Redruth to Montauban Ville Bourbon 1

May 2024

This is my first live post since setting up this blog and I need to thank all my former colleagues at The Writers' Block and Story Republic for making it possible through their generous retirement gift and also my friend Becca for inviting me to stay in her beautiful house in South West France. The first of many self promised long train journeys.

It is a grey day leaving Redruth but that doesn't dampen expectations and excitement. The train is busy with travellers in spruced clean new holiday clothes or walking boots and rucksacks. Someone declares they are just going to 'spend a penny'. Would a young person or foreigner have any idea what they meant?? Cornwall puts its wild flower energies into its hedgerows which are foaming with pinks, campion and foxglove, and whites, the last huzza of hawthorn and elderflower. Rhododendron ponticum, invasive species, has successfully colonised places where it can't be reached, bringing a touch of the exotic with its flashy purple pompoms in sidings and on high rocky outcrops.

London is wet and the Euston Road flooded. Glad I packed a waterproof; had been tempted not to. Quick sprint dodging huge puddles to the Wellcome Collection to see a great exhibition of work by Jason Wilsher Mills; a huge cartoon inspired installation, colourful sculptures and digital works, themed around a childhood virus which left him hospitalised and paralyzed for over a year and with a lasting disability. Extraordinary joy and positivity shining through.

Met my brother for a delicious tapas supper at the Norfolk Arms on Leigh Street. Then retreated to my underground room in a Premier Inn near Kings Cross. I thought it might be a bit claustrophobic but actually was was very cosy and comfortable. So much so I missed my alarm and had a bit of a dash to the Eurostar next morning.

My minor tardiness was nothing compared to the young American woman I met on the Eurostar who had been up since 4am to catch a plane to Nice. She had gone to Luton to be told that she should haven been at London City airport. So now she was going to Paris while her partner was booking her a flight from Orly to Nice. She was running an event in Monaco the following day for an Italian organisation during the Formula One Race, so really did need to get there ... Despite it all and her evident fatigue, she kept smiling. She was also intrigued and rather tempted by my train travel adventures. I can't call it slow travel as both the Eurostar and TGV were travelling in excess of 250km/h!

I had left quite a bit of time in Paris in case of delays. This allowed me to catch the 91 bus from Gare du Nord to Gare de Montparnasse and a 50 minute tour through Paris including many of the other big stations, Bastille, crossing the Seine with view of Notre Dame as well as the comings and goings of Parisians. All for 2 euros 50 which you can buy from the driver. I so recommend it! Amazing view of the Eiffel Tower from the back entrance to the Station. Also had time to sit in a café. The TGV to Bordeaux and Toulouse is enormous. Two trains joined together (one is uncoupled at Bordeaux) and two decks. It was full yet my carriage was silent for the whole journey as everyone was plugged into their headphones and devices. Four hours later we drew into Montauban where my lovely friend was waiting to meet me. Great journey! Great arrival! Found it hard to sleep that night as my head hadn't quite caught up with the speed of the travel ...

Jonathan Wilsher Mills Gare du Nord Eiffel Tower from Montparnasse

The overwhelming impression of this part of France is the scale of it. Great stretches of countryside, an abundance of flora and fauna, dimpled with beautifully maintained medieval towns and villages. It is characterised by flower meadows which border the road with no hedges, they are mown for hay and are less productive than a field of rye grass. However, they are shining examples of how by sustaining the biodiversity of plants, in turn you encourage biodiversity in butterflies, dragonflies and insects as well as deer and hares. Not to mention the birds … Becca has a kestrel nesting in her wall feasting off voles in the long grass & a Scops owl parping in the night nearby. Other friends' bird app recognised the song of nightingale, golden oriole and corn bunting among SO many others.

One morning I was out walking when I was drawn, rather nervously to what sounded like a frog massacre ... I jumped a ditch and crossed the road to a pond full of the amphibians of different sizes; tiny ones perfectly camouflaged sitting on old logs, larger one floating in the reeds flexing their cheek pouches to create a truly terrible noise. Were they chatting, trying to impress females/males, warning of danger? the pond is in fact a perfect ecosystem with dragonflies, a shoal of fish and to keep them all on their toes a swimming snake.

Becca's daughter and grandson who live near Bordeaux came to stay for a few days and together we went to a Vide Grenier - literally Empty Attic or Car Boot/Garage Sale - in a delightful village called Cayreich where the stalls took over the whole place. It really felt as if people had emptied their grandparents' attics or were selling off their text books from the lycee. An American woman who was buying lots of china and glass admitted that she had filled her suitcase with bubblewrap in preparation for her purchases. At midday all trading temporarily ceased as grand picnics and chilled wine were produced.

About an hour away through more stunning countryside is the town of Albi. From far outside the city you become aware of an enormous imposing edifice. Albi is an Episcopal City. The cathedral was started in 1282 and was a joint symbol of the power of church and king after the crusade against the Albigensian or Cathar heretics. Without doubt it creates a sense of awe. Inside the painting and fresco work in stunning. Behind the rood screen, one of few to survive the revolution, is the choir where the clergy and altar were separated from the congregation, sitting on pews according to their rank under angels and gothic canopies cut in limestone. I was just thinking how much Tony would have loved the angels and would have wanted to photograph each one, when a WhatsApp message came from him saying that the City of Lights large scale lanterns that he had been preparing for a parade at the Great Estate festival in Scorrier at the weekend, had been vandalised in their storage space in Truro. Horrifying. I felt very far away and helpless to offer support. All I could do was light a candle and hope. Then the message came through that they were mendable...More work, of course... but he and his team did pull it off and created some unexpected magic at the Festival. Ironic that the lanterns that had been created to bring the community together, were kicked apart by a small portion of that community. I'm afraid Albi will always be associated in my mind with that incident.

And back home, undefeated...

That afternoon we visited the Toulouse Lautrec Museum. The famous painter is a son of Albi. His mother left his work to the museum after he died. It was fascinating to see his early paintings, mainly of horses, and natural talent. There were two paintings from the Musee D'Orsay by Renoir and Morisot which showed their huge influence on the way he painted.

On the way home we dropped by the Domaine Bicaray to taste and purchase some delicious Gaillac wine.

To be continued ...

Thank you to Becca, Rose and Tony for extra photos and film.