MIRAMONT-SENSACQ, BUILT BY ENGLISH

Walking out of Aire, a long ascent is followed by a descent to water. Big trees, the first seen on the whole trail. Indication of richer ground or less eager forestry? This is Gascony, hence ducks. The distended liver is the main product: foie gras, of which the locals themselves eat a huge tonnage. The [...]

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DUDE, WHERE’S MY PICTURESQUE ROLLING LANDSCAPE?

One enters, briefly, the département of les Landes. Over the next couple of days there’s a bit of this: Cropping is big around here, and maize seems very popular. What strikes me is the fussy, Cartesian approach to land prep. I’m one of those people impervious to the western part of Paris with its massive [...]

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SNAP FROZEN PILGRIM. PLUS MY MISS MANNERS COLUMN.

Advancing across that great maritime plain, heading always south, and into the spring… The heat wave at Lauzerte two weeks back was surely a marker on the trip. Nope. I have little to tell of the country out of Nogaro, because it was too cold and wet to stop. More cold than wet. It was [...]

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NO COWS WERE HARMED IN THE PRODUCTION OF THIS BLOG

It’s the Nogaro cow-ring. No, not the bull-ring, silly. The cow-ring Here in the Armagnac area of Gascony, the bloody cows were whining about the glass ceiling and all that. A commission was appointed, quotas of females were made mandatory for the ring. Next thing you know, people said the cows were better at nurturing [...]

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EAUZE: QUITE A PAST

As you stroll through the Armagnac region, you’ll see plenty of vines. One presumes that all is destined for brandy, yet, with a global glut of wine, an out-of-fashion drink like armagnac may not have the production levels of former times. I got the impression the industry there is under some pressure. Perhaps the Gascons [...]

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MONTREAL-DU-GERS. LOVE YOUR ARCADE.

We leave Condom – still heroically resisting jokes about that name! – and head toward Montréal-du-Gers. The department is Gers, which is also a local river, and the traditional name for the wider region is Gascony. Just so you know. Today starts very differently to yesterday: in a lush forest in damp weather. A famous [...]

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A CHAI IN ARMAGNAC

From La Romieu, for a while the soft rolling country gives way to immense flats which could be part of the black soil country of the Darling Downs. And another Aussie touch a bit later. It needs repeating: walk for a day in this part of France, in France Profonde, and you’re in a different [...]

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CLOISTERED CATS

There’s a connection. I’ll tell you later. *** West from Lectoure, the country looks fatter and richer, especially in fine weather and high spring. Is this Gascony yet? Today’s trek brings us to an enormous abbey. It was built by a local boy who rose to be cardinal. Perhaps he knew the extra size would [...]

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LECTOURE: A HIGH OCCUPANCY RATE

On the road west, and a bit south – toward Spain! Well, that’s how you feel at the start of a day, with the Aubrac, the Aveyron and Quercy behind. Lingering at an ornate little church at Castet-Arrouy, I encountered some Swiss with whom I would never actually travel but often socialise. A large group, [...]

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TO THE GERS, AND LITTLE TUSCANY

Did I mention we’d crossed the Garonne before the ascent to Auvillar? Looking toward Agen – where prunes grow and where little Sainte-Foy was martyred – and the confluence of the Tarn and Garonne, one can see the Golfech nuclear reactors. They’re big! I’m told the main limitation is the water temperature of the river. [...]

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