In Camurac we stayed in a Gite (an apartment for rent). The couple who owns the Gite are English; Jane and Graham. Camurac is a very small village. Jane told us she thinks there are just 40 families living there.
One of the things that happens in the small mountain towns like Camurac. On certain days a mobile market rolls into town. Some days it is the butcher with a display of meat. He rolls into town for an hour or less and then rolls on over to the next place. The bread truck came to Camurac several days we were there. He would roll into town, park right outside our Gite, honk his horn signaling he was open for business, and a half an hour later he was on his way.
September 6 Jane took us on a hike to Montaillou Castle ruins. The road from Camurac to Montaillou is one lane mostly untravelled. We were accompanied on our hike by Bobby, a German Shepard from the village.
The sun was bright and there was a slight breeze so it was a perfect day to go for a hike. We walked about an hour to get to the castle remains, about half of it flat and the other half a steep uphill climb. The view from the top is quite nice. Only parts of two or three walls remain.
It was great to be outside in the fresh mountain air in a quiet place! The quiet is only disturbed by the sound of the cow bells carried on the wind. Each of the cows has a big cowbell around its neck. I tried to get a picture today but I may have been too far away. I do not think I have seen a cowbell in its original use … only at U of M hockey games.
Every day the weather has been perfect. The mountain air is cool in the morning, warming up in the afternoon, and then cool again at night. The temp is about five degrees cooler in Camurac than in the towns in the valley … Ax les Thermes, for instance.
I am wearing my pedometer every day and the hike up the mountainside was a 10,000 step day.