Wednesday, August 31st – Day Fifteen – Cancon to Agen
Morning run this morning was almost too special, having spent the afternoon in Villeneuve sur Lot we were too tired to climb the hill to the “viewpoint” in our own overnight village of Cancon last night, but I promised myself to go up and catch the sunrise over the landscape surrounding the City – and I did it!
It is still possible to see a substantial amount of the ruins of the Medieval Castle that gave the village its name.
And, one can certainly see how the watchtower might work at spotting unwelcome visitors advancing across the plains below!
I was little late back from my photo shoot but we still got off early after breakfast.
We had a 40 kilometer cycle and drive to Agen, where we are staying in 3 étoiles Citotel Stim’Otel , which is actually in a prominent place in town and quite easy to find if you haven’t got to worry about your cycling partner!
I managed to mislay mine twice today, firstly in the smallish town of Villeneuve, on which we had done a rekkie yesterday afternoon so I knew where to go , but Jane gave alternative instructions, which I stupidly followed… Resulting in two wrong turns , a drive down a one way street and complete disconnect from cycling party!
The second grave error occurred on the entry into Agen, which has a roundabout with six exits and 10 sets of traffic lights to control access and progress to, and around, the not so merry-go-round that is the rondpoint
I can tell now you that cars getting into the wrong lane brings out the worst in French drivers, and I am relieved not to know the names that they called me whilst I span around for the third time trying to work out which, if any, was the correct exit to take! (Where was Tyrant Jane when I needed her? Having got as confused too, the usually obnoxious bully had gone quiet on the subject!) Husband, meanwhile, had managed to get ahead of me and called twice during my turmoil to find out where I was ……an exercise which brought out the worst in me!!!
I am beginning to worry about the collection of traffic violations I must be collecting on this trip: I have parked in bus lanes and bus stops, waited on hard shoulders on semi-motorways, done u-turns on roads that specifically prohibit this activity , turned towards, but not gone down, numerous one-way streets on Jane’s instructions and finally, today I have done the unforgivable and actually driven towards surprised drivers coming the other way with their arms waving! How am I ever going to meet the cost of all these fines – and will France put me on their banned list if we ever decide to bring the bicycle back the same way……..?
We finally located our hotel, which is such a joy after yesterday I didn’t even want to go out for dinner, but we did, searching for ages for an open bar that sold beer….with some initial success but the only place open closed at 7pm.
I cooled off at one of the water hydrants that bathe the main shopping street.
It is time for dinner: we saw an Indian place, and agreed that could be a nice change from a choice of omelette or steak with our ‘frites” – in fact I was quite excited by the idea.
Sadly they weren’t expecting any actual customers tonight – or so it seemed – we were given a seat and menu but when we asked to give our order the guy who had originally looked after us told us this wasn’t part of his job,……okay …”could you send us someone who is allowed to take our order? “Yes Sir, Certainly Sir!” He disappears into kitchen, sounds of disagreement emerge from within and a surly man comes out and gives us a look of infinite reproach before returning to the kitchen. The restaurant has now technically been open for half an hour. We asked whether there was a problem “No Sir! No problem! Our non serving Indian disappeared and returned looking sheepish with one stale poppodum and a small pot of bright green yoghurt – we demolished that in seconds and became desperately in need of water to quench the fire from the yoghurt …..still no sign of a waiter! Again we asked our non-waiting waiter what the problem was and were reassured that there wasn’t one …..after another ten minutes of occasionally being glowered at by the surly one we took the hint and and went back to eat at our hotel!
Agen is a City on the river Garonne 135 kilometres (84 mi) southeast of Bordeaux. It has a 12 century Cathedral of Saint-Caprais, which has World Heritage Site status under the category of Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France. It is situated on one of four pilgrims’ ways walking towards St James bones as venerated in Santiago de Compostela, in Spain.
The original Norman Church was dedicated to Saint Caprasius, who was a Christian martyr in the time of Roman Prefect Dacian. According to legend, although there is very little supporting evidence, Saint Caprasius of Agen was beheaded shortly after watching the brave martyrdom of Saint Faith, who, in year 287, was tortured to death with a red-hot brazier in a similar manner to Florence’s Patron Saint San Lorenzo. Faith’s sister Alberta of Agen, and two brothers, named Primus and Felician were also beheaded at the same time.
The Cathedral seems to have had a checkered career , the original foundations are from a basilica sacked by the Normans in 853. The restored Church was sacked again in December 1561 during the Wars of Religion, and left in such a bad condition that two years after the countrywide coup d’état that took place in 1789, the cathedral was being used to store animal fodder. It was restored and reopened in 1796, and in 1801 it replaced the old Saint Étienne Cathedral, which was destroyed during the French Revolution.
The French always enjoy a good manifestation – it seems from this history that Agen has been a hot-spot over the years – Something in the water perhaps? It might explain their reaction to my driving and our unusual desire to protest about our lack of attention at the Indian restaurant.
