Lagrasse

As I hoped, we woke up to be surrounded by the mountain range, absolutely glorious. A couple of years back I walked up a few mountains, and I remember saying to a friend of mine how much I enjoyed it and I couldn’t wait to do another, there was just something i really enjoyed about being around mountains. He then said something which has stuck with me ever since, he said how ‘powerful mountains were’, and in that sentence, he completely summed up how I felt.  

Lagrasse - a mountain village

We’re having a day off driving so we go to explore the village of Lagrasse. As with a lot of the rural French villages, there is a sense that time has stopped somewhere in the fifties or sixties and never really moved on. This gives a feeling of stillness, as well as the fact that the whole of France just closes down from 12 pm- 2 pm, normally just when we’re getting ready to explore, but we’re in no rush.

Lagrasse - A village stuck in time

Lagrasse has some of the most stunning scenery I have ever seen, the village was built in the medieval times and still gives off that aura. We walk through the village to an old Abbey and do the tour thing, then pop into the cemetery on the way out.

Inside Lagrasse Abbey

One of the rooms in Lagrasse Abbey

 The cemetery is on the village edge, then it kind of blends in to the mountain. As with all cemeteries’ there is a sense of peace about the place, but to be at the foot of a mountain as well,  there is almost a feeling of sedation.

These three must have been important

Lagrasse graveyard blending into the mountain

I absolutely loved Lagrasse, the roads, the village, the buildings, and the aire was situated amazingly, I got a lovely sense of calmness from it, Beth………..says it gave her the willies??? ** Sometimes we're on such different pages in life.  

**Editor's Note

As a young child I watched the film 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' and it left a lasting impression on me. As we wandered around Lagrasse it had the same eerie, desolate feeling that I got from the film when Dick Van Dyke, Truly Scrumptious and the children first arrive in Vulgaria. The village was at the top of the mountain and practically deserted. I swear there was not a single child to be seen and I was half expecting the child-catcher to put in an appearance at any second.