April Holiday, Day 7

We are rapidly losing track of what day it is..... But we think it is Wednesday.

This morning, we woke up in Roquefort, and set off to buy the eponymous cheese and perhaps look round the cellars. The most famous brand is Société, but you can get that anywhere, even in Brixton Lidl, and, indeed, they do dominate the town. But we wanted something less mainstream, and ended up at Gabriel Goulet, where we were able to look round their cellars and see a short film about the production of the cheese. Which didn't actually tell us anything we didn't already know, and because modern EU rules say that cheese has to be matured on plastic shelves, not wood, the actual "cheeses" in the cellar were made of expanded polystyrene!

Anyway, we had a tasting, and the 15-month-old stuff was seriously wonderful, so we bought some. I asked the assistant how best to store it once we'd opened it, and she said to wrap it in cling film and keep it in a plastic box in the fridge, and it should keep 4-6 weeks.

The sheep the milk comes from look seriously odd. They are a rather manky brown on top, and have been shaved underneath, presumably for ease of milking, but it does give them a very moth-eaten appearance. We would have liked to find out what happens to the lambs, as they obviously can't stay with their mothers, and whether the wethers (sorry!) are used for meat. I expect one can find out...

Then we left Roquefort and drove, first to the village of St Jean d'Ales, a fortified former monastery, and then to St Affrique, where we had lunch. Then the main drive of the day, across very beautiful countryside to Castres.

When we got here, we found a notice saying the camping-car aire had been moved to, and gave the address, right the other side of town. So we went there and found it was just services, on an industrial estate. But we could park, so we did, and read and relaxed for a couple of hours before heading to the Buffalo Grill for dinner. However, the only reason to eat there is to use their WiFi, and it was not working, so we came away. There was a random WiFi around, which my phone connected to, so I was able to upload photos, but they got a bit out of order. And half my apps decided they needed updating (as does the system), but I firmly told then they would have to wait until we got home.

We were going to Auchan to quickly shop for something for supper, but there was a restaurant in the complex so we ate there instead. Steak and pasta and beans, followed by ice cream, with a glass of house red - lovely!  And Auchan has free WiFi, but I think they turned it off when they closed for the night.

Anyway, we drove through the town back to the original car park, as we reckoned they would still allow overnight parking, even without services, and we wanted to see something of the town, anyway. A fairly typical French town, nothing totally special. And, indeed, there are other camping-cars parked up here, despite the lack of services.