Fanjeaux

Birthday today! Many book-shaped parcels were received. Plan A was to go to the seaside in the morning. But when we woke it was 4C, drizzling slightly, and overcast. We consulted some weather forecasts and Plan B was hatched: head upcountry. I can't say it was much better: 5C, a little less murky, and not actually raining.

We went to Fanjeaux. I confess that though I have been through it quite a few times on the way to the Ariège, I've never stopped to explore. It has a commanding position on a hill with rolling plains of wheat and sunflowers all around. Spectacular on a sunny day :: cough ::

Well, I was impressed. We climbed up to the church, and the architecture in the old part of town is amazing. It reminded me of Uzès (see extra). Of course, nothing was open, and it was bl**dy perishing, with a cutting wind making it feel much colder than the actual temperature. We lasted about twenty minutes before hurrying back to the car and deciding to call it a day. A long drive for not much, but I'll definitely go back in more clement weather. A very small album here.

(Trying not to think about the fact that we had a fabulous lunch on the beach on this day last year)

Back home, S cooked an excellent lunch: asparagus with mayonnaise, steak with green peppercorn sauce, broad beans, and Hasselback potatoes, and apple and pear sundaes. All from the Slimming World cookbook, but syns off the scale anyway as we drank a bottle of wine between us. And there's some blanquette de Limoux in the fridge for later ...

Yesterday evening we watched the documentary about Stonehenge. Earlier Ceridwen had pointed me to a very scathing blog by a geologist who gives Mike Parker Pearson short shrift, which I read after watching the programme. I'm not knowledgeable enough to be able to judge, but I have to say we were not terribly convinced by the flimsy evidence. The trouble with prehistoric archaeology is that it's 80% guesswork: think up a hypothesis and then try to find evidence to confirm it (while discarding evidence that doesn't). It was interesting to see the scientific techniques used though. Also, someone needs to buy MPP a new T-shirt.