Bras Michel Et Sebastien Laguiole

... at 7am only gave them a few moments of rest! Despite the lack of sleep, they were all in a jolly mood and were ready to continue the celebrations! The morning consisted of greetings, introductions, much coffee and asprin for the hangovers. The afternoon consisted of a group excursion to the market to pick up various articles to assist in our feast for the evening, followed by a trip to the local pub for hours of chess and conversation! At about 4pm, the majority of the guests ...

... One last midnight dip in the pool topped off the evening. We were quite content as we sipped our digestifs while floating in the illuminated pool and gazing at the stars. It was a nice way to end our last night in Aveyron. It will be difficult to say goodbye today, especially for Leanne. She has a close relationship with the family, and I can see why - they are wonderful people, charming hosts, and very open and affectionate. She's lucky to call them "cousine"!

... in the sunshine. Next was Marcillac, then Conques, the best known town in the area, mainly because of the many Catholic pilgrims who visit. Of course, there is another grand cathedral, which although large, derives its beauty more from its simplicity and scale than any ornate design. JP acted as our "super guide" (pronounced with French accent), taking us to all of the best viewpoints in and around town. At the lake ...

... stroll in the city centre. There were outdoor cafes galore, although it took 2 attempts to find one where the staff could be bothered to serve us some beer. It reminded me of a book I read recently which described the popular French passtime of trying to out-snob the waiters. I must attempt to perfect this before we go to Paris! We spent the night at the home of JP's friend in Toulouse and then hit the road in ...

... any idea what kind of amount will be charged. And the amount varied widely! Our friend had told us Avignon was dull and way too touristy, but we had a very different experience. Unless we're way more mainstream than we thought (not too likely). We really enjoyed the town, and if you haven't been in one of these medieval walled towns before, I'd think this would be a great one to start in. People were very friendly, and ...

... in suthern france and visit avignon and Nice using Marseilles as my base camp... I go to the bathroom and the instant I open the bathroom door, it is decided. Back to belgium I go. They had a turkish toilet, but a real one, all you had was a bucket of water and a hole... I ended up riping up pages of my journal.

... activity. So far we've met some pretty interesting people. Andrew and Odille are a french couple from Normandy who are walking all the way to Santiago, and andrew is an orthodox priest and happens to look like santa. Patrique is a frenchman from paris, there have been some swiss ladies too. all in all its pretty communal and the spirit of santiago seems to be to help one another, and we have tried to live by that rule as much as we can. love trae

Finally the day of departure from the BB arrives! Plan was to be gone without trace before it awoke, but packing and pondering took too much time for that. Lengthy goodbyes to the Welsh boys and Andy. Everyone else was too busy meditatin. At the last minute before disappearing, Dani ran out with fruit for us. Felt like the spotty kid who gets a momentīs attention from one of the big girls. Why so ...

... Puy. Relief. Le Puy is a beautiful town. It has a crumbling castle perched on a comically craggy cliff in the centre. Find the internet and realise that Betabet is not in Le Puy. Take a bus to a little town nearby then catch two more lifts off kind souls and finally. Arrive.

Lyon is a beautiful city. I stayed in Lyon for a few days at my friend Ben's place. On the 21st there was a huge party in every city in France, so Lyon was hopping with bands and people throughout the city. The architecture here is amazing, and I also love the small town feel. It's a pretty small city, but I kind of like that.