James in Trèbes

 

As if Ididn't have enough hills in Carcassonne, when I took the bicycle path to leave I had a few hills where I had to get off and push Silver. The view at the top was nice though.

View in other direction

I came to Trèbes and it took me a while walking up and down the Plo streets to find James' address. I knocked but there was no answer. A neighbour Korean lady came out and understood English and told me James had left about ten minutes ago walking somewhere. I found this sign on another door on the street. It must be an at home bicycle shop.

The decorations outside were nice.

A familiar scene bicycling along a canal with Plane trees on the side.

           

A little later James came walking home. James is friendly and talkative. He is in his 60s and from Wales. He was a design engineer and has traveled all over the world.  He had his own business until it collapsed due to Brexit and Covid. He also worked for Jaquar and then  was also a test driver for them in Arizona in the summer and Timmins, Ontario in the winter. He is a world class sailor having competed in several world cups. He sailed on Etchells and has gone transatlantic with other men. He won a 4 week catamaran race from Canary Islands to St. Lucia. He was also navigator on a 65 foot sail boat delivered from the Caribbean. He still has ambitions to sail around the world but needs to have knee surgery first.

He had offered in an email to take me by car to Béziers on his way to Spain tomorrow but upon arrival he hinted a little that that might not be the case. A state of exhaustion and frustration came over me because I had let Thomas know that I would arrive early and have an extra half day there. After we got settled and I had a cold drink I had to be bold and ask for a yes or no about the plan. He said yes he could do that . Maybe my age confirmed the decision for him. Once I knew the plan was set, I could relax and enjoy myself.

We went for a small tour and the first thing we saw were these goats on the loose. For a little while they followed us.

We walked past the Trèbes boundary line toward the canal. It is an area that used to have lots of gardens but it was all flooded and the water had arsenic in it from a mine and they had to wait to try to grow vegetables again.

A canal going over the Aude river. The flooding went way over the canal. The viaduct holes got all blocked .

All this land here and many houses got flooded and much restoration work has been done.

A Cypress tree

The pont

.

Typical narrow street and tall houses

In the newly built downtown café area by the boats bicyclists must walk.

It was near 6 pm when all French people seem to stop and socialize over a drink so I offered to buy us one. SANTÉ We stayed for about 2 hours.

The buildings are old but the road cement blocks are new.

1620

James pointed out this photo of the OLD town.

 Here he is pointing to the orange roof of his house . 

                  

The church

 

  

                 Old empty house       

                     

Example of old needing restoration

Example of a restored house

On the corner of his street this woman has made her own outdoor garden using lots of flower pots.

My bedroom.   I am James' first Warmshowers guest. He is also listed under AirB&B.

He renovated the whole inside of his OLD house. This is the kitchen.

The cozy living room

Car pictures on the wall

Sculpture by a former girl friend--- girl and corset

Girl and secret box

               

James made a delicious noodle meal. I really liked his sauce. He also baked potatoes and carrots. It was almost 10 pm when we finished and time for bed.  I hung the load of laundry that he did for me. So tomorrow I will have clean clothes.

In the morning we had breakfast together and packed the car ( not a Jaquar-haha!). He put Silver on his bike rack on the back and we were off driving in one hour what would take me a day on the bicycle and  it would have been rough on Silver because of the gravel or busy on the road if I had chosen the road cycle route.

We drove past vineyard after vineyard.

The road in places was also  lined with Plane trees.

Finally we arrived at the farm of Thomas. Noone was there because they were in the vineyard. We unpacked the car and I said goodbye and that I would be okay. James tapped in his new route. In under 2 hours he would be in Spain. Thank you for being an extra special Warmshowers host, James. Not only did you give a tour but you served me supper and breakfast, did a load of laundry and drove out of the way to bring me to Béziers area. May God bless you!