Fiona's travels

Bonjour,
 
This is difficult as the keyboard is upside down, not a 'werty' keyboard as its known and spelt along the top, but a 'azerty', not easy or quick!
 
My week has gone well for my recce, the scenery is amazing and the castles totally spectacular along the top of the hills.  I've walked 90 kms in 5 days through forests, plateaus, Mediterranean habitats of Rosemary and herbs and through steep gorges.  Top tour.
 
My French is improving rapidly as they don't speak English here so i've had to sort everything out using charades and piecing together my French skills.  I met a French English teacher which was great to have a break and we sat and spoke 'Frenglish'.  She said I have very clear pronunciation and very text book so gave me some tips on sounding French and more conversational!
 
The food has been amazing in the little villages and homes that we stay in, usually a 4 course meal in the evening with endless cheese boards and free wine - love it!!  Packed lunch for the hikes is all sorts of goodies, one lunch had such smelly cheese that it had grown holes so it could breathe - made your lips tingle!  There's no phone signal in most places and internet only at the first town of Carcassonne and one lady's home computer along the way.  The villages are sleepy with people chatting on the streets and the older locals perched on a chair outside their front door watching the world go by.
 
So the tour, they arrive into Montpellier, then we transfer to Carcassonne for some time in the town and castle (as featured in the backdrop of Kevin Costner's Robin Hood Prince of Thieves!), then off to Montsegur to visit the castle there; then walk from Montsegur to Belcaire through the Gorges of Fear aptly named as every year there are rock falls.  Then walk to Puivert and visit the castle there, then on to Granes where we stay in a lady's house in a tiny village, then onto Rennes le Chateau made famous by the Da Vinci Code - the parish of priest Sauniere, then onto Sougraignes, through Gorge de Galamus with a hermits chapel built into the rock cliffs!  Then finally Peyrepertuse, with incredible views across the Pyrenees to the Med!
 
C'est très bon.
 
This route has changed as the village we used to stay in has burnt down so the tour route has changed and we're staying in new places..!
 
Seen some great wildlife to keep me entertained on the long hikes; red deer, red kites, an eagle of some description, kestrels, huge crickets, a slow worm (less exciting as my bro's garden is filled with them!), hoping to see a snake and apparently lots of boar around although they're nocturnal so not hopeful.
 
Anyway better go as i've just seen one of my group has a passport that expired in 2006!!  Have to call the embassy!