one last climb, Albi, Cordes

On our way out of the Amphi sector, I saw a very cool looking climb which followed a steep overhang and finished on a low angle jug filled slab. It looked like my kind of climb, and we decided to come back for a morning session.

So after another excellent breakfast

in which I FINALLY asked what those multi colored things are in the container next to the orange juice (Pollen grains, for your coffee, yogurt, or whatever), we headed to the crag again.

Unfortunately, things didn't go so well: a general lack of fitness and two days of climbing left me weak and I ended up getting demoralised on the warm up. Things went downhill rapidly from there and involved a lot of hanging on the rope, cursing, pulling on draws and general dispair. In the end everything worked out, and I can add that climb to my growing list of unfinished business in the tarn. After gathering up our gear, we headed back to the castle (yeah, I like saying that) for another bath and packed up.

After settling the four digit bill, we drove out of the tarn, stopping at the point sublime to look out over the Tarn



And then made a short detour to show my parents the magnificent Millau Viaduct. They have a little aire built there now, which we stopped at briefly.

From the viaduct, we headed North to Albi and somehow ended up in the pedestrian filled extreme center, which was not a pleasant driving experience. After finding parking, we walked to the Musee Toulouse-Lautrec

so that Kenji and Gail could get their fine art fix. The museum has some of the litho stones which still have images on them! There was also a fun little side kiosk with Toulouse Lautrec's "special" cane. In the later years of his life, he was put in an institution to curb his alcoholism. To get around this, he aquired a special flask-cane, complete with a cute little shot glass. I dragged Kenji into the room, ready to tell him something he didn't know, but Kenji's encyclopedic knowledge of artists prevailed and he knew exactly what it was.

After a coffee in the square next to the museum, we hit the road again to get to our next hotel. We had looked in the Karen Brown guide for a place near Albi and had come up with a place in a town called Cordes-sur-ciel, which none of us had heard of. Albi and its outskirts are really quite ugly, so it was with great surprise that we saw a fairy tale town rise up over the landscape.

Cordes is stunning: beautiful cobblestone streets and old houses in a oval pattern perched on a hilltop. It's a little unnverving driving up the steep cobbled streets, but we made it to the hotel and checked in. We were pretty happy to have found a parking space right in front of the hotel, but it turned out that parking is illegal after 10 AM. The hotel offers free parking, but the directions on how to use it are a little convoluted and require a color coded map!


After parking the car and checking out the beautiful atrium,



we explored the village a bit










and went to a restaurant that served regional specialties... and had tables set up in the central arcade. For dinner, Chloe and Kenji got the duck with aligot, which was excellent, and I got the sausage with aligot (also very good). Gail ordered the cassoulet, which was also wonderful. I think that aligot, which is a potent combination of potato, cheese and garlic would make an excellent and easy apres-ski dish. I found a recipe here. Kenji and I had the regional apple pastry for dessert, while Chloe and Gail wussed out with sorbets.

Climbing again

We warmed up in the figues au cul sector. On the way there we passed a Caterpillar with an implement that I named "the thrashing machine": basically an industrial sized weed whacker with steel whips housed in a barrel around two feet in diameter amd four feet long. The operator would just move it towards the brush on the side of the road and it would eat everything in its path with an alarming clamor. Figues au cul was a kilometer away from where we had seen the thrasher initially, and somehow I hadn't really thought that it was going to continue along the road. It was with considerable nervousness therefore that I watched it thrash its way to within a few feet of our car. As the thrasher lurched towards the Ford, I had visions of shattered windows, sideview mirrors sent shooting off into the road, and exploding tires. Thankfully, it did not demolish our car, but continued on down the road.


The thrashing appendage is at the end of the yellow arm. You can see one of the tail lights of our Ford Focus at the lower right hand edge of the image.

From Figues au Cul, we headed to what turned out to be one of my favorite areas: l'amphi. We walked through the Tennesee sector to get there

Its a rock balcony shaded by trees with a perfectly flat belaying area. It is accessible through a short via ferrata and looks out into the gorge

We did "salut les copines", 6b,



then I got my ass handed to me on "Le veuve noire", 7b, and I finished up by onsighting GR15, 6c+.
Heres a french dude casually strolling up it


and Chloe, back at the Tennesee sector

and me, tired

It was already 14:00 and we hadn't eaten lunch, so we stopped at la Malene for sandwiches. I scraped a fist sized ball of butter out of my sandwich (this is my biggest problem with French sandwiches -- WAY too much butter and mayo).
Heres CZ post-limonade and sandwich


After rinsing off, we joined my parents for some watercolors









and then took the requisite group shot in front of the castle

Chloe and I were staying in the room at the very left on the second floor before Gail kicked us out, and then in the room at the top middle (with the windows open).

Chloe and I took a walk up the Tarn before dinner



Dinner was just as good as last night, but a bit heavier. It started with scallops, followed by lamb with an emulsion of zucchini (very much like the previous night) and a cream topped fruits rouge dessert. I also had a generous cheese plate with wonderful roquefort (pronounched roak-a-fore by the locals)... and les Paradines again!

Climbing

We spent most of the day climbing, or at least trying to find the "Gymnase" secteur after a much longer than necessary walk via "Le Grand Toit". After an unsteady start on some easy stuff (relent d'ail), we got into our rhythm and basked in the pocketed glory of Le Tarn. I was happy to do "Plus jamais peut etre" on sight with my still injured ham string! As I was pulling the rope, I saw something get dislodged 30 meters above. This kind of thing happens a lot, and it's usually a small rock or leaf that gets hit by the rope and then falls to the ground. However, this was falling much slower than a rock but a lot faster than a leaf, and I stared at it as it reached the midpoint at around fifty feet. Much to my surprise it turned out to be a baby lizard, waving all four of its legs like crazy, and obviously not very happy at how it's day was going.

On the way back to Ste. Enemie to pick up the parental units, we concocted a story to trick them: we would claim that we had found *another* castle which happened to be a hotel which was much bigger and more impressive than the one that we were supposed to be staying in. The plan was to distract my mom, since she knew the name of where were staying, pull in to the parking lot of Chateau de la Caze, ooohing and aahing and saying how much better *this* castle was, then stop and casually walk into the castle. It all went off like a charm and kenji and gail were thoroughly fooled.

Here is La Caze, and a few views from the grounds



The rooms were fantastic, with a claw footed bathtub and beautiful bathroom in the turret!

and windows overlooking the grounds

There were trout of some kind in the moat, but some of them were so huge that I initially thought they were carp. There was one in particular which looked to be almost two feet long. You can see it in the middle of the photo below. Keep in mind that this was taken from the second story, and the moat is a story below the ground floor

Kenji and I discovered a nice balcony overlooking the river



and then we headed downstairs for another excellent dinner. It started with amuses bouches of trout sashimi (a first for me) followed by perfectly cooked cod and a moelleux au chocolat. We also ordered a half bottle of the excellent languedoc wine called "les paradines" (2003).

Aigueze, le Tarn

A minor disaster was averted by Chloe this morning: Kenji had forgotten his backpack in a museum in Lyon yesterday. This would not normally be such a big problem, except for the fact that the museum was closed to the public today and we were leaving for Saint Enimie! Happily, Chloe convinced the museum to let us come pick up the backpack though. I stayed at the hotel to pack which she and Kenji went to the museum, but from what she told us afterwards, it wasn't the most straightforward of experiences!

It was just before ten when we finally got out of Lyon, thanks to the GPS, and headed south on the autoroute. We stopped en route for some excellent (I'm not kidding!) food at the Montelimar "aire" and then exited shortly thereafter to departmental roads which took us to the ancient city of Aigueze.

I had found Aigueze on the list of the most beautiful villages of France, and Aigueze did not disappoint


From aigueze, we headed to Montclus, with its 13th century Chateau (not restored or open unfortunately)


and then headed out on the web of small and winding roads towards the Tarn. Along the way we also stopped at the stunning Chateau Des Portes overlooking steep valleys on each side




My dad had told me about a small town which they had stopped at when they drove up from Italy to Paris during his Sabattical in the late 70's. I was just a young'un at the time, so I have no memory at all of it except for some blurry images of mountain passes and an embankment of snow. Kenji, however remembered it vividly and also remembered the name of the town: Florac. As it turned out, Florac was quite close to where we were going in the Tarn, so we did a small detour and checked out the town


The drive from Florac to our final destination (Saint Enimie) is spectacular -- passing one beautiful town

after another

and a surprising number of privately owned chateaux. After another half hour of cliffside driving we arrived at the Chambre d'Hotes that I had found on the gites-de-france web site (Barbier La Jasse). It had a nice view of the old city

and a frog which periodically jumps in from the second story garden, much to my parents dismay.

After a pizza dinner, we walked around the town, cast contemptuous looks at Le Hotel les Deux Sourcesand were surprised to see schools of HUGE trout near the bridge pilings. I guess the Tarn isn't completely fished out!