more belesta adventures

Last year we all enjoyed horse riding so much we went back for a two hour balade through the gorgeous countryside around Belesta. Our guide, Didier, is an incredibly peaceful, gentle man who seems to have the perfect job for his temperament. After the initial walk through a hamlet, there were no more signs of humanity, except the well worn paths we trod, just silent forest.

Friday is market day in Lavelanet, and while it lacks the architectural charms and more tourist oriented stalls of Mirepoix and the alternative, hippy vibe of Esperaza, it has its own charms. It is a market for the locals alone and that is reflected in the prices, which are quite a bit lower at some stalls, than either of the other two markets. And there is still that air of alternative living about it. We really enjoyed the folk band singing up a storm, especially the little girl strumming crazily on guitar. There is a more obvious multicultural element here as well, with lots of North African presence, making for good olive and spice buying.

The weekend involved getting John back in the saddle after his long break from cycling. We hired bikes at the incredibly cheap rate of ten euros for four hours. a third of the price for the same time in Brisbane( and the horse riding was at least half as much as it would have been in Australia). We cycled along the voie verte, old railway path, from Laroque D'Olmes to Chalabre. About 13 kms. I had hoped optimistically, to get twice as far but that was completely unrealistic. Especially once we stopped for an enormous menu du jour at the cafe du paix. The starter alone, a huge slab of fish pie, would have been enough but it was followed by a huge serving of Basque chicken, with lots of grilled vegetables and an enormous pile of chips, followed by a delicious piece of coconut pie. Plus wine and coffee. fifteen euros. And it was all delicious. Along the way we met horses, ponies, a goat and an an alpaca. We ended up being an hour late to drop the bikes off but the bike hirer, Craig from Leicester, didn't seem to mind. It was probably the longest single ride either Poppy or Josh had ever done. Well done to them!
in the evening, John and I headed out to the Brasserie du Quericorb at Puivert hoping to see a live band but it was a quiet evening. We mentioned seeing the incredible electric viola player last month and got told it had been his last ever gig. He died of a stroke a week or two later while attending his daughter's graduation. Despite meeting the man once and barely speaking a word to him, it left us both feeling sad at the loss of such a talented musician and seemingly well loved human being.

Sunday it was market day in Esperaza with the bonus of a vide grenier as well. The day started with a minor disaster when I discovered my french bank card was missing but in the end i decided i must have left it in chalabre and later i did indeed gratefully receive it back from the amused owners of the cafe du paix. I struck up a conversation with a man who had immigrated to Australia in 1961 but who had then gone back to the UK. as it turned out, on the same boat I then took to Australia as a seven year old in 1968. He turns out to be a bit of a local identity and told me he is know as the king of Fa, his village. And we finally caught up with Alex. She had mistakenly booked into accommodation near the wrong Belesta on Friday night and almost ended up going to a third Belesta on Sunday before finally meeting up with us. The kitchen gathering back in Belesta was the most visitors the house has had so far, with a neighbour joining us.

On Monday the morning was occupied with a walk to a deserted farm above Belesta, where we all enjoyed pottering around among the recent ruins. It's quite an eerie place, with washing still hanging on the line. Most of the building is covered in blackberry vines and surrounded by stinging nettle. Inside I found a a mummified cat's head attached to its skeleton. And outside, a very tame kitten joined us, following the kids all the way back to Belesta while Joy and I walked back via the forest trail.
In the afternoon Joy and I had a kidless trip to Puivert castle. Despite being a little dilapidated, it was great. It has a commanding view and in the remains of the keep there are a lot stone sculptures that are worth spending time looking at. And in the village itself we discovered a quirky little 'shop' where you simply take things you might want.

Our final touristy activity at Belesta was a visit to the prehistory park at Tarascon sur Ariege. It was fantastic. We got to see a demonstration of fire lighting and stone tool making, participate in some cave painting and try our hands at spear throwing. The museum was incredible, with great use of A/V and computer technology to bring the paleaolithic alive. 
Yesterday it was pack up, clean up and head off to Barcelona. I won't be back in the house until March. I'll miss the place.

enjoying the great outdoors, and underground of the Ariege.

Our first day in Belesta saw the kids and Joy head to the wonderfully named Crapahut for some clambering through the forest on high wires, bungeeing and ziplining. I napped. It is very convenient to be able to walk 15 minutes from the house down a forest path to such a great place for the kids. And along the way you can learn about the trees, with info boards telling you about chataigne(chestnut), chene(oak), sapin(pine) etc etc. When I finally roused myself to go meet them, I saw two huge raptors hovering overhead. Then it was down to the the intermittent source of Fontestorbes to check the phenomenon out, again. It is pretty cool to watch the water suddenly stop pumping from the mountain side and the river height drop and then to wait half an hour or so and see it go back up again.

Sunday saw us off to a vide grenier at La Bastide sur l'Hers, just down the road where I picked up a bargain of a coffee table for 6 euros. A lovely, battered and worm eaten piece of timber. And a set of binoculars. Joy found a very nice jumper and Josh bought some roller skates! There are always some hidden treasures to be taken home. We also spotted yet another of the little book swap libraries, hand made from left over timber and looking very cute. Surprisingly, it had a book by an Australian author inside, in English. So we took it home. Rather than the normal frites and sausage in a baguette lunches you usually find at these things, there were savoury crepes and they were delicious swallowed down with some le grand bison local craft beer they had on tap. And of course the weather was perfect. 

The afternoon saw us up above les Monts d'Olmes ski resort walking to la belle fage lake for a swim. This was my third visit. It is a gorgeous spot, despite the very low water level now. The water was still so cold no one spent too long swimming around. On the way down there was a sudden outbreak of a mysterious ailment and I ended up piggybacking Josh 2kms back down to the car. It was made easier being able to see the wonderful views and hear the jangling tunes of the cow bells echoing of the mountains.

Monday was Mirepoix market day and as usual, it didn't disappoint in the huge range of produce and crafts on display. All surrounded by the timbered buildings of the medieval market square. But the highlight of the day was a visit to the largest underground river open to visitors in France. We got take several kms along the river, past lots of stalagmites and stalactites. Our guide was fluent in English and as we twisted and turned along the river, the boats metal hull banging into the rock, I asked him how often people banged their heads. I was expecting him to say very rarely, but apparently there are at least two every trip. It turned out he'd only been on the job six months. He used to be a carpenter until he fell off a roof! He told me he had moved here from near the German border where his parents have a farm, because most of France has been in drought for four years and the Ariege is still green and getting regular rainfall. He likes to grow his own food and it became impossible in the north.

Josh's birthday was coming up on Wednesday, so on Tuesday Joy and Poppy stayed home to make him a cake while Josh and I went off to to do some more caving. we had been to one by the side of a country lane last year and we started there. This year there was much less water on the cave floor, so we were able to go quite far into the hillside, our feet sinking into thick, deep mud. On our way back out, we took an upward offshoot of the main passage and began to see plant roots dangling from the ceiling. I got my hopes up that we might come out on the hillside, but the chamber was a dead end. then it ws off to an isolated hamlet, Morenci, to find another cave, after doing  bit of clambering over rocks and looking at the enigmatic stone cross with a face carved into it. We got there just on twelve and on the dot, the two workers up there doing something with the water supply downed tools and went to lunch. I really admire how the French give themselves regular, long lunches, but I am not sure whether they disapproved of us walking instead of lunching, as we strode off towards the cave. On the way back we got some magnificent views of Montsegur castle.

We had a final adventure in the supermarket when Josh saw his euro coin disappear under the shelves. An old lady came along and was a little taken aback to see a twelve year old boy lying prone on the supermarket floor using a carrot to try retrieve his coin. I explained, ' il a perdu son Euro' and she smiled and bent down, rolled up her supermarket brochure and gave it to him to help get the thing back out. Despite their best efforts, the coin remains hidden in SuperU.

and now it is today and this morning we took a gentle 4 km circuit walk from the little hamlet of la peyregade. Mostly it was along the most amazingly well preserved stone farm tracks that looked like they had been there for centuries. moss covered stone walls line the path on either side and nearby a mountain stream cascaded down the hillside. After passing many ruined barns we reached a waterfall and then what was desribed as a 'pierre de sacrifice'. Lots of mushrooms, flowers and slugs along the way.We thought we'd sacrifice the children, but they chickened out at the last minute. Finally, we reached the hamlet again and the lovely lavoir that is built directly out of the rock of the hillside. I had been here in February as well, but then the whole walk had been bordered by snow. Both visits have confirmed the place as one of my favourite spots around here.