On the road again

I would never have guessed that I'd still be writing up holiday posts (and still sorting holiday photos) into the New Year. But here we are...

Sunday morning in Talairan was grey and misty; we weren't really tempted to go for a walk, even without our host's warnings that the waymarked path was unsafe on Sundays, when half the village went hunting (English hunting is an aristocratic ritual; French hunting involves bringing home good things to eat). The route we had planned to drive took us up into the mountains, and bad visibility made that seem less inviting, too.

So we kept to the lower slopes, among the vineyards. Road signs warned us that the harvest was in progress; there were groups of grape-pickers with their heavy baskets, and tractors laden with grapes trundled along the roads. As we left each village, more signs thanked us for tolerating these slow vehicles: "Les vignerons de S. Laurent vous remercient de votre comprehension."

We stopped in the little town of Lagrasse for a stroll through the old streets and across the river to the gate of the abbey, then back past gardens to the main street. A shop specialising in local produce kept us entertained with olives to taste and wines to buy until it was time for lunch at the café.

In the afternoon we drove on, and, almost without meaning to, came down to the Mediterranean at Gruissan.