La Couvertoirade Templar Castle and resorted village.

De pierres et de cendres, originally uploaded by Franck Tourneret.

A cool day with rain this afternoon . We rented a car, a Cleo, for today through Sunday for only 125 Euros which includes 1200 KM mileage. So after breakfast we drove to La Couvertoirade the site of a Templar Castle and stone village. We had it almost to ourselves on this cold foggy morning. Once again this is a borrowed flickr photo, I hope to be able to use some of my own photos soon if I ever slow down long enough to go to an Internet Cafe. I'm anxious to see my photos because I think the fog will make them have a special mysterious feel to them .It is the off season so everything was closed but we were able to walk all around the village. Most of the buildings have been carefully restored and a number of them are being used as shops, cafes and workshops for various artisans.

Something very interesting about the area was these thistles that grow in the area :



Most houses have one on the door, it is the local method of weather forecasting. If the thistle opens up it is predicting rain and if in closes then you will have dry weather.

After leaving there we drove on to Roquefort the town that gives it's name to the cheese. There are seven companies in the town that make the cheese and have the sole rights to use the name. We took a guided tour of one of the company facilities including the Cave where the wheels of cheese are aged. And of course the tour ends in the gift shop where you can buy cheese and other souvenir items. Also got to sample the delicious cheese.




I remember watching an National Geographic documentary on the construction of the Millau Via Duct and it was in the area not far from the other places that we were visiting so we drove up to have a look at it. We were under it but we didn't cross over I guess it has a high toll and we weren't going in that direction , just as well because I don't think I would like the experience. An amazing piece of engineering though.




Tomorrow is supposes to be good weather some cloud and sun and the plan is to go off to St. Guilhem le Desert and perhaps get some hiking in before we come back to Beziers.