Saturday April 20 2014
A knock at the door announces Brigitte in her dressing gown kindly bearing a breakfast for us, as we still have no supplies in the house. We have also booked to have breakfast at the auberge, so walk up there after a first breakfast for a marvellous event of a breakfast, lots of great ingredients, the young French waiter who calls ham jam, confusing everyone.
Then we go climbing, nevermind the shopping, that can wait. We walk North out of the perched village to see it clinging crazily to its cliff and to find the crags and try a climb. It is very cold, with a strangely freezing South wind which has us wondering how such coldness can come out of Africa. We have made a plan to finish climbing in time to go shopping.
So after one challenging climb we pack up and walk back collecting our largest rucksacks, walk 3 kilometers down the steep path to the bus stop. La Trinite is where we get off, to find the giant supermarket where we stock up on everything for as many days as we can. First we eat a piece of quiche on a bench in the sun in front of a shut pizzeria. Then walk through the mall of shops that enclose the supermarket.
Being Easter Saturday afternoon the place is stuffed full of people and it is impossible not to collide with people and trolleys and almost impossible to move around. After a while our two bags are full and we go to wait for the bus back, first in a tabac with interesting people hanging about. The bus does not arrive, and we finally ask a policeman getting out of his car at the gendarmerie. He takes on the task of finding us a taxi, which is so difficult that 7 of his colleagues also join in to help. Gathering round the computer, phoning companies. The boss steps in to tell us that he will personally take us if we can’t find anything else. Eventually a big Mercedes transit takes us with all our shopping and we can cook, make the kitchen cosy, drink and paint.
not at home 