Moissac

We had a morning walk along the river in the cool air with the nice light.

We then got on the road and enjoyed the views of millions of sunflowers and the hill town of Lauzerte.

It was hot when we arrived at the aire in Moissac which is actually on an island between the canal and the river Tarn.

We had a quick lunch in the shade of the van and then got on our bikes and cycled to the cathedral built in 1100.

The door carvings are amazing - one side represents hell and the other side represents being saved by God. I’m afraid the saved side looks like a boring life to me.

Inside the walls have all been painted - directly onto the stone. Many corner areas had been rubbed off. These would be behind glass in Australia. There were many interesting old artifacts.

We then went to the separate cloisters area which is like a museum where you pay to enter.

It has amazingly slender columns and a the carvings at the top of the columns are mostly from

stories in the Bible.

We then went up an endless spiral staircase to reach the first floor which was the old bell tower when there were Romanesque domes - and before they built the big towers in the 15th century. The wooden bell holder was still there.

We got a good view of the inside of the cathedral from up here. The organ pipes are the originals from 1100.

We then got back on our bikes and had a lovely cycle along the canal to a leisure area with pool - we were hoping for a nice cool swim. However when we got there we were told that the kids have the swimming pool for the summer. Hard luck for adults!!!

We had a rest at the little cafe on the hill overlooking the lake - and all the kids doing their water activities, before cycling around the lake to the bird hide. This was a great facility with a very nice chap with lots of scopes and all the info about birds.

We were there for around an hour with Glenn indoctrinating the chap in the bird apps of Merlin and eBird. The chap had to rush off to dinner for his 25th wedding anniversary otherwise he would never have got away!

We then cycled back around the lake, along the canal and then through town back to Gus.

We sat outside in the shade and had a cooling drink before I cooked up a Keema Matar - an easy 1 pot Motorhome dish.

After it cooled down inside the van we watched the first day of the French Olympics - several soccer games. Thank goodness that France won 3-0 against USA - or the French would have been grumpy! We are trying to avoid all Olympic sites.

It was no problem getting to sleep again!