Is It Autumn?

We had a "day out" today and headed for Conque, a famous medieval village in the Aveyron. The first thing that struck us as we drove towards our destination was that so many of the oak trees looked as though it was 24th October not the 24th of August. We have not been out much lately due to the heatwave so it was a shock to see the change in the countryside. Most of the bracken was  brown and some council workers in Figeac were vacuuming up mounds of fallen leaves.

We have lived here fcor six years and never been to Conque. When we got there we were very impressed. It is one of the stages on the pilgrimage route to Compostella so there were lots of serious walkers amongst the tourists. The village is dominated by the Abbey and has a working monastry adjacent to it. The church is enormous and very tall, and relatively "minimalist", although it was obviously decorated with frescoes in former centuries.

Our pleasure was enhanced by the  lovely lunch we had. On the face of it a simple tourist menu, when it arrived it would not have disgraced an haute cuisine restaurant. Furthermore we got into coversation with a really nice Parisian couple who sat at the adjacent table.

Later in the afternoon we went to another small town where the chateau had been turned into an art gallery for the summer. Sixty artists with very different styles were exhibiting and we found a few pieces which we would be delighted to have chez nous. Unfortunately we didn't win the lottery last week!!