I pause on top of the hill above Rivel. Altitude 540 metres. I have just walked 20 kms from Lavelanet - 4 kms to go until I arrive home - I have descended from this same height at Lavelanet to under 400, then climbed again.
The walk uses mainly the old railway track, with the last 7 kms on quiet roads. I have paused because it has just struck me exactly how quiet this road is. I can hear nothing. There is no wind, so no sussuration in the leaves. Just occasionally in the distance there is the sound of a crow. There are no sounds of modern civilisation, and yet I am 3 kilometres from my home.
I am walking on asphalt and in the distance a single power line crosses the road. It is several minutes since a car passed me. Otherwise, this is just as it must have been in the middle ages, or any time stretching back from about 100 years ago into the mists of time.
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