Thursday, 19 June 2008
We rose at 6 am but I still felt quite sick, so we crawled back and slept until 8, when we were forced out by the heat of the sun on the tent.
As I got up I felt my health returning, and with it a lifting of spirits, but I decided to avoid both breakfast and lunch to make sure I did not have a relapse. This meant a second rest day, something we had never done before in all our walks in France.
However I did allow a coffee to pass my lips at the Bar de l’Univers, while we watched a line of international trucks grinding past and some removalists delivering a houseful of furniture to an apartment above the bar by means of a ladder.
In the afternoon we admired the sailplanes and paragliders landing next to the camping ground.
When first sighted they were no more than a speck in the sky, but they rapidly took shape, slipping to and fro on currents of air like skiers, until they arrived with a tremendous rush and put their legs out of their cocoon to hit the ground running.
We even found a few antipodean enthusiasts amongst the motley assembly.
We took dinner out of doors in a side street near the château portal.
A lone diner near us turned out to be German botanist spending a week looking at French flowers. He said the season was delayed this year by the inclement weather.
Then a group of English hang-gliders arrived. We had already spoken to them at the camping ground and the conversation flowed pleasantly again.
When we got back to the camping ground, we dropped in to the communal dining room attached to the office, where most of the fliers take their humble meals, and enjoyed more company.
Previous day: Rest day in Laragne-Montéglin