#puycelsi

Puycelsi , France

The internet has been either slow or in the case of Castelnau non-existent, so I’m a few days behind on posting.

The walk to Castelnau was the shortest of the week, and also the least amount of elevation gain, both of which were appreciated.

The days are getting shorter now, so sunrise is about 8 AM. So at the start of my day I can easily catch the sunrise.

I was also starting to see more fall colors.

The walk started, of course, with the trip back down the hill. This downhill wasn’t too bad; the trail wasn’t overly rocky, coming down through the woods.

At the bottom of the hill was clear evidence of the local stream having relocated itself sometime in the last thousand years, as the old bridge over the stream was now sitting high and dry.

The biggest difference in the walk was the path did not go up to the high plateau. That saved the long slog up the hill and meant that the walk was in lower woodlands farm land and villages; which is much more pleasant that the dry rocky plateau above.

I could occasionally catch views back to Puycelsi and across the rolling low hills.

The lower elevation farmland is now rockier too. They have been plowing the fields and the soil is about half gravel. This can’t hold much moisture and with the hot dry summers I wonder what they can grow. I have seen a lot of fields of sunflowers waiting to be harvested, perhaps they can stand the soil and dry heat.

Eventually Castelnau appears on the horizon. (Actually I should have been able to see it from a greater distance, but it has no high tower and with my poor distance vision it didn’t show up.)

Finally I arrive up in the central square in Castelnau, surrounded by ancient buildings.

Both Puycelsi and Castelnau are listed as beautiful villages. The author of the walking guide felt that Puyclesi, was the more beautiful, but I can see the attractions of both.

Puycelsi is smaller and neater, with a great open space on the end where the castle used to stand. Castelnau is larger and has a wider variety of buildings, particularly a large number of half-timbered and brick buildings. They are interesting, but not quite as “pretty.”

The local church is similar to the one in Puycelsi, simple outside squeezed into the urban streets, but nicely decorated inside.

One problem with these villages is the small amount of commercial establishments. There is usually one small grocery, not much more than a good convenience store and a few restaurants, plus some tourist shops. If you were living, or just staying there, you’d need to drive some distance for any more substantial shopping.

Last night dinner was in a room with a nice view of the rooftops of the lower village.

A local cat wandered by the open window but backed away when I started to take its picture. Too bad, I had chicken for dinner, more than I could eat.

I started by wandering up through Bruniquel in the early morning. It’s another nice town, but pretty quiet early in the morning, and in the off season.

Breakfast is a standard French breakfast: a croissant, some bread, butter, jams, sometimes yogurt, juice and coffee. Frequently the coffee is served country French style in a large bowl.

Today was a short walking day, only 9 miles, but of course there was a 800 ft hill to get over in the middle of it plus another 400 foot hill and a 300 foot climb to town at the end, so a total of 1850 feet of climb and a bunch of descent between the climbs. There were some occasional nice views with some fall color on the way up the big hill.

Then it was into the woods with little views and up and down rocky trails for the rest of the day. It stayed cloudy so there wasn’t much scenery.

I got to Puycelsi in the early afternoon which was a nice change. With only 9 miles I wasn’t quite as tired and sore, so I was able to get out and look around town before dinner. It’s a very pretty village sitting on top of a promontory above cliffs. So great views all around.

The interior of the local church was nice. The outside is simple and crowded between other buildings.

It’s a Saturday so there are locals weekending in the area and the town wasn’t as dead as some others.

It’s still clearly after the season though. Probably half of the restaurants aren’t open and the others aren’t busy, neither are the hotels. It’s really remarkable. This is probably one of the best seasons. It was very hot over the summer, and now that the weather is pleasant and the trees are changing there are few people here.