Sorreze Trip - July 25th 2005 - Durfort

Monday 25th July 2005

Slightly cooler at first, so we drove up to the St. Ferreol Lake, of which Revel is excessively proud. It was dammed up in the 17thC to provide headwaters for the Canal du Midi, which transformed the economy of this region. We walked round the lake, which took a couple of hours at the pace we set but could not walk on top of the dam, as it was being maintained. However, one cuts through the woods about halfway down it. We had panini for lunch in St. Ferreol, such as it is, then I drove along to La Cammazes, which is much higher than it seems, as there is a tiny road with passing difficulties, fortunately not much encountered, down to Durfort, with some splendid views on the way. Durfort seems as old, if not older, than Sorèze, with narrow streets with a water channel down the middle - gardez l'eau! The church was interesting in that it had a painted ceiling.

We went back to Vicky's, had a siesta & then, helped her put her dinner party together. She had eight other guests - 11 altogether & we only just fitted round the table. We had met some: the Grays, Ilse (Austrian originally from the Czech area, then Vienna & then, a quick exit ahead of the Nazis) & David; a German couple Uta & Gerd from Stuttgart, Barry the English community Squire of the area, who knows Mary Cosh & Roly Harris in Islington; Sara, who has the same foot trouble as Avis; Sue, very jolly & François, a real frog. It all went off very well. There was cold pepper soup, salmon & peaches. No one wanted the cheese - same problem we have, only Vicky cannot eat milk products. I talked a lot to the sexy Ilse, who had been in publishing & was 73 & to Barry & David. There was an odd discussion at one point about who was the best composer, with votes for Beethoven, reasonably enough but because 'no one disliked him'. I did list composers who did dislike him & said, if they meant the composer who's music everyone liked, it had to be Schumann. We finished clearing & loading the washing-up machine at midnight but Vicky stayed up to empty it.