This has been a very hard week. No sooner had I exhausted myself by watching that epic Federer/Roddick final at Wimbledon, had a late dinner and dragged myself off to bed, than I was awake de bonne heure for the drive to Mirepoix. 33 kms of walking, a lot of energy consumed eating the two big buns, and I was finished for the day.
Tuesday, a moderate day of walking, but it was very tiring to watch Lance Armstrong merely warming up for the time trial in the Tour de France. Next we were off to the two cities of Carcassonne. America has its "twin cities" of Minneapolis and St. Paul - Carcassonne has recently taken to calling itself "les deux cités". One of these is the ancient cité, a complete mediaeval walled city which is one of the major tourist attractions in France and the scene of a spectacular firework display on 14th July each year, which temporarily increases the polulation of Carcassone from about 40,000 to 700,000. The other cité is what some people refer to as "the new town", more truly the Bastide de St Louis, which is actually 800 years old.
It was to the mediaeval cité that we went, to the open air theatre within, where we were entertained, and deafened to an amazing degree, by the antics of Status Quo, a reminder of my lost youth. Why they are not all stone deaf, I do not understand.
All very debilitating. We stayed overnight and then drove to Quillan. Or rather, we drove part way to Quillan, then returned to the hotel for our coats before setting out again. I seem to remember telling a very similar story about 3 months ago, when we had to return to Dunedin when we were halfway to Oamaru.
We had a spot of breakfast in Quillan then I walked home while Gay did the marketing and returned more sensibly by car.
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