A bus out of town and then a walk of 26km. First along minor roads, almost no traffic, to Lautrec, which is, yes, where the family of Toulouse had their aristocratic base.
The old quarterlautrec on it’s hill
Now the 19km to Castres, along a route called “Chemin des droites d’homme”, not entirely sure why.
It was a pleasant walk along an old railway line, through gently rolling hills.
A dovecote on mushroom legs – to keep the rats out.
And we arrive at Castres. The automated check-in at the hotel wouldn’t work so we had a coffee and walked around town, and the canal, until the receptionist came on duty at 17:00. Nice meal at the local Mercure hotel – gazpacho with olive crumble and lemon zuzu sorbet, a mixture of fish in mussel sauce, then dessert – thin hard chocolate praline covered in light and dark chocolate mousse and ginger sorbet. A carafe of local wine. mmmm.
