After our circular drive last week, which took us back to the duck farm for a second night, we found that our appetite for Mediaeval towns and villages had been whetted, and we wanted more. Last week we visited Castelnau-Barbarens, Lombez, Lilhac and Ciadeux, all of which were ancient and extremely attractive with their flower-boxes full of geraniums and roses. This week, on the advice of the campsite owner, we went to Lauzerte and Montcuq.
Perhaps I should mention what Bastide towns are, as all the following places fall into that category. They were towns which were built rather hurriedly in about the thirteenth century, (just before the Hundred Years War) by both the French and the English, to encourage people to settle in otherwise unpopulated areas. They all have a similar town plan, with a central square containing a market hall, a church which was strongly built in order to double as a fort if necessary, and stone houses forming the perimeter of the town. In some cases there are town walls as well, but not often. These towns have now become highly sought after by property buyers, and we have to admit that they are doing all the right things. Everywhere is spotlessly clean and tidy, while gardens and flowerboxes glow with a multitude of colours. Around every corner is the ‘perfect picture postcard’ and as the camera operator, I had great difficulty in restraining myself from taking hundreds of photographs
Lauzerte is an absolute gem. Perched on the top of a hill, with the church right at the very top, (of course) it is a fine example of a Bastide town and is still a stop on the route for pilgrims going to Santiago de Compostella. We saw a great number of people with their rough walking sticks with the shell attached, marking them as pilgrims. One can only admire their faith and dedication, because, for me, just getting from the van parking to the church was a major mission. The van parking was at the bottom of the hill (of course). The old stone and timber buildings have been well restored and many original features left in place so that one really gets the feeling of walking around a centuries-old town.
Montcuq, by comparison, is fairly modern and lively. The buildings are still the ancient stone and timber, but satellite dishes on the roofs indicate rather more modern interiors. There is also a well-attended school there for what looked like ten to fourteen-year-olds. The whole village had an air of activity about it that set it aside from Lauzerte which was definitely calm, quiet and serene.
Our next village was St.Antonin-Noble-Val in the Aveyron Gorge, and this was different again. Also a Bastide town, it has the river in front of it and a huge cliff behind it, up which the houses climb. I think this one may well be my personal favourite. It is full of passage-ways no wider than a metre; alleys that duck underneath houses to reach the next street; little unexpected nooks and crannies; strange little architectural details such as a carving over a door or on a street corner. I’m not sure what it is that I liked so much about it – perhaps the fact that it was such fun to explore. We had picked up a walking tour of the town map from the tourism office, and although we didn’t quite finish it, we walked ourselves silly! So when we found ourselves almost back at the parking place with still two more sights to see, we called it a day.
Our second-last village for the week was a tiny hamlet called Castelnau-Montratier. Our newly made friend from the duck farm had tried to explain to us why there are so many towns that start with Castelnau in their names. He said it means ‘New Castle’ and referred to castles that had been built either on top of ruins, or on the remains of a destroyed castle. It has nothing to do with the age of the building as this can be anything from 300 to 800 years!
Castelnau- Montratier dates from about 1250, and differs from a lot of other surrounding Mediaeval towns in that it is built entirely of white stone found in the area. The whole village appears to gleam in the sunlight. The huge church, once again perched on the hill-top, is built of the same stone and is hardly decorated inside at all. What one does notice is the extraordinary lightness and airiness inside, instead of the normal gloomy interior. It has an unusual triangular village square which must have made access to the town quite tricky in the old days.
Another feature of all villages both old and new, is that they all have a village square. Around the square are planted trees which are pruned year after year to encourage the new branches to form a canopy over the perimeter of the square; a canopy that gets thicker and thicker each year. It is on the benches under this canopy that one finds the old gentlemen of the village congregated each day between twelve and two when all of France shuts down for lunch. Here they sit and discuss the ways of the world and probably wonder what on earth that enormous camper-van thinks it is doing in their square!
Our last village for the week was Najac. Imagine a very thin, very sway-backed horse, with a castle where it’s ears would be and a village spread out for a kilometer along it’s spine and that is Najac. We had to park at the top of the horse’s tail and walk the rest and I am proud to say I actually got there and back, and even had a bit of puff left to climb up the spiral staircase in the castle to the chapel on the first floor. Once again it was a photographer’s paradise, in spite of us having to wait for an hour or two for a small cloudburst to pass over. It was certainly worth the effort of getting there. Once again, all the views were enhanced by the immaculate condition of the village, and the boxes and tubs of brilliantly coloured flowers all around.
Finally, a few bits of trivia for all of you who think caravanning is just a matter of driving to a nice place and stopping for the night! Have you ever tried to make a double bed while you are sitting on it? It is quite an art and there is a trick to it one has to learn. First, you must decide whether you are going to make the bed from side to side or end to end. Then you make it up bit by bit, moving backwards all the time until the only piece of mattress not covered by nice smooth bedding, is the bit you are sitting on. You then get on to all fours, and as you give a massive leap into the air, you pull the bedding straight beneath you and Voila!, as they say here, it is done! Not really like that at all, but there is a certain trick to getting it all nice and smooth when you can’t reach the other side.
The other thing is that it is quite interesting is that no matter where one stays in rural France, one can nearly always hear a chiming town clock or church bells. It makes one aware of how very close all these little villages really are. We have been marking a map with all the roads we have travelled, and it is amazing to see how we have criss-crossed certain areas without ever going back to the same place twice.
We finally succumbed and bought an English-language newspaper yesterday, mainly because it had news of SA on the front page, and discovered a weather forecast on the back page. It seems that the stormy weather which started in Najac may well be with us for a while as a huge cold front sweeps across Europe. Unfortunately there is no wind with it ( did I really write that!) so it may take a while to move away. Tomorrow we will be in Carcassonne to receive the house keys of our accommodation for the next short while.
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