Trip Diary Part IV - Lespinasse/Loubressac

France, 9/28-29/05

We walked through the village of St. Jean Lespinasse, which had some truly beautiful houses. We deviated from the trip notes a bit and made our own way to the village of Autoire, and had lunch on the outskirts.
Autoire is a beautiful medieval village in the bottom of a valley. The hills surrounding had these great rock formations and the village seemed nestled into its location. Since we arrived between the hours of 12 and 4, almost everywhere was closed. Unlike the US, France believes in the lunch hour, except it's more like a lunch three or four hour. It had gotten a bit chilly and we wanted something hot to drink, so we stopped at the local Auberge for some cake and tea. We had some walnut cake, considering that the entire region was just silly with walnut groves and it seemed like the natural choice. At the Auberge we met up with an elder German couple who were walking the breadth of France. And I could swear we had seen them the previous day as we were leaving Gagnac. As we sat outside on the porch, every few minutes we'd smell something just foul. The woman from the German couple explained that the Auberge didn't seem to have a regular sewage system; that was being installed over the next year. So the moment was slightly ruined.
Because my feet hate me, I had been walking for the past few days on some very hurty blisters and I decided to take a cab to the next hotel and skip the second half of the walk. The cab driver was incredibly sweet, but since I spoke no French and he spoke almost no English it was a bit awkward on the drive. However, the scenery made up for any silence. We were staying that night in Loubressac, a village at the top of a mountain. The hotel we were booked into, the Relais de Castelnau, was at the very top and the view was just breathtaking. It was a very modern hotel and had a dining room that looked out onto the valley. I had only been at the hotel for around an hour when everyone else showed up; it had started raining and they had gotten a ride from an Englishman who now lives in the region and had been kind enough to give them a lift. Of course, he was a bit dodgy it seemed, but a free ride is a free ride.
We eventually made our way to the dining room for dinner:
-started with a Kir Royale, my first and probably last
-a terrine of vegetables
-fillet of sole with roasted tomatoes and pan boiled potatoes
-the cheese board, of course
-some desert of peaches, cookies, and chantilly cream
This was probably the weakest meal of the trip; not bad, just not up to par with the other places we'd been to.
Jack and Kerrin spent most of the meal finishing a crossword puzzle and in general we were all a bit talked out so dinner didn't last the usual 3 or 4 hours it had thus far.
When I woke up this morning, I looked out the floor to ceiling window in the room and marveled at the dense fog that had covered the entire valley. You couldn't see anything that wasn't right in front of the window. Slowly as the sun rose, the fog burned off and the verdant green of the surrounding area could be seen.
We all met for breakfast, this time including cereal into the mix, and talked about the upcoming walk. After breakfast some of us went outside to read by the pool, which had the same amazing views we had from the room. The sun had just started shining and it was a very peaceful place to read for a bit. Since no one seemed in any hurry, Jack and I took a wander around Loubressac. The views were amazing and the buildings were old and beautiful. Everywhere I looked I saw some quaint little building or area. The local church was open and we encountered a very strange man, who I'm convinced kept trying to cop a feel. By the time we got back to the hotel, everyone was - eventually - ready to head out.