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We seem to have specialized in early morning computer sessions for Keith while I slept off my late night writing and reading sessions. So we had a late breakfast again, and by the time we had sorted out the rain weather gear and got started on our major training walk, it was nearing late morning. We took an apple each and a can of spray in case farm dogs attacked us; not a totally unexpected happening when walkers cross a dog’s territory in remote spots.
The scenery along the way was absolutely beautiful, and it was such a treat to be walking far and reasonably fast, with the time to do it. Autumn is the perfect time of the year, with the temperature mild despite the ongoing sprinkling of rain. We were rugged up in ponchos and ready for anything. The paths are marked clearly where they cross and smaller tracks have a series of number and colour codes to indicate whether they are suitable for cycling, walking or horse riding. After crossing through farms and with the rain presumably being a very good dog deterrent, we reached the forest and plunged in. Our batons (retractable walking sticks) started to feel natural in our hands, and were useful to hold back blackberries and wave in the air for emphasis in our conversation. This bit of training was most useful, because we had never walked in rain and would be certain to do so over the next two weeks, on the Chemin de Compostelle.
When we got back Corine gave us the secret of how to have dry shoes in the morning, by stuffing them tightly with newspaper at night. My clothes and socks were wet through from transpiration inside my waterproof outfit. We are very lucky to be able to borrow some effective wet weather gear from Michel and Corine, and to have advice from experienced walkers. Poor Corine had been worried about us, with our 18 kilometres taking nearly 4 ½ hours and being much longer than we had anticipated. We had lunch at four o’clock; Keith’s favourite of lentil, onions and tomatoes in a vinaigrette dressing.
That evening, the four of us had fun talking about the oddities of languages. Michel showed us a fascinating book that an American friend of his had sent him, in which real French words are used to create the sounds of English words for the traditional English nursery rhymes. The secret is to read the French for sound only, and to ignore any meaning, and then the English rhyme reveals itself. It took me a little while to be able to lose the French words, but once I did, it was a real pleasure to be able to work the rhymes out. There were amusing little nonsense explanations of the nonsense French, pretending to be the text notes that would accompany a learned text.
Michel’s American friend had written to him to say that she had enjoyed reading the parts in our blog about our last time in Pibrac. It was a lovely email, a real plum pudding of news, opinion and a description of the mouth watering cookies she was just baking. I passed on my French novel to Corine, and I am sure that she will find it interesting as well as a mystery to follow through. People had emailed us – it is wonderful to be back in the land of cyberspace, with contacts easily made.
The highlight of the day was the video clip Aidan sent of Frey riding along on his bike. We watched it many, many times, and Corine enjoyed it several times too. Frey sets off then rides, looking at the camera, before confidently heading off down the road. Ah, such is the pride and love of grandparents that we could have watched it all day.
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