Gouffre de Padirac

Gouffre de Padirac, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

Day 4 was (nominally) a rest day, so we did one of the recommended walks to the Gouffre de Padirac and a trip by boat through the cave - very worthwhile. The gouffre is very busy in high season, in October it was quiet though the cafes afterwards were mostly closed. On the way to the Gouffre you pass this memorial to Helène Bimberzy (Bomberzy?) martyred in 1844 - one wonders as to the circumstances (web searching hasn't, so far, helped - ah it is Bombezy - there's a mention here, but no help as to the background)! After the walk back to Loubressac, I enjoyed walking round the village and watching the sunset over the hiils.

Castelnau

DSCF9204, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

Day 3 was the longest walk but there were a number of highlights, walking though the Glanes vineyards, the impressive chateau of Castelnau and the views and climb up to Loubressac. Route finding was straightforward and the views of Castelnau as it appeared through the trees was unforgettable! In Loubressac we stayed at the Relais de Castelnau - modern hotel but we thought there was a certain lack of attention to detail. The views from the terrace though were wonderful!

The door of the church at Beaulieu

The door of the church at Beaulieu, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

The first day's walk was a gentle start. Well it would have been if it hadn't been the only day it rained and if I hadn't got us lost and heading back the way we came. My route memory is getting appalling - when the Inntravel itinerary says an obvious clearing it means a huge clearing! We walked from Beaulieu to the small village of Port de Gagnac via quiet forest tracks with a visit to the village from the Hotel before we settled down for the evening meal at the Hotel du Vieux Port and made our first acquaintance with Coteaux de Glanes.

Teaser Tuesday - Oct 29

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

Your wife has written for you to the king. Asking for mercy. You have a great many friends.

Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies. I see I've not teased this month's book group book - I'll have to fake an entry later this week!

Beaulieu

it was a misty and wet morning!, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

We've just returned from a walking holiday in the Dordogne. As so often in the past few years one arranged by Inntravel. We made the trip to Beaulieu by train with a stop in Paris overnight and a few tourist sights and then after a dinner at the Velouté in Beaulieu awoke to this view of the Dordogne. The photo album for the week is mostly uploaded and accessible here. The trail followed, mostly, the pilgrim trail from Rocamadour to Santiago de Compostela - though in the reverse direction! Hopefully further accounts of the individual days will follow!

There's a few mentions of the composer Francis Poulenc in my entries on this walk but I hadn't realised that he wrote his clandestine cantata Figure Humaine whilst staying in Beaulieu - he rented a two room apartment here containing a poor piano during 1943 whilst setting poems by Paul Eluard with the final hymn to Liberty.

Mutterings - Oct 27

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are (yes we've been away):

1. Poison :: Gas
2. Las Vegas :: Taste (lack of)
3. Nanny :: Mary Poppins
4. Tablet :: Android
5. Trail :: Discovery
6. Innocent :: Drinks
7. Invited :: Guest
8. Life :: Well-lived
9. Tormented :: Soul
10. Lousy :: Mattress (thinking of the animals!)

Mutterings - Oct 13

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Untraceable :: Hidden
2. Senator :: Grandeur (that's probably the Roman variety!)
3. Humongous :: Problem
4. Drinks :: Alcohol
5. Ringing :: (the) Bells!
6. Overloaded :: Function
7. Annoyed :: Cross
8. Blondie :: Harry
9. Suits :: You Sir!
10. Deadly :: Enemy

Teaser Tuesday - Oct 8

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

During the mid-1970's and subsequently, Rowan came to see that these arguments were still more significant when given a religious twist. If language itself involves an act of trust by expecting to evoke a shared world, the a progressively suggestive inference may be drawn: that there is an affinity between the structure of thinking and the structure of reality - an affinity where love and imagination are integral to the picture.

Some hard thinking(!) required there - a re-read of Rowan's Rule by Rupert Shortt, I read and teased it back in 2009, I bought the book a few years ago and am only now getting around to reading my own copy. The context of the quote is Rowan Williams (for this is a biography of him!) thoughts on Decartes, Wittgenstein and Edith Stein.

Leawood Pump House

..working harder, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

Yesterday, we walked around Cromford and visited the Leawood Pump House which used to transfer water from the Derwent to the canal back in the 19th century. The huge pump was working this weekend - one of the stationary engines was also going to be running today - so unfortunately we missed that. Photos of the day are in this flixkr album. It was an interesting visit in view of my having recently read Dickinson's Pauper's Gold where the heroine is born in Macclesfield and then enters servitude (well officially an apprentice) in a mill not too far from Cromford - it also functioned as a getting fit exercise before we go on a walking holiday!

Mutterings - Oct 6

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Latch :: Key
2. Standard :: Lance (or Coding)
3. 60 :: Aged
4. Maple :: Leaf
5. Final :: Straight
6. Bickering :: Children
7. Diner :: Petit-dejeuner(!)
8. Nasty :: Party
9. Ohhh! :: Buffin! (a long story!)
10. Leeches :: Medicinal