Thursday October 13, Castres

October 13, 2022

Thursday October 13, Castres

Carcassonne

Although we are on a really busy road, the double glazing on the windows works a treat and we slept really well. When I looked out this morning at 7.30 it was only getting light and the road was busy with buses and cars heading to work. Daylight saving ends here at the end of October.

We headed off to Carcassonne this morning, a place we have heard a lot about and many people said it is a must see. We took the quicker route which took us up through a very hilly wooded range with chestnut trees lining the road in many places, and spotted people out picking them up.

Onto Carcassonne and the navigator didn’t quite get it right and we ended up driving through the “new” town before finally getting on the right road. It really looks impressive from the road. Found a parking area very close to this old medieval city, and with only a short walk we were through the entrance. We do struggle with highly commercialised tourist venues and as we walked past shop after shop of “tourist tat” including bow’s and arrows and medieval masks we were struggling. You are able to walk up onto the ramparts which would have probably given us a better overview but our bodies weren’t quite up to that. It was very busy and this is the “off” season and can well imagine what it would be like during the holiday times. After wandering around for quite awhile trying to get the feel of the place we finally opted out and left. I know many people enjoy this city, but it wasn’t for us. Back to the car and headed off to Castres. Ended up at a restaurant at the top of the range for a very late lunch and what a great call. This was a traditional country local, with a bar and café. And we ordered the Plat du Jour…we were hungry by this stage. Started with a really good vegetable soup, so much flavour and the main was a traditional Iberian Pork casserole with haricot beans and served with rice, and the flavours were so good. Dessert was a chocolate mousse which was really good but couldn’t finish, I was very full. No need for dinner tonight. This was a real French experience as we chatted with a handful of locals in broken English, and this being the centre of rugby in France, they all knew about New Zealand.

Continued on and picked up a few supplies before arriving home about 4pm, rather weary after a day that didn’t quite deliver what we had hoped for but finished with a highlight at the café.

I am not sure if you have heard but fuel is in short supply in France at the moment as there is a strike by energy workers who are disrupting deliveries and about 30 % of fuel stations are running dry. We have ¾’s of a tank of diesel which should get us back to the airport. Today there were huge queues outside some stations who obviously had fuel and others were blocked off. It seemed better away from the cities and we will try and top up when we leave here on Saturday, just to be on the safe side. Rather pleased we are not driving the motorhome which needed a lot more diesel!!!