A sunny morning after last night's storms, and the tractor brought out a large group of English hotel guests, with reactions varying from the admiring to the frankly astonished. The hotel proprietor's wife and I took photos, as above.
From Carennac, south to Gramat where I managed to get completely lost in the town's road system. I finally found myself going up an increasingly narrow and steep lane, which I prayed would eventually intersect with a main road, because there was no possibility of turning round or reversing. Thanks more to Garmin than a higher power I eventually found myself on the D807, and headed down, via Quissac and Blars, to Sauliac sur Célé, where I had arranged to rendezvous with Barbara at 2pm. I had an opportunity to relax for an hour before she, and the rain, arrived. We were able to set about exploring the next and final day's route by car, an unprecedented luxury for me. It was even more terrifying than usual to be driven, now that my internal velocity sensor was set firmly at an average of 17km/hr.
We stayed the night at our friends Helen and Richard's place, La Métairie Basse (http://pagesperso-orange.fr/metairie.lot/). It is a lovely house in a tranquil environment high above the Célé.
Friday morning, after a quick interview with M. Poreaux, the journalist, who promised to print a notice in the Depeche about the arrival on Saturday, I set off to meet tractorman at the bridge at Sauliac sur Cele. The road frightened me to death, not from my point of view but from that of a tractor, with questionable brakes, on a narrow almost single track road with a sheer drop over mini walls to the river below. It was a relief to find tractorman, relaxing in his chair, in front of the tractor, eating emergency rations that the children had included in his survival kit before he left. Was this I asked myself, as arduous as made out? I refused (as in the past with the motorbike) to drive behind him and perhaps watch him plummet over the cliff, but raced ahead to the road to our B&B. Typicallky, as the video will show on the steep incline is a 'Look mum no hands'gesture.
ReplyDeleteIt was great to see him, if a little leaner still very gung-ho.
Did you ever actually use shoe leather to slow down Pa? It does mean you have to anticipate every pitfall ahead, and thereby remain alert, and alive.
ReplyDelete