Unexpected

We stepped into the Benedictine abbey in Caunes-Minervois to find a bright red 2CV parked in the cloister. Rather puzzling; we briefly wondered whether it had been lowered into place by helicopter, until I spotted a step-free route. It turned out to be associated with a rather incongruous exhibition in the abbey, dedicated to a Belgian comic strip called Boule & Bill. I know bandes dessinées are big in France, but this seemed a bit bizarre.

After our late night last night (backblip), we got off to a late start. I dropped Betty off at some friends' halfway to Narbonne, and they took her the rest of the way, twisting her arm to join them for lunch as well. We weren't in the least hungry, so our lunch was an ice cream when we got to Caunes. After visiting the abbey and wandering around the village (extra) we dawdled up into the Montagne Noire, to a remote village we have never been to called Lespinassière -- not far from where we did the transhumance.  It was a picturesque drive along a narrow winding road  which in places was crumbling into the river below. The scenery of tree-clad slopes was radically different from what we're used to, despite only being 30 km or so from home.

The concert we were going to was advertised as being in the church, which we expected to find in the centre of the village. There was indeed a lofty clocktower, but no church attached to it. Along with many other concertgoers, we drove up through the village, out the other side, turned round, and drove back down again. We eventually found the church after asking a lady loading apero materials into the back of her car. The village is very odd; it's on a cliff edge with half the village at the top and the other half at the bottom, along a narrow road ominously labelled voie sans issue. So the church is invisible from the main road and far from the current centre of the village, surrounded by pasture and trees.

The concert was of baroque music, and turned out to be the culmination of an annual three-day workshop led by musician Judy Tarling. I know a few of the players from choir, and the concert was really delightful, with highlights being a Handel Concerto Grosso, and multi-talented Mike's superb Handel arias; as well as singing beautifully he also plays clarinet and violin.

There was an apero afterwards (of course) -- we stuck to fruit juice and didn't stay long as we had an hour's drive home and a chicken to roast. Eventually got it on the table at the very Spanish hour of 10 pm.