day 9

Day 9

A beach on a river, with fished to nibble our toes and lovely clear water to swim in.  A must, so we relaxed and swam for a while knowing that Albi wasn’t too far down the road.  I thought about visiting my good friend Nicholas, but after studying the map decided that a detour and several hours for the briefest of visits wouldn’t work.  (sorry Nic, I promise I will come visit soon).  When we set off, Charmin’ in charge of directions, we passed, by pure fluke, Beauregard, the village where I nearly bought land a couple of years ago.  A 2 km detour and there it was, still for sale, looking as lovely as ever,  Tania was fascinated, Alix blissfully unaware in the land of nod so as we journeyed on we discussed the possibilities again and came to the same conclusion, I am glad I didn’t buy it in the end.

Albi came into view spectacularly, well, the impressive cathedral stood out of the valley landscape like a huge beacon, doing the job that those religious catholics wanted it to do all those years ago.  The largest brick built cathedral in the world built on the highest piece of ground in the town.  As we started to descend into the valley, it was evident that more recent additions to the town have been well controlled to allow it to retain its grandeur. 

The free parking was easy to find, a stones throw from the centre, nestled between two viaducts that we later discovered were train lines.  Thankfully quiet electric trains that passed without disturbance throughout the night.

saint cirq lapoupie river beach

albi nestling in its valley

the largest brick built cathedral in the world

Percy, tucked up for the night

Albi old town

keeping cool

we were making echoes under the arches

cat shopping