GR653 Via Tolosana Day 15: Revel - Saint Félix-Lauragais

 

Another easy day. As the weather forecast was for rain today, we planned on walking only a short way. We followed the Rigolle, a stream created in the 18th century to feed the Canal du Midi, for about 10 km before leaving it (and the GR) to cut through the fields to Cadenac, the village where we had booked our accommodations for the evening.

Tonight we are sleeping in a yurta! This is another reason for the brevity of today's walk: in addition to the threat of rain, the attraction of staying in an unusual setting! 

I stayed in a yurta in the Via Francigena, between Pietrasanta and Camaiore (see blog post). This one is smaller and is rented to groups of up to 4 people. It has a table and chairs and a kettle - all we need for breakfast - and a woodstove in case it gets cool in the evening. 

We arrived early and as the threatened rain had still not materialised, we dropped off our bags and went for a walk (what else would walkers do in their spare time?) up the hill to the village of Saint-Felix-Lauragais. 

From here we could see as far as the snow-topped mountains of the Pyrenees! 

After determining that the town, though it contained a fair number of houses, a tourist information office and a church renowned for its pipe organ, had no places of business other than a pharmacy (not required), a bakery which is closed on Monday and a café which is closed on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and possibly Thursday (there was a blank space by Thursday on the sign,  presumably leaving the owners free to decide whether or not to open on a Thursday), we headed back down the hill to our yurta for the evening, and around five o'clock it did indeed begin to rain. So we can enjoy listening to the sound of the rain and the wind in the trees from our unusual shelter! 

Revel - Saint Félix-Lauragais 14 km

GR653 Via Tolosana Day 14: Dourgne - Revel

We would have like very much to spend the morning attending mass with Gregorian chant in the monastery of En Calcat, just up the road from the convent where we were staying, but the weather forecast predicted heavy rainfall starting at noon, so we hit the trail as early as possible, and took a few shortcuts in order to get to our destination early. The Grand Randonée 653 zig-zagged across the countryside, so we cut out a few of the zigs and zags by walking on the shoulder of the road. Traffic was light early on a Sunday morning and so it was not too unpleasant. On one of the stretches we did walk on the trail, we passed a field of flax, just beginning to flower after last week's warm weather.

The trail then cut through a wheat field to the medieval town of Sorèze with its half-timbered houses and former abbey, now a luxury hotel complex. It began to sprinkle with rain and we stopped in the shelter of the tower to put on our raingear. 

But luckily we arrived in Revel before the rain really started coming down. There was no-one at the pilgrim gîte yet, so we took shelter in the town square, which - luckily for us - is home to France's largest covered market. There was no matket on today, it being Sunday, but there were some chairs stacked in a corner, so we helped ourselves to a few and ate our lunch, watching the rain dripping off the eaves of the roof all around us. The lady at the Office du Tourisme managed to call the volunteers who are running the hostel at the moment - from the Confraternité de Saint Jacques - and they agreed to open early for us since it was raining. 

Once installed in the hostel (as the French put it), we chatted with the volunteers over a cup of tea and then took a walk around the town during a break in the rain. 

Dourgne - Revel 15.5 km

GR653 Via Tolosana Day 13: Castres - Dourgne

Market day in Castres. But we had already done as much shopping as we could carry, so we settled for a stop at the bakery before heading along the Agoût river and out of town. Today's walk took us through pretty farmlands and villages to Dourgne, where we are the guests of the nuns at Saint-Scholastique, a Benedictine convent.

It may have been this bucolic setting, or it may have been the overcast weather, but after lunch we were all overcome by sleepiness, and what was meant to be a short break for a drink ended up being a nap on the grass! I was reminded of the scene in The Wizard of Oz in which they walk through a field of opium poppies are are overcome by sleepiness...

Later, when we visited the gift shop at the abbey, we were astounded to find that an artist had captured us at that very moment, and already published a postcard of us!! :) 

Castres - Dourgne 

22.5 km