonight.  Rats!  We continued our searches for the rest of the day.

Approaching Saint-Pierre-de-Côle, we found evidence of farmers’ continued disagreement with government policies!

In town, opposite the Auberge Marmite (closed), we found a well guarded by two people dressed as dolls.  “You’re not having any of OUR water!”

And in Saint-Jean-de-Côle we discovered the medieval village with the Chateau de la Marthonie …

… and the snappily named Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Saint-Jean-de-Côle.

But no significant,  open restaurant.  So we had a coffee at Chez Betty’s and a quick squint at the 12th century bridge over the R. Côle.

The conclusion is that if we want a celebratory meal in a recommended eatery, we should take up the Auberge’s kind offer of a table one day early.  One stuttering telephone call was all it took.  So off we went.  Back down the Côle valley.  An excellent birthday feast – complete with a feu d’artifice stuck in my pudding!  It’ll be beans on toast tomorrow!

Before I leave this, I came upon another new-to-me word.  “Ellipsis”, plural “ellipses”.  A sort of punctuation mark.  It turns out I use them a lot.  Five times in this episode already!  Not necessarily correctly!  An ellipsis consists of three dots that indicate an omission of words or a pause in thought. They are used to shorten quotes, show hesitation, or suggest an incomplete thou …

Time to pause …  Remind me to confess to a slight navigational error made as we left Brantôme!