Today is Neil and my 17th wedding anniversary. How do most couples spend their anniversary? Not the way we do. It was an early start with the weather forecast of low cloud. They got it right, as soon as we left the valley and started to climb the Col d'Aspin heading for the town of Arreau we were in cloud, quite thick at times which made for slow driving. To my amazement there were already cyclists out enjoying the serenity of the morning and curiously many cars parked at the side of the road. The cars I discovered were due to fishermen. We turned a bend and there lining the banks of a small river were a village of fishermen fly fishing in the clouds with visibility down to about 2 metres. It was quite weird but then we figured out that it was a competition. We headed up the cloudy hill and the higher we went the lighter it got. It was very magical. You could see the movement in the clouds slowly going down the hill and spider webs on the roadside embankments highlighted by the heavy dew. It was really peaceful and very pretty, until you turned a corner and a cow was standing in the middle of the road, which kind of broke spell a bit. Last Sunday we drove this road and the view was amazing from the top, but today it was gone, just white cloud. We descended into the valley to the picture postcard village of Arreau. Neil left us and did his climb while the kids and I headed for the tourist office where I used my French to get a map (I am getting some very mixed reactions with my French but am having fun giving it a go) and we toured the highlights of Arreau.
Arreau highlights, though very beautiful, are only about 2 blocks worth so we did the historical circuit, bought a baguette for lunch, some chocolate croissants for morning tea, then went to the playground. We found a secret passageway back to the car - you get the gist of how to kill 2 hours with the kids. It was a lovely relaxing morning. After collecting Neil and having a riverside picnic we headed home. With Callum asleep in the car, we stopped in the local village of Campan and Heather and I looked at the annual mannequin display. Each year in the month of July the village makes and displays life size mannequins, some of families and some representing businesses. It was a lovely walk down the main street and you really had to keep your eyes open as they were sitting in windows or courtyards of buildings. The church had a wedding, and cafes had mannequins eating at tables. Very cool and a bit of fun. We finished the day by keeping the kids up past their bed time so Neil and I could have a romantic meal (for 4) at a local restaurant. Restaurants don't open until 7.30pm so eating out here is difficult with kids, but it was our anniversary and we decided we would do it. It was delicious, fresh and locally inspired meals and the kids were well-behaved after being bribed with ice-cream. Happy anniversary.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad