THE BLACK MOUNTAINS

I asked Dagmar what was her most memorable moment today. She said the village of Villeneuve-Minervois. We had just cycled across Montaigne Noire from Mazamet and this involved a 14km long hill and 800m climb into cloud. Villeneuve-M was at the bottom of the mountains on the south side. There was an avenue of statuesque beech trees lining the road in the village centre. The houses each side and pavements were all beautifully kept. Better still the sun came out and we were able to drink coffee outside.
My most memorable moment was a very scary dog. I did not say the memorable moment had to be good. We had just started the climb at Mazamet. On the right side of the road was a wire fence with several dogs behind. All started barking at us but one went beserk. It charged the fence with all the force it had, not once but again and again and all the time barking with full vigour. Now, I like dogs but occasionally a dog can be scary. This was one of those occasions. I am so glad the fence did not break.
We are collecting lots of memorable moments with French cooking. When we stop, we always look for locally owned restaurants and nearly always has the food been outstanding. We arrived at Carcassonne this evening having cycled 76km (47 miles) and 1,052m climbing.

My pictures include the open air market at Mazamet.