{"id":34804,"date":"2023-09-20T04:54:45","date_gmt":"2023-09-19T18:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/?p=34804"},"modified":"2023-09-20T04:57:48","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T18:57:48","slug":"bruniquel-france-%f0%9f%87%ab%f0%9f%87%b7-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/?p=34804","title":{"rendered":"Bruniquel, France \ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Date: 17th September 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travelled: 70 kms from Albi to Bruniquel \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visited: Puycelsi and Bruniquel \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stayed: Bruniquel Aire CC, free, N44.05370, E01.66010\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Budget: 118 days @ \u20ac97 per day<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our second night in the aire at Albi was not as restful as the first. There was a noisy group in a caravan just across the way who got more noisy as the evening progressed. Awoken from our sleep about 12.30 by the sound of gunfire was a little disconcerting. It was Pam\u2019s turn to go out and confront the trouble makers, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after there was a second round of gunfire and I thought well Pam sorted that out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We are soon out the gate with the GPS set for Puycelsi, less than a thirty minute drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From our guide book the Most Beautiful Villages of France you\u2019ll find Puycelsi on page 234. The village stands on the crest of hill overlooking the valley and the Gr\u00e9signe forest beyond. Our guide book tells us the area has been occupied since pre-historic time with the Celts and the Romans taking possession at one time or another before finally coming under the control of the Counts of Toulouse and therefore France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Don\u2019t mind admitting it\u2019s a steep walk up the hill from the car-park to the lower gate. Once through that gate and guard house we get a view across the valley, which is a good opportunity to catch our breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Puycelsi is a very pretty village, it\u2019s clean and tidy with lots of half-timbered houses scattered amongst well preserved stone cottages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pictured above the \u00c9glise Saint-Corneille. It was built in the 14th century on the the ruins of an 11th century church built by the Benedictines\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pictured below the tiny Chapelle Saint-Roch. According to the panel it was built in the 17th century as thanks for sparing the village from the plague. Which seems as good a reason as any. It\u2019s now a local art gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The views from the ramparts across to the forest of the Gr\u00e9signe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Our visit to Puycelsi is done the walk down to the Hymer which was much easier than the walk up. Best of all we found a tiny tabac\/supermarket and a litre of long-life milk which we desperately need for a second coffee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s only 20 minutes on to Bruniquel which has a free aire. The GPS is set and we continue on across the valley passing the odd village. The aire is obviously popular but we score a spot with shade at the top level, which we appreciate as it gets the breeze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From our guide book the Most Beautiful Villages of France you\u2019ll find Bruniquel on page 177. Standing on a ridge top over looking the confluence of the Aveyron and V\u00e9re Rivers Bruniquel displays little of its past as a defensive fortress come chateau of the Counts of Toulouse (busy family so it seems). It\u2019s another steep walk up the hill even less enjoyable in the mid-afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Picture above, the \u00c9glise Saint-Maffre is the first thing we find as we walk up the hill, bit unusual as the village church is more often than not at the top of the hill. From the photos below you\u2019ll note the streets all lead up or down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bruniquel has a feeling of affluents about it, the stone cottages are craftsmen built the stone work particularly around the doors and windows could not have been thrown together by using whatever was convenient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We continue to the top of the hill and the chateau. Our luck has held out, the chateau museum has closed early today as there is a function tonight, saving us \u20ac12. I couldn\u2019t help but tell the young lady we have driven all the way from Sydney, Australia !<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The old castle is a ruin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Views of the Aveyron River below<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The best view of the castle ruin and the chateau are from the garden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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From here all streets are downhill so we wander as we head back towards the aire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The clock tower <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We stop at a small tabac just out of the village, despite having several signs advertising Heineken they only serve Leffe, which I frankly find a little fruity. But where here, so a Leffe it is and a glass of ros\u00e9 which wasn\u2019t cold. Other than that it been a wonderful day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in the Hymer, lightning proceeds a thunderstorm which belts down rain for perhaps two hours, maybe more because we were asleep by then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Michael + Pam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Date: 17th September 2023 Travelled: 70 kms from Albi to Bruniquel \u00a0 Visited: Puycelsi and Bruniquel \u00a0 Stayed: Bruniquel Aire CC, free, N44.05370, E01.66010\u00a0\u00a0 Budget: 118 days @ \u20ac97 per day Our second night in the aire at Albi was not as restful as the first. There was a noisy group in a caravan just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":34835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[72],"class_list":{"0":"post-34804","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-french-villages","9":"czr-hentry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34804"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34838,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34804\/revisions\/34838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelandpamstravels.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}