Thursday 9 July - Back to Laruns & the Vallee d'Ossau

We eschewed our initial thoughts of getting on to a golf course and elected to go back to the Des Gaves campsite at Laruns where we felt we had unfinished business which had been curtailed by the weather. On the way in, we noticed a sign advising that 'Transhumance' was taking place over the next few days. M2 knew that this was the movement of grazing animals to the high pastures but we thought little of it at the time.

We were a little unsure of the wisdom of returning to a place we had enjoyed but we needn't have worried. The whole place was marvellous and the setting spectacular. This, plus a warm welcome from la belle mamselle Stephanie who appeared to be pleased to see us again ensured that we had made the right choice. We decided to go to the recommendedrestaurant l'Arregalet which we had failed to find last time. On the walk into town, we were puzzled by the high level of through traffic diverted down a normally quiet road. Then the reason became clear! The village roads were closed as a herd of cows was driven through - this was Transhumance in action. As we moved further into town, there was very much a full showing of the local population as what we were lucky enough to now witness as a full blown community event. As we went, more herds were ushered through by bergers and some volunteers. The animals - as there were separate herds of sheep and ponies too - with their bells sounding an unscripted and varied melody which, from a distance, sounded more like muted drumbeats. They moved through the town placidly and at regular intervals with everybody out to watch even leaving their tables in the restaurant to enjoy the time-honoured procession. This was not a tourist affair: no tacky stalls or souvenirs - just a community recognising its close links to the season and their farming heritage. After our excellent meal of local fare on the 14.80 euro menu, we followed the crowd back into the town centre where we were fortunate to see a truly memorable musical tribute to this particulat time of the year - the local men of varied ages (looking a bit like a mixed age rugby team) dresses in black and red and all with Basque berets worn in different ways entertaining the population to a series of Basquais songs. Excellent singing and a terrific occasion. Sadly, neither of us had a camera or phone between us to record all these events but they will linger long in our memory (images from following day). Happy to bed in this excellent site after a super evening.