A week in Occitanie - May and June 2025

Got up early. Had a cup of tea. We walk to the bus stop. At 5:26 we get on the 285 which takes us to Heathrow Central. There’s a long walk to terminal 2. I leave Bill & Mary to check in their suitcase. We all meet up outside Cafe Nero. The flight to Toulouse is on time. We pick up our two cars from Sixt. We have the car’s systems converted to English. Our car needs Apple CarPlay to work its satnav so Graham turns on data roaming. We get to Agen and find an Intermarche. We stock up with a boot full of food and drink. Eventually we find the Chateau de Galaup but we are too early. It is 3pm and we should not be there till 4pm. We wait outside. The coolest place is in the car. The wifi codes are not correct and the gas BBQ does not work. We allocate bedrooms and some take siestas. Some people swim in the pool. We have pizza and salad outside. We retire about 10pm.

 

Hugh brings a cup of tea at about 6:45am. Graham gets up and connects to the wifi using the code in the information book. Hugh drives Graham to Beauville where we find a boulangerie. We buy croissants, pain au chocolat and pain.  Beauville (more...) is well named. It is a very pretty place. We buy some ice and ‘proper’ tonic water for Amanda. We return to the chateau to find no one is up. When all get up we have breakfast. There are a lot of flies. We have a leisurely morning. At noon, Hugh drives Graham, Amanda and Jane to a Carrefour in Latoque-Timbaut. Amongst food for Sunday lunch a pack of cards is purchased. We drive back via Beauville and have lunch, bread pate and cheese washed down with rose wine. A siesta follows. Graham has a swim as it is very warm. After a G & Ts Garry takes on BBQ duty. Much frivolity at the table with a dozen night lights and copious wine. We retire at about 10pm being too tired to play cards,

Hugh brings a cup of tea and announces that it has rained. The sky is overcast. Hugh and Graham go to Beauville to buy breakfast breads. They partake of an espresso in the Beauville cafe. The Proxi supermarket has no strawberries. They return to the villa. Amanda has broken the jar of olive oil and is busy clearing it up. We have breakfast. We walk to inspect the Astro-turf tennis court. Amanda’s second cousin Chris and his wife Lorna arrive at 11am. As Amanda hasn’t met them for several decades there is a lot of catching up to do. It’s spitting with rain but we decide to eat outside. Salads, pate and cheeses followed by apple tart and fruit salad is washed down with rose wine. Some retire for a siesta. At 5:30 the guest leave. Hugh and Graham take on Amanda and Garry at a game of tennis. It’s a narrow victory to the men. After the evening meal we play whisttitty or whatever you call it. Garry and Graham are the joint winners.

Hugh is a bit late with tea. Garry, Hugh and Graham go to Laroque-Timbaut to buy the breakfast breads and more wine. They do not sell reading glasses so Amanda will be disappointed. We have breakfast and drive to Saint-Jean-de-Thurac where we park the cars and walk along the towpath of the canal to the next lock. We return to the cars and drive to Puymirol (more...) which is a bastide town (a fortified town with ramparts (more...) ). We park. Amanda buys her reading glasses in a pharmacy. All the cafes and restaurants are closed. It’s Monday and it’s France. We return via a tortuous route to the villa and have a G&T, followed by a pate and cheese lunch. The sun is trying to shine. Bill is keeping his eye on the kestrel which has a nest in a hole in the chateau’s walls. We have a siesta. The flies are a nuisance. We have stuck up fly papers and in a couple of hours many flies have stuck to them. It’s raining after the siesta so we don’t play tennis. At 7pm the bar opens late. We have barbecued prawns and sausages. Some play whist titty. Garry’s scoring is declared suspect again.

Hugh brings the tea at 7:12am. Hugh, Jane, Garry and Graham leave with rubbish and empty bottles and drive to Beauville in the mist. On the way we get rid of the bottles. We buy pain au chocolat and flutes at the boulangerie. Some fly spray is purchased and we return home for breakfast. After breakfast the fly spray is used. We drive to Montjoi (more...) and park. It is a beautiful little bastide village mounted on a hill top. We walk around the village which is dead. There is no place to drink coffee. We drive to Brassac along very narrow lanes with grass growing in their middle. There is no cafe in Brassac but there’s a chateau which is closed. We drive to St. Maurin and find a place where coffee may be drunk. It is a small supermarket. Three have beer and the others have cafe allonge. Garlic and strawberries are purchased. We return home for lunch - cold meats, pate and cheese. It is warm and the sun is shining. Bill disturbs a newly built wasps nest. It’s siesta time. After that Hugh, Graham, Amanda, Mary, and Jane go to the supermarket at Laroque-Timbaut to get tonight’s meal and more fly spray. We return and play tennis. We have our G&Ts later than usual. Garry cooks the food on the BBQ. After eating we play Whist Titty. Amanda wins. We all, except Amanda, retire.

Hugh brings tea at 7:10am.  Many want to go to Beauville. In the  end Hugh, Graham, Mary and Amanda go. We are given a free maize loaf. Hugh buys milk at the Proxi. We have breakfast and decide to go to Moissac. Amanda is dissuaded from driving. Graham drives, Garry navigates and Hugh follows. We want to see the Abbey. It is difficult parking. Hugh finds a place by a canal. It’s a ten minute walk to the abbey. It is spitting slightly. There is a funeral taking place. When it ends we can enter the abbey. It is quite austere with painted walls and lots of reliquaries. We pay to view the cloisters. They are fantastic. From our English leaflet we can read what each of the carvings on top of the pillars mean. There are lots of exhibits about the sculptures. The building of a railway line split the complex into two and removed the refectory and the monks' dormitory. We have coffee at an Italian cafe and return home. After the usual lunch some take a siesta. At 5pm Hugh and Graham go to Laroque-Timbaut for more provisions. Someone purchased two kitchen towels which on return to the villa were ably sliced in two with the bread knife. A game of tennis took place. Amanda and Hugh beat Mary and Graham - wrong shoes and a poor racquet!  We dine in the evning and then play cards.

Hugh brings tea at 7:05 am. Hugh and Graham drive to Beauville to pick up some pain de chocolate and two flutes and a small bag which Amanda would like.  We drive home and have breakfast. At about 10 o’clock we drive out to Villeneuve sur Lot which is a big town. We drive through the town as there aren’t any interesting places to see and make our way to Penne. We park near the Maison de Sante and walk up the hill to the main town which is within a wall. We walk through a gateway and up to a café where we have coffee and beer. After seeing the sites of Penne we walk back down the hill. We drive to Touron,  another picturesque village. It is a bastide village that means that it is set on top of the hill and has thick walls around the outside. We park in the centre of the town and walk to the garden of remembrance where we can see across the valley to the various places that are marked on the panoramic view information sculpture. We drive down the hill and go towards the villa. Garry takes us on a very scenic route. Graham does not agree with it so turns in the wrong direction and decided that he really should follow Gary‘s instructions so he turned round and goes back and eventually we end up in Donbas. We drive through Donbas onto the main road which links Beauville with Saint Martin de Beauville. Eventually we get to the villa where we have lunch and a lot of wine. After that some people take siesta. Unfortunately Amanda is not feeling too well and takes to her bed. We will see what happens after the siesta.  A lot of wine needs to be drunk.

Hugh brings tea early as we have to leave at 7am. The place is tidied up apart from the dead flies on the floor and the four full fly papers hanging from the lights over the kitchen table. Our first stop is by the church to drop off the rubbish.  We get on the A62 near Valance D'Agen and make our way to Blagnac Airport at Toulouse. We arrive at about 8:30.  We park our car in parking P1.  Garry and Amanda make their way to departures area while Graham reports to the Sixt desk. The car has to be driven to be close by the Sixt desk. Graham moves the car via the airport roads to parking P2 and enters via gate 1.  He arrives at Sixt and checks the car in.  Graham just has a rucksack so makes his way to security.  Liquids have to be separately checked and Graham's hip fails security so a full surface body check takes place. We have a coffee and make our way to gate 57. The plane takes off on time and we arrive at LHR at 12:30pm. Bill, Mary and Graham catch the 285 bus and are dropped off at Park Road, After a cup of tea Graham drives home and has an Alcohol Free Day to complete a fine holiday.