A fine walk through apple orchards and vineyards to Vendargues, where a celebration of local Occitane culture was underway in the bull ring.
I felt like a character in a film!
The men in the arena were all wearing traditional black velvet jackets, except for a few dressed in white - presumably they are the competitors in tomorrow's "Course Camargaise" against the bulls. I took a brochure about the sport to find out more.
There were stands selling local specialties, so I bought a crepe made with goat's milk and honey and a couple of little goat's milk cheeses to take home for dinner. There was a wine producer too, but unfortunately a bottle was too heavy - I still had a ways to go!
I took a photograph of this manifesto in the Occitane language, dated 1934, protesting against the imposition of a tax on events in the bull ring. As you can see, Occitaine is a bit like French and a bit like Spanish.
At first I thought everyone was called Lou here, because the names on all the cheese labels started with Lou... but after reading this poster I realised that "lou" means "the" in Occitaine!
Meanwhile, the local children were learning about their culture by playing on inflatable bulls.
When the official speeches began, I decided it was time to continue on my way.
The town of Vendargues seems to want to make sure pilgrims can find everything - even the bus stop!
Many walkers take the bus from here to the centre of Montpellier to avoid walking through the city's industrial and commercial outskirts. But I want to walk every footstep of the Way, and so as soon as things started to get ugly I abandoned the official path and took a detour into the village of Cres, then managed to find a route that took me almost all the way to my airbnb flat in Montpellier through vineyards, along country lanes and bicycle paths.
In Cres I passed this fine example of a Camargue cross, symbol of faith (cross), hope (anchor) and charity (heart).
More about the Camargue cross, and the Camargue in general, at http://www.magdalenepublishing.org/camargue-cross-origin/
When I was once again absolutely dead tired I finally came to the apartment, got the keys and settled in, did some grocery shopping and made dinner...
I'm stopping here for now!
Saint Geniès - Montpellier via Vendargues & Cres 22.5 km
Ventimiglia - Montpellier 572 km (26 days)
Thank you for writing about your walk and posting your pictures. I was planning on Tolosana this year but now think I'm going to start in Menton. I also was surprised at how hot it was in Oct. Wanting to avoid the heat, I was going to start at the end of Aug but now am wondering if I should push the start back. Heat is my Achilles heel. Anyway . . . thank you and now I'll go see where you walked in 2018.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your wonderful blog. I've now read some of the part from Italy to Arles, and every word of the part from Montpellier to Toulouse and Arles to Montpellier. It looks like it was still quite warm even in late October in the Arles-Montpellier section. We will be starting from Arles on September 22, 2019! Linnea
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