7th to 10th October 2002
Richard had found us through the CTC website before he left the UK. We corresponded by email as he gradually caught us up and then rendez-vous-ed in a flurry of text messages near Mende. He'd done 135 miles over two days to catch us, arriving late one cold evening.
We went to the local bar with a pile of maps to find out where we'd been and where we were going. Next morning was the coldest so far in the trip, thick frost, all the campsite water taps frozen and -2°C in the tent.
But
once the sun was up that didn't stop a friendly mushroom hunter in the caravan
next door from showing us what he'd been hunting. They were enormous!
And when we got going we were pretty quickly on top of a col in glorious sunshine.
That night we roasted over an open fire and ate fried chestnut stuffing until it came out of our ears. Sadly though the fun couldn't last, in the moring it was pouring with rain and when we did get moving (after lunch!) we were soon soaked. The only compensation was seeing a couple of gorgeous salamanders:
That night Richard cooked a massive turkey curry, despite the constant rain!
Sadly the next day he turned south in search of sunshine while we headed east towards the Alps and Italy.
You can find out more about Richard's trip on www.richardburton.co.uk