In memoriam

S had hatched a plan to hike over the border via the Port de Martorat, instead of the boring method of driving home in the car. The original plan would have had him taking a complex combination of taxis, buses and trains to get home while I would have had to do the six-hour drive on my own. Not ideal. "Psst," whispered A to me while we were discussing it a couple of days ago. "Why don't you go and stay in Seix overnight, pick him up in the morning, and drive home together?" Win-win!

So this morning, S got up at 7 a.m. and headed off, while the rest of us got up in a more leisurely manner. The others had decided to get a taxi part of the way up the mountain later in the morning, walk up to the pass, and meet S at the hut there, where they would all stay the night. They would then return to Bordes de Graus while S carried on into France.

I loaded up the car and set off towards home at about 11. I'd decided to spend the night in St Girons rather than Seix on the basis that S had been there with his walking group a few weeks ago and told me there's an amazing Saturday market. It took me five hours to get there, but this included following a car transporter all the way up the Col de Bonaigua, and stopping at the venta outside Bossost to stock up on essential Spanish products such as olive oil, jars of tuna, chickpeas, brava sauce, jamón, wine, and washing up liquid. Later I stopped for a picnic lunch.

I was a bit early to check in to the hotel, so I went for a walk around St Girons. It was 30C here, and this made me so hot that when I got to the hotel I had to take my clothes off and lie down for 10 minutes before getting in the shower. Later I wandered back into town and had a glass of wine and a bowl of excellent tagliatelle bolognese outside a tiny restaurant run by Germans and only serving pasta.

And so finally to the subject of my blip. As I was wandering through the run-down and seedy back streets of St Girons, I came across this bouquet. The plaque commemorates the resistance fighter René Plaisant, who was killed on this spot exactly 77 years ago today, during the battle to liberate St Girons from German troops. The bouquet was laid there by the current member of parliament for the Ariège.