Walkies

Yesterday’s treat was a morning walk terminating on a sunny terrace for a delicious lunch washed down with gallons of jammy rosé. There are sixteen of us and, remarkably, still a few spare bedrooms but only nine chose to walk. The others had tennis boot camp with Robert. 

As so often I was an armchair strategist. What I envisaged as a three hour, max, stroll between two lofty villages was rather more demanding. I never look at contour lines in armchair and regret omission on the hoof. It transpired, and we perspired, that there is a lot of uphill and down dale twixt Bruniquel and Puycelsis. Four hours later we were sitting down rather sweatily.

I am sixty-five, two of my friend are just a bit older and the youngest is fifty-five. I reflected on whether my parents’ generation would have contemplated a demanding four hour tab before lunch and thought not. Character came out. When two of the party got left behind and were lost the General went back to scoop them up. 

“A delicious lunch” does not do credit to the restaurant. The menu was confined to two starters and two main courses – consequently they cooked everything to perfection. Should you be in the area it is Restaurant le Jardin des Lys in Puycelsi.