Friday, April 29th, 2016
It was an absolutely gorgeous morning to wake up to and the weather stayed great all day: sunshine and not too hot, perfect walking weather. Breakfast at 9am was a feast, and we could pick and choose to make our own lunch packet. This was also the last time this group of people would see each other. Four of us got taken to our respective starting points by Vincent, in his minibus, otherwise the distances would have a tad too much to cover in one day. I got dropped off at the bridge at Lincou at 10:45.
The first part of the walk was a pleasant stroll along the bank of the river Tarn. I immensely enjoyed seeing the poppies and buttercups everywhere; they transported me back to times long gone in my grandparents’ garden. The last kilometer or so before walking into the pretty village of Brousse-le-Chateau, saw a bit of uphill, but nothing too demanding. I arrived there around 12:30pm, and after a stroll around the castle and quick visit to the small church, I found a bench with my name on it outside the community centre and sat down for lunch. The Chateau, which dates from the 9th century, sits on the confluence of The Tarn and The Alrance rivers. With the Chateau right in front of me I’ve had worse views for lunch. Brousse-le-Chateau is on the list of ‘Les plus beaux villages de France’, so maybe that’s why, next to the community center, there were immaculately kept public toilets.
Leaving the village I faced a steady 3km uphill walk, nothing too bad, but steady nonetheless. It leveled out somewhat for a few kms after that, still favoring the uphills over the flats, before slowly winding down towards Broquiès and finally onto to La Cazette, my house for the night. Had it not been for the impossible-to-get-around-or-avoid mud pool in the middle of one of the country lanes (I almost made it through unscathed but for the last four steps the mud proved to be too deep) it would have been a picture perfect walk ;).
I was welcomed at La Cazette by Lidy (Carli was out picking up two walkers in Albi), enjoyed a chat and cup of coffee, and was given two brushes to clean the, by now dried, mud from my boots.
