We arrive in Castelnaudary to find that this is the week-end of the cassoulet festival. Marquees are set up for diners to partake of the said delicacy and there are stages set up in different squares for concerts to be held nightly. Sadly the first night is too wet so that the scheduled pop concert has to be cancelled but ..........
....... it does not deter these young women from performing during the evening. They are accompanied by a samba (?) drum band and girate up and down the street for hours, much to the appreciation of the local population (and some tourists) - ahhh the pleasure of cold water on naked flesh.
Next morning calls for something more relaxing and we take an early (not too early) morning stroll along the Canal du Midi.
Farm beside the canal with a field of sunflowers, which I think are just past their prime. Not the scenic view of sunflowers we normally see on postcards.
An écluse along the canal - you can see the distance to the next écluses from the sign on the wall. One of the locks was manned (is that the correct word) by a young woman. I suppose nothing to be amazed at any longer but I just thought she was very young for the job (no, I am not suggesting any sort of incompetence - just, that I expected anybody doing this job to be much older with more experience, like the men we saw at other écluses).
....... it does not deter these young women from performing during the evening. They are accompanied by a samba (?) drum band and girate up and down the street for hours, much to the appreciation of the local population (and some tourists) - ahhh the pleasure of cold water on naked flesh.
Next morning calls for something more relaxing and we take an early (not too early) morning stroll along the Canal du Midi.
Farm beside the canal with a field of sunflowers, which I think are just past their prime. Not the scenic view of sunflowers we normally see on postcards.
An écluse along the canal - you can see the distance to the next écluses from the sign on the wall. One of the locks was manned (is that the correct word) by a young woman. I suppose nothing to be amazed at any longer but I just thought she was very young for the job (no, I am not suggesting any sort of incompetence - just, that I expected anybody doing this job to be much older with more experience, like the men we saw at other écluses).
