A Glimpse of Cathar Country

Ariège has a ton of interesting chateaus, castles and ruins that date back to the 13th century.  Although these sites have long archeological histories, many of them were defined by a short period of time of religious persecution, the effects of which may still be seen on today's landscape.  

Catharism was a sect of Christianity that contradicted certain fundamental Catholic doctrine during the middle ages.  As a result, Pope Innocent III declared Catharism a heresy and authorized a crusade in order to eliminate the opposition to the Catholic Church.  The Cathars, a great many of whom lived in the southeast of France, were hunted down and brutally murdered (usually by being burnt alive).  In order to fend off the crusaders, many Cathar fled to seemingly impenetrable fortified chateaus atop rocky buttresses.  

Living in this Ariège, it is impossible not to notice these buildings towering over the landscape below.  Many of them have fallen into disrepair of the centuries, some were destroyed by the crusaders, and fewer still remain relatively intact (or were reconstructed), but all of them have a fascinating story which has been awesome to explore.  

Elise and Hanan exploring and imagining what the Chateau of Roquefixade, a Cathar stronghold near Foix, might have looked like 700 years ago.  

Elise and Hanan trying to imagine what it would be like to get a clear photo of the elusive Colorado mountain troll. 

Fêtes des Fleurs - Cazères

Continuing the tradition of local festivals, last weekend was the annual Fêtes des Fleurs in Cazères, which consists of a variety of activities, including a parade of floats adorned with flowers.  Despite being small, the parade was fun and entertaining. In sharp contrast to American parades, where the parade route is guarded vehemently by police and barriers, the Fêtes des Fleurs parade was relaxed, low key and hardly regulated. 

In fact, much of the parade seemed to consist of people just enjoying themselves, like this group of ladies, who were walking along, laughing and having a good time and seemed somewhat oblivious to the fact that they were in the middle of a parade.  Here they stopped for a quick snapshot, before continuing on to the next camera person who was waiting another 5 feet down the road.  

I milled in and out of the paraders for most of the time, which was far more fun than just standing in a crowd of sweaty people, trying to look over someone's shoulder to see the floats roll by.  Granted, we were in a small town, with a small parade and this may not be representative of the greater French culture, but I would say that it was refreshing.

Lots of stuff going on...

Things are a bit hectic around here for the moment, but we've been doing lots of cool stuff and will post things in more detail as we get more time.  But, for now, a few pics...

A weekly market in Rieux Volvestre. Steph and Elise picking through the produce and learning how to manage market crowds/lines.

We also went to a "Vide Grenier," which translates literally as "empty the attic".  It is basically the French equivalent of a town wide yard sale, where people try to sell all the random junk that have been collecting dust for the last who knows how long.  Needless to say, there are a ton of intriguing and slightly bizarre objects that appear...everything from clothes, to climbing shoes (size 42 Mythos if anyone is interested), to religious relics, dishes, rusty tools... the list is endless.  This ice axe thermometer caught my eye because it seemed lonely and out of place among all of the other, very clearly non-climber objects. 

The Vide Grenier is also excellent for people watching.  We happened to see this couple dressed up as clowns, who proceeded to randomly approach people and do clown things much to the amusement of everyone around, especially Elise and I.  In fact, we both stopped at the exact same time to take a photo of them.  I would say that clowns are not a normal occurrence, but it was indubitably entertaining nonetheless. 

Back on the Wagon Again...Sort of...

Living in Castex has been awesome for a lot of things, however, climbing has more or less fallen by the wayside.  In many ways, it has been liberating to see a variety of different things and to experience a completely different facet of life.  On the other hand, it is incredibly frustrating to go climbing, only to be able to wheeze your way up a warm up, with no hope in the world to climb the 30 meter line of tufas out the middle of a beautiful cave.   

Without a doubt, gardening, home improvements and eating complete baguettes smothered in Nutella are not effective cross training methods.  In fact, if you eat enough baguettes and kill enough time pushing a law mower around, you will indubitably turn soft and get bizarre tan lines. 

Uncomfortable realization of the day:  doing any number of pull-ups is really hard.  Remedy: Steph's brand new B-day present... A pull up bar. 

Thus, we begin at the bottom once again:
Tonight's workout (barely achieved): 

• 3 sets of 10 pull-ups
• 2 sets of 3 lever lifts

On the up side... The Flight of the Concords skits helped add a little more humor to our humorously pathetic workout.  Thought we should share one of the skits...

Impressive vid of Iceland

Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

A Thursday Promenade

Similar to the weather back in Colorado, the weather here has been rainy, cloudy, (snowy at times) and much colder than normal.  According to Patricia, the local weather expert, this is pretty out of character, and the end is in sight, which we're super excited about.

That being said, we have found that cloudy, rainy, miserable weather is excellent for going on exploratory drives of Ariège.  Thursday, we decided to drive south past Foix toward the Spanish border.  We joked that we could drive to Andorra (a tiny country tucked in the Pyrenees, between Spain & France) for a quick cup of coffee before a dinner engagement with an English couple on the other side of Castex.  We laughed, thinking it was actually a totally absurd idea, but set off to explore anyway.  Shortly after driving through Foix, we found ourself faced with the dilemma of actually driving to Andorra, which lay an hour or less further, or turning south toward the small town of Niaux and unknown sites along the small roads at the base of the Pyrenees.  We chose the small roads...

Our route is marked in Green above.

The first stop along a winding road came after Steph had to repeatedly tell me to keep my eyes on the road because I was gawking too much at all the limestone cliffs everywhere.  After seeing a giant cave not far off the road, we had to pull over and investigate.  Ironically, it turns out that people have been visiting this particular site for quite a while, and we weren't the first people to be drawn to it's towering opening.  After putzing around on narrow side roads and a brief pit stop at a smaller cave, we realized we were at the famous Grotte De Niaux which is a prehistoric site dating to the Magdalenian era of the Upper Paleolithic period (around 18,000 - 10,000 Before Present).  

The site boasts a number of prehistoric paintings, but also serves as an interesting timeline of human history up to the present day.  Along with ancient rock art, the cave walls provide glimpses (amusing at times) into countless generations of inhabitants.  In "recent" history, there are scrawlings dating back to the 1600's, including a newer entry that proclaims, "Ici, j'ai perdu mon pucelage à l'age de 13 ans".  (Here I lost my virginity at the age of 13).  

One of the things I find most fascinating and enriching about exploring France is the visible depth of history.  While the Colorado has archeology dating back to at least the Clovis time period (11,500 BP +/-), it is extremely difficult to see.  The ancient history is normally hidden & buried under feet of dirt, like the Lindenmeier Site just north of Fort Collins.   Looking at dirt mounds and imagining what it would have been like is ok, but actually getting to stand where someone painted a bison with a twig 18,000 years ago is spectacular. 

Needless to say, our Thursday visit to the Grotte De Niaux was slightly hindered by a bus load of middle school kids from Andorra who were running around like crazy and had filled all the tour space.  We're hoping to return soon (maybe with Elise?) and check the grotte out in full detail.  In the mean time, here are a few pics...

A small grotte just before you get to the main entrance to the Grotte De Niaux.

The entrance to the caves.  I don't fully know what the building is on the right.  It seems to be a visitor center of some sort, but I'm not exactly sure what the story is behind the architecture or why it was built here.  We'll do more research and report back.  As a little bit of scale, you can just see the top of a tour bus on the left side of the frame.  If it weren't a major historical site, the cave would have a ton of amazing routes out it. 

View of adjacent town from the Grotte.

After noodling around at the Grotte, we made our way back onto our promenade itenerary (if there is such a thing, and headed farther south toward the Pyrenees before contouring west along the foothills.  Before long, the road became smaller once again and the persistent drizzle turned to a fog.  Houses and other attractions would appear and disappear with equal aplomb, including this roadside waterfall that was overflowing.  

Shortly after stopping to gawk at the waterfall, the snow began to fall, then get heavier, then it began to blow sideways, and I wondered if we had been somehow teleported back to Colorado.  The road seemed to wind on forever, switchbacking up and up...into more snow and less signs of civilization.  We finally summited and I saw an obscure sign that said Port something or other....  I'm not spectacular at French by any means, but I thought "Port" meant "Port"...as in the place where there is lots of water and boats...  Looking around, there was lots of water (in various stages), but no boats.  Perhaps that is a funny French way of saying bobsled?  The road after the "Port" seemed to certainly resemble a bobsled run a little bit...maybe they were on to something.

Merry 13th of May.  We saw a Santa Clause on someone's door the other day.  It's not quite as funny and out of place now.  :)

Nearing the end of the snow.

The houses seemed to change with the landscape as well.  The closer we got to the Pyrenees, the more they became Chalets, to the point where I felt like I was in the Swiss alps rather than in Southern France.  I'm amazed by how France has an amazing amount of diversity within such a small area.  The rest of the drive was excellent, including a cool sideroad with tunnels, but I'll let Steph tell that one...

Climbing - Calamès with Matt Robbin

So I keep hearing grumbling about too many gardening and rambling posts, and not enough climbing, so here it is... day 4 & 5 of climbing here in France...  Matt Robbin, who is studying (a little bit, between climbing days) in Grenoble came down to check out Toulouse and be our ropegun for a couple of days. 

Matt applying a healthy dose of sunscreen "à l'Americain"...also known as bringing New Jersey to the crag. 

Les Murettes...Barbarela.  Word to the wise.  Stay away from the bearded woman.

Steph leading the all-time most heinous route ever.  She did awesome on it.  After coming back to the ground, we watched 4 people totally flail on it, including several guys who just got off Matt's project, which was supposed to be way harder.  I smelled a total sandbag and stayed away.  

Matt on "Crache ton venin," a short, power endurance route that is fun and well-worthwhile.  The route is pretty manufactured, but the movement is great and it has a little redpoint crux right at the top...just to keep things interesting.  

Matt at the crux.

Steph doing some championship belaying action while I was a slacker and took photos...

 There was a group of French climbers working on routes around us, and in between attempts, Matt mentioned that they were welcome to take a burn on his route since the draws were already hung.  What we didn't realize was that everyone in the group was going to try it.  In the end, Matt didn't get quite as many burns on it as he expected, but all the French folks were super nice  and it was cool to get to meet some local climbers.  The were helpful in directing us to a local gym and some other crags, that hopefully we'll get to check out. 

Matt taking one last burn on Crache...  Not quite enough juice, but perhaps if he ever makes it back over here, he can try it again.  Although, I imagine it will be pretty hard to justify driving past Buoux, Ceuse and some of the other spectacular rock in his area to climb at Calamès again.  

Enjoying a nice sunset in Foix.

I'll post more pics of another day Steph and I had where we climbed a 5 pitch route to the summit of Calamès where there is a 11-12th century chateau guarding crest.  It was pretty cool...

Thoughts on Thirty

So I turn thirty in a week or so, and have been reflecting on what that means. Being far away from friends and family will be hard for this birthday, but to deal I've decided to try my hand at some "poetry" if you will. Here's what I've come up with so far:

Steph's 1st Grader Poetry:
T--Terrific tales
H--Happy heroes
I--Incredible inventions
R--Randy riddles
T--True thoughts
Y--Yummy yields

Verbal Interpretive 30/29 Number Dance
Hello 30; Bye Bye 29
Good morning 30; Good night 29
Mmmm, hmmm 30 (head shake up and down); Uh, uh 29(head shake side to side)
Would you like a cup of 30? Yes, this cup of 29 just tastes overdone.
Can I try some of your 30? All my 29 is out.

Deep Thoughts by Steph Whall
29 is so fine, but 30 is 29's hot older sister.

That's all I got so far, I'll write more later. Oh, 30...you're just so different from 29. Any ideas for new poems I can write?

Fêtes Du Papogay

Ariège and the surrounding departments are full of festivals and activities throughout the summer.  It seems that every weekend there is something to do and see within an hour's drive.  Last weekend was the Fêtes Du Papogay (Festival of the Parrot) in the medieval town of Rieux Volvestre in the neighboring department of Haute Garonne.

The festival has a variety of activities, but is most known for it's archery competition, where competitors of various ages attempt to shoot a bird shaped wooden decoy (Parrot) off poles of varying heights, up to 45 meters (147 ft).  The archers (all men...see history section below) are divided into three age groups, Petit (14 and under?), Moyen (teens), and Grand (18+).  Each group, consisting of 20+ archers, shoots at a decoy at a height that tests their skill level and it takes several volleys of arrows before a bird is knocked down.  The archer who knocks the bird down for their age division is crowned Roi (king) of the festival for the year.

The roots of the festival stretch back to the 14th century, when King Edward III of England defeated King Philip VI of France at the Battle of Crécy in 1346 (one of the most important battles of the Hundred Years War).  Edward used the Welsh Longbow and superior field position to defeat the French, despite being greatly outnumbered.  Philip realized the tactical value of the bow and proclaimed a series of ordinances to encourage the development of archery in France.  Gunpowder replaced the bow over the next two centuries, but the tradition of archery remained in the culture, especially in the North and South.  The first preserved records of archery traditions in Rieux Volvestre date to 1585 & 1589. 

I'm not sure exactly how the tradition of the festival evolved from the middle ages to the mid 20th century, but apparently the event took on a legendary aspect in 1958 when a Gascon poet named Jules Ponsolle wrote a ballad to describe the event.

Rather than a mere display of archery, Ponsolle converted the event into a tale of seduction and trickery, where the Devil sought to seduce the daughter of the lord of the town.  The lord feared that his daughter would become enchanted, so he ordered the town people to kill the Devil, promising the hand of his daughter to whoever killed the demon.  To escape the horde, the Devil converted into a parrot (Papogay) and attempted to flee, but was shot down by a young shepherd boy named Tantiro.  As a reward for killing the demon, Tantiro won the title of "king" of Rieux and the heart of the lords daughter.  

Today, the archery portion of the festival begins with a parade of all the participants through the narrow streets of Rieux.  It is a lively display of horsemen and horsewomen, bands of various sorts, people clad in medieval garb (frequently displaying the yellow and green colors of the city), and archers (all men) dressed in black pants, a white shirt and a red sash.  The parade ends at a soccer field where the archers set up and arrows start flying.

The birds are difficult to knock off (they weigh 4.5 Kg, 9.9 lbs)  and generally take several shots before eventually getting brought down.  We watched the kids burn through all their arrows before someone realized that the bird was still totally stuck to the pole and wouldn't fall.  Watching the kids shoot at the bird was sort of like watching an inevitable bicycle crash...They all line up directly under the bird, then launch arrows straight into the sky...most of them fly in all sorts of random directions, bouncing off the poles, bird and other random things.  Usually the arrows fly into the field to be later recovered by the overly excited kids, but occasionally, arrows fly directly back down into the archers, or into the crowd of musicians and spectators behind them, making for some exciting sports action.  :)

They fixed it and after a couple more volleys, one of the kids knocked the bird off the pole and was crowned.  We didn't stick around for the men to shoot at the highest bird at 45 meters, but I imagine it would be an impressive sight.  Apparently, there can be up to 100 archers that each shoot 20-30 arrows per volley....

The king of the 2010 Fêtes Du Papogay!

This is a Test....

So the question is...Bise, or a happy older couple on parade day?  

*** Spring footnote

So much for all that blabbing about great spring weather.  

Today: May 4th.

Weather: Snow. Cold. 

Perfect timing considering that I just planted a bunch of tomatoes and that all the trees are fully leaved out...  Lots of broken branches, plus, we've been told that for some bizarre reason, when it snows in nearby Foix, that the phones and internet go down.  Today, the power is flickering and we'll see what happens as the storm progresses...I'm hoping that no trees fall on power or phone lines.

On the up side, all the rain and snow have made it super evident where the leaks in the house and garage are, which is nice. :)  It'll give me something to do next week when I want to take a break from all the trimming damage control and replanting. 

Spring in Ariege

Compared to Colorado, spring comes to Ariège slowly and patiently. Shortly after we arrived in February, the weather warmed to be in the 70's during the day, with brisk nights. Rain showers came fairly regularly and an occasional spring snow storm would roll through, but in general, each day would be a little greener, a little warmer, and a little closer to the beautiful spring colors we're experiencing now.

For the last several weeks, the temperatures have been in the 80's and everything seems to be flowering and lamentably, producing pollen as well.  My allergies have been going crazy, but the display of foliage almost makes it bearable, and the fair weather has been great for the garden and all the plants were trying to get going.  More photos of that stuff to follow later...

A fig tree in the yard just beginning to produce leaves and small fruit.

This flowering pear tree has leaves that change from a light rose color to a deeper burnt red color over the course of about a month.

Apple blossoms have finally come to these two trees in the yard.  They are about the last of the flowering trees to get their color...just in time for a week long cold snap.

The front driveway is accented by this Thym bush which has just began to flower.  The bush is pleasantly aromatic and just outside the kitchen window, which is convenient for spaghetti sauces, which we seem to make at least 5 time a week these days.  We also have bay trees in the yard, and various other spices scattered about, adding a nice aromatic and practical touch to the landscape.

We've also planted some strawberry plants that are starting to flower as well.  Some of them are doing well, but unfortunately, others seem to be foundering a bit, probably due to a poor location choice on my part...we'll probably move them in the next couple of weeks so they produce better.  We also have  a couple raspberry and blueberry bushes that seem to be doing ok, and wild blackberries grow everywhere and we can't wait to have fruit in the fall.

We've also been working on a vegetable garden, which has been fun.  I've been noodling around with learning about germination times and such, so have a random assortment of plants...perhaps far more than is necessary.  At the time of this photo, I had around 30 tomato plants, which seem to grow easily here, with almost no effort.  On the contrary, pepper plants have been challenging to get going, although they are finally starting to take off.  Just for giggles, I even planted a couple of random potatoes from the grocery store that had started growing...now they are going nuts and have outgrown the small greenhouse I built.  If things work out, we'll have an endless supply of weeding and vegetables this summer. :)  

Tomatoes, Basil, Parsley

Potatoes, Pumpkin and Cilantro

Bell Peppers, Cayenne, Watermelon, and lots of other peppers on their way, thanks to Mom and Monique!  I can't wait to sandbag all the Frenchies that have made me eat wet cat food disguised as a "delicacy" called Foie Gras, or just about anything ending in ....Canard.

Fortunately, I've been able to avoid having to eat one of these things thus far, but they seem to be everywhere.  For a while, they were raiding my plants in the greenhouse, and had killed over half of everything I started, but I've now learned how to fight back...Fill a platter up with Beer and they drown themselves...  They must be football fans.  :) 

It has rained a fair amount the last couple of days, so this one somehow snuck in the house and was climbing up the wall.  I think it wanted to see what time it was, but Steph managed to relocate him to the nearest Beer cart before the cats got a hold of him.  

Other than that, life has been cruising along as normal... more pics of home improvements, climbing and other stuff to follow shortly.

  Will try to keep rambles to a minimum.