Mementos or memories

This is the lovely village of Saint-Alban-de-Limagnole where i stayed last night (as Felicity guessed correctly).  A typical example of many of the villages I have walked though, picturesque sounding name but a little the worse for wear.

Today was an active social day, I said hello to 2 old ladies out walking their dogs, I apologised to a series of horses and mules for not having any apples with me and I scared a hare                                                     into running across a field.

When I wasn't socialising, my observation of the countryside brought back different memories of my childhood.  First I walked through relatively bare and peaty terrain which reminded me of my time in York and in particular of walking or playing on the moors with Giles my childhood friend who I haven't seen in 10 years.  Then I entered a humid forest which had the smell of the Sunday outings in Alsace where I would accompany my parents (or be dragged along) to go mushroom picking.   

Also, an old wound was rekindled.  Most of the day I was walking on paths between fields and so I had barbed wire fence on either side of me.  This brought a twinge to the scar on my leg left me from an attempt to climb just such a fence when I was 9.  (This is a long story which involves my mother so I shall spare you the details just in case she is reading this).

Since I'm on the subject of my childhood I forgot to mention there was also a 22 year old student staying full time at my gite last night.  She is studying to become a hospitality manager and volunteered the information that actually she was unexpectedly pregnant.  She was quite content and optimistic about it all.  The reason I mention it is that a one point she said of course they won't tell their future child that he/she/they/it wasn't "wanted".  I told her they should, I was an unexpected child and I always felt that was cool rather than negative.  Ultimately, it doesn't matter what the issue, it's always best to tell the truth to children, hidden things tend to fester.  Ha!  I bet none of you thought this was going to turn out to be a parental advice blog!

Today I walked 27Km and I'm staying a little bit off the Chemin as there were no gites on the way.  So 8 points for guessing right.

Louis should get this title reference ... if he is reading