Yesterday we attended a celebration with many of Susie’s friends. It wasn’t on the occasion of a wedding, christening or engagement but a celebration of the life of Keith. Peta and Keith were dear friends of Susie’s and after Keith passed away earlier this year, Peta was determined to hold an event on his birthday.

It was a gathering filled with sad moments certainly, but mostly happy tales and memories of him and his life. It was quite wonderful and Susie and I were priviledged to have been invited to share in such an amazing send off.

Peta lives in Seix, almost two hours drive from Rivel, where we are staying with Maggie. I relied mainly on the satnav to get there, but the return trip was more, well lets say spontaneous. We went over the Col De Port, which if it isn’t on ‘Le Tour’ as a mountain stage, darn well should be. I drove round winding hairpins, slowly ascending through tree lined cliff faces and crossing fast flowing streams. At the top, we were rewarded with the sight ofa large herd of cows, gently grazing the mountain pasture and ringing their cowbells as they meandered through the roadside fields. It was a wonderful scene and of course we stopped so I could take photo’s.

We descended and drove towards Rivel, though when we reached Lavelanet we were greeted by a different celebration. Young people were waving French flags, hanging out of speeding cars and being pursued by gendarmes in patrol cars with blue flashing lights….Yes, France had won the World Cup….how fortunate I thought, that we were driving a French registered vehicle and not an English one…