Springing

I didn't take a single photo yesterday, as our idea of "a lovely weekend in the Haute Vallée" continued. The original plan was to spend the morning doing some outdoor activity, have lunch somewhere, and then I would drop S back in Carcassonne to pick up the other car, while I carried on to Castelnaudary for the second concert. Let's see how that worked out ... 

We'd already abandoned the walking plan for the same reason as we did on Saturday (rain and mud) but thought we'd go to the market in Espéraza instead. By the time we'd finished breakfast it was pouring again, making this a less attractive prospect. After umming and ahing in our room for ten minutes, we decided on Plan C: go home. At least then we would be warm and dry. So we drove through lashing rain to Carcassonne, I picked up Bruno the Peugeot, and we were both home by 11:30. Lunch was a can of civet de canard from the larder, fruit of one of our Christmas boxes from the Mairie.

Then I drove back up the autoroute to Castelnaudary, another hour's drive. Luckily I managed to find a parking space right outside the church, as it was still pouring with rain. The huge church was freezing (it always is). I don't think the concert was as good as last night's, possibly because we were shivering as we sang.  Soloist Céline was wearing a backless dress that also exposed her shoulders and arms, but she had been smart enough to bring a shawl ... I wished I had too.

Afterwards I tottered stiffly out to the car and switched Google Maps on to take me through the one-way system. It told me that there was an accident on the autoroute and advised me to go down the Route Nationale instead. Mildly annoying, but OK. It was fine (lots of rain, little traffic) till I got to Carcassonne ... this was where the swearing started. In Trèbes, about half an hour from home, there was an accident and the gendarmes had closed the main road. Google first directed me to this closed road. Then it told me to go via the back road through the twisting Gorge du Congoust. Yes, we go that way sometimes, but it was pitch dark and raining, not ideal. And it turned out that Google didn't know that this road was closed due to roadworks, something I only learned after driving 8 km down it. So I had to do a U-turn and drive back to Trèbes. At this point I switched Google off as it was repeatedly screeching at me to turn round. Once there, I doubled back towards Carcassonne and took the autoroute instead ... traffic was scant and free-flowing. Sigh. I got home almost two hours after leaving, feeling as if I'd spent more than half the weekend driving in the rain. What a day! S consoled me with his upmarket version of chunky chicken on toast (leftover guineafowl from the freezer in a cream sauce with mushrooms) -- it was delicious.

Today? It was raining this morning. The usual Monday walk was cancelled, but it did briefly clear up at 3 o'clock with even a glimpse of sunshine, so I went for a quick yomp round my usual circuit and grabbed a blip of spring shoots on the way.