Sunday was quite a day for sport lovers!
One thing that we did do live was watch the end of the final stage of the Tour de l’Aude in Limoux. The speed that they all crossed the line was amazing. The German Claudia Hausler won the overall Tour and Nicole Cooke finished fifth. All the results can be found on the Tour de LAude site.
For a small French village, Arzens is very active.
For the last 20 years, the village has held Les Estivales de la Malepère. This year it runs from 2nd until 12th June and consists of a variety of deep, thought provoking lectures and discussions. On Sunday 7th June there is a musical programme by the Chorale de la Malepère and a mixture of musical pieces by Henry and Marina.
Each lecture is free and begins at 21:00, except for Sunday 7th June which starts at 16:00.
The full programme can be seen on Les Estivales web site.
For the last 10 days Aude has been hosting “La Tour de l’Aude Cycliste Féminin”. The 114 women started last Friday in Guissan and they have been progressing through the Département. Friday’s stage started in Saint-Hilaire and after 60 kilometers came through our village, Arzens, before cycling back into the Malepère hills. According to the timetable they were due to arrive at 15:43 but they were cycling so fast they came through 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Before they arrived, numerous gendarmes on motor bikes with sirens wailing and blue lights flashing, followed by press and support vehicles drove through the village. The speed they were travelling at was amazing. There had been an intermediate sprint in Arzens and the girls were cycling as fast as they could to score bonus time points in this section. As they crossed the sprint line, the British Olympic Champion Nicole Cooke was 3rd.
Nicole Cooke was 6th. Once everyone had crossed the line, shirts of a variety of colours and bunches of flowers, were given to the winning riders.
At the moment, the German, Claudia Hausler, riding for Cervelo Test Team is just over 2 minutes ahead of next rider.
Come on Nicole!
Five weeks ago I was lying on the lounger in the warm spring sunshine, looking at the dull winter cover on the pool. The next day, we rang M. Herbert and asked him to open the pool ready for the summer. The day he arrived it started raining and since then there haven’t been many days it hasn’t rained since!
Yesterday was Lundi de Pâques and the Randonneurs celebrated it with the usual repas. This year it was held in the Village foyer. It began with the customary apéros. Everyone brought entrées which were shared around. Following that, a variety of omelettes were distributed which had been made by the ‘older ladies’ of the club. It was a very lively occasion. By the time we left at 5 o’clock the sun was beginning to shine.
Because I am a rather “fair weather” walker, today was the first walk I had been on for four weeks. The sun was shinning and there was very little wind. It was a lovely afternoon. The ballade began in Montolieu and walked past the Chapelle de St Roch and then for a further 8 kilometres around the town. As we set off I heard my first cuckoo of the season. The walk was lovely. We saw lots of spring flowers, sanglier tracks, a small herd of goats eating the garrigue. There were even black kites (merlin noir) and hen harriers (Busard Saint-Martin) soaring in the sky.
It was a lovely walk and I hope that the weather we have had today is the start of more sunny days to come but looking at the météo for the next week, I am not quite so sure.
As we are getting a bit older and having picnics sitting on the ground are not as comfortable as they used to be, so we decided to buy a collapsible picnic table. We have had nearly two weeks of beautiful blue skies with some daytime temperatures reaching 20 degrees, (which isn’t bad for the end of March) we thought we would make the most of the weather and take a picnic up to the Minervois.
When we first moved into our house, we had a couple of nests in our pine trees and were quite intrigued by the lines of caterpillars we saw walking across our garden. We now realize the risks that that carry. Quite apart from the damage caused to the trees, the caterpillars have fine hairs on their back containing a poison which causes severe irritation and dermatitis, and in some cases an allergic reaction (anaphylactic shock) to both humans and animals. Even after the caterpillar is dead, the hairs remain toxic. Take care when walking your dog in areas where the caterpillars may be, or have been. Initial symptoms to watch out for in your pet may include vomiting and tongue swelling.
