Day 23 Second day of Valleys and Mountains Tour of French Pyranese

Day 23 9/6

Notes once again kindly donated by Noeline,

Today we have had a wet start once again and we couldn’t display the cars in the village square at Aspet which was shame as it was a delightful village with all the patisseries open....food again although we didn’t need it.

As I type this we a sitting in an upmarket hotel waiting for lunch. We are a bit early and the staff are at lunch, but the smells wafting from the kitchen are making us hungry. You must appreciate that for breakfast this morning we only had the typical French thing of fresh baguettes, unsalted butter, and a selection of jams along with coffee, tea or hot chocolate.

After lunch we leave for a Mayoral reception where we have heard that we – the five of us in the UK group- are to receive a presentation. We will probably have to respond and have the speeches interpreted. The interpretation was quite entertaining last night.

Lunch today consisted of a delightful plate of crusty bread and Foie de Gras (pate) and a very tasty chutney.  The main was venison with a juniper berry sauce accompanied by a fresh artichoke bottom stuffed with a mushroom mixture. There where about 70 people present so some poor apprentice had been very busy preparing fresh artichoke’s, getting rid of all the rest of the furry leaves etc, to finish up with so many bottoms? All tasted delicious but the "piece de resistance" was desert which consisted of 3 profiteroles filled with home made vanilla ice cream and coated with chocolate sauce, it was ooh sooo...  good.

Of course there was the obligatory two bottles of red wine on the table. Remember this is lunch and we still had 70km to go to the mayoral reception! Lunch is very leisurely on these rallys and no-one is in a hurry to depart.

We did however hasten to depart when we realized that the driver of the 1926 20HP Rolls Royce was making a move, he has been our main bugbear as we had been trapped behind him on the narrow roads and it is almost impossible to pass.  He is so slow particularly as the hills are quite major. The Alvis contingent made it their mission to pass whenever and wherever possible.

We headed of towards the village of Valcabre with a visit to the Bassilique St Just where we were having a guided tour by Messieur Catagnet.  Just as we left our cars the heavens opened up once again and we all huddled under umbrella’s as the guide commenced his talk. It soon became very obvious that nothing was going to stop Messieur Catagnet's well rehearsed spiel. Weather wise - the only thing we didn’t have was lightening and I am sure that even if God had struck Messieur Catagnet with lightening he would have risen still talking? I was huddled under an umbrella with Peter, from our group, and every time Messieur Catagnet finished saying something which was extremely important he would point at Peter and say "comprehenie" which of course we didn’t as it was all French. He took as all the way round the outside of the Basilica explaining the roman origins and by the time we had done all four walls the group had dwindled somewhat. We looked to find our Alvis group but even they had deserted us. When we finally made our escape we raced to take off before the Rolls once again. By this time it was absolutely teaming with rain and as we drove through all the villages along the way, there were no signs of life anywhere, all the houses had their shutters closed tight, it was like driving through deserted towns, which stands to reason. Only mad dogs, a few Englishmen, a couple of Aussies along with a small bunch of eccentric French would be out in their silly cars on a day like today. Any sensible Frenchman was at home with his feet up enjoying a bottle of Beaujolais!

Bassilique St Just

The rain persisted to the mayoral reception in Tabres. We were given priority parking for our cars right on the forecourt to the entrance to the Hotel-de-Ville (Town Hall). The presentation ceremony was in an upstairs gallery beautifully painted by a local artist (in the Salle de Mariage - when not being used for car club presentations).

Outside the town hall

Every participant received a gift box with a jar of Froie Gras (pate) with a complementing wine, flowers for the ladies and an extra bottle if wine for the men. Also a poster which we have not yet opened.

We left without partaking of the drinks and food which where once again laid on. We headed back to Barbara and Cedric’s home though absolutely teaming rain once again.

After an oil change for one of the cars, and more food and drink for ourselves, we drove back to our village, arriving at 9:30 pm in full daylight and now perfect weather. Once again the backdrop of the Pyrenees is fully visible as the sun is setting.  Like us their weather is certainly awry.

Alvis contingent outside Hotel de Ville in Tarbes

A great weekend and we are all warn out once again.