Saturday 26th September - By Train to Limoux

We went and got onto the correct platform and the railcar was all ready to go so we hopped on board and waited the 5 minutes before it commenced its journey.

We crossed over the Midi Canal and out into the countryside. Grapes for as far as you could see and some areas alongside of the railway track were planted on small patches of land.

This area of France was the first area to make bubbly and one Baron Rothschild took the idea back to Champagne and so was born that Champagne is only allowed to be called Champagne if it comes from the Champagne region.

Five stations later we were at Limoux and we walked out of the station and saw no town. We walked to the end of the street, looked at the signs, no centre on any of them so we walked to the right and past a church, past a hospital, went around the block and it was about this time that the sole of my left sandal came unstuck - not all the way but just the toe to the instep.

That makes walking hard and noisy. It was hot and we had walked for about 45 minutes and found nothing. Jan said that this was a little like Donzy but at least we found a coffee there! Nothing for it but to walk back to the station and get the train back to Carcassonne. What a crowd turned up to catch the train.