Week 11

So our time at the farm has unfortunatley come to an end. Our hosts have been the most welcoming, down to earth people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. We've spent just shy of 2 months at the farm and we wont be forgetting it any time soon. Today (May 31st) was our proposed leaving day, but due to strange weather patterns (rain) over here we are staying an extra night. As a result, tomorrow will be the official day we leave the farm and make our way back to the UK. Its approximatley 900 miles to the ferry port and we expect to cycle that in a couple of weeks.

This past week has been a real highlight of the trip; my 22nd birthday was marked by a visit from my girlfriend. I managed to assemble a 'highlights' package of my time at the farm and it was a real pleasure to show her around my current surroundings.

The 'birthday week' started with a nice tour of the farm and then a trip to our closest town of Mirepoix. I've taken for granted how nice this town is, as me and sam usually bypass the town centre and head straight to the beer section of SUPER-U. A historic centre is surrounded by sprawling suburbs with a backdrop of the Pyranees mountain range. We had a nice walk around in the afternoon and then got back to the farm to milk the goats!

Then for my birthday! No big deal, but I turned 22 last thursday. In stark contrast to my birthday last year, I spent the day on the beach at La Grande Motte resort after a few nice birthday suprises in the morning. My 21st birthday last year was spent in my university library stressing over unfinished assignments.

My birthday bundle including 2 amazing books from the Willis clan.

We then had a nice birthday meal, it was only right to have a steak and beer to make me feel more masculine than I actually am. Its nice at the moment to be able to pull off wearing a vest in public. Usually I look like a tool, but I could see all the middle aged men staring with envy.

I'm not really a fan of birthdays, I just see it as another day, but this one will stand out for me. A perfect day.

On friday we had a nice drive into Carcassone, where I failed as a tour guide and managed to get us lost for an hour looking for the historic city. We eventually got there and had a nice look around. I was keen to show laura a chocolate shop where they sold huge slabs of chocolate that I'd seen before and wanted to buy one. At first the shop owner misheard me and picked up a small bit (instead of the SLAB I desired) and weighed it out. "Nine euros fifty sir". I was shocked. "How much?" Nine... euros.... fifty. At that price a slab would have weighed about 50 euros. I was so close to just walking off but my politeness prevailed and I reluctantly paid the man. Lesson learnt.

The weekend was then spent in the great outdoors, on saturday a beautifully refreshing swim in a nearby river, then on sunday I took Laura up to the top of a mountain!

A lot colder than it looks!

The mountain climb was certainly a challenge for us both: A real fitness test for laura and a mental test for me to keep her motivated to keep going! Laura isn't exactly 'unfit' (she's doing the great north swim next month) but I had the advantage of having cycled over 1200 miles to get here and the muscles in my thighs and calves were able to make this kind of exercise relatively straight forward. But it is an altitude gain of several thousand feet and can be a real strain on the legs. I can proudly report that we both made it to the top, despite Lauras 'jelly legs'. The views are incredible. Pictures really don't do it justice but here are a nice selecion anyway.

Drinking from a stream!

Sweaty Laura.

Amazing 6 foot snow mound.

At the top!

Very proud of her.

That about summarizes a great week of the trip. We're very excited to get back on the road and start heading back to the UK. But we will be leaving this dog behind.....