Protein Night and the Hat of Justice

After our great ride to Montsegur, we retired to the common area at Montfaucon for a few beers. Jerome really wanted a salami sandwich (a/k/a un sandwich saucission avec cornichon), so he headed off to the town square. Earlier in the week, we had gone to the same spot where we ordered sandwiches for lunch. Martin had to send his back due to the lackluster quantity of cornichon and a complete absence of butter. When it came back, the butter application was (to Martin) appalling -- two large chunks of butter were mashed into the bread dough by a person obviously not as passionate about sandwich making as Martin. Another complaint and much discussion in French resulted in the delivery of a knife and two pats of butter for self-service. Today, however, Jerome's sandwich was flawless, as he emailed us this photo live from the town square.

Dinner tonight was "protein night" at a hunting lodge up in Bugarach, below the peak of the same name. The specialty here was the leg of lamb, fire roasted on a spit and drizzed in flambe style with some kind of mysterious animal fat substance rendered and cured over a span of time I don't even want to think about. It was delicious.

The weather was unbelievable. After several hot days in a row, we were treated at dinner to a light refreshing rainshower, followed by some sunshine and a perfect double rainbow right off the deck. After the meal, Nathalie produced a crazy wine funnel / beer bong-looking device and informed us that if we wanted a ride home, we had to chug out of it. Mayhem ensued.

The boys at Bugarach



The carving...

... and the drizzling.

Nathalie takes down the wine funnel. Will seems extremely impressed.

Back to the square for another set of beers (are you sensing a pattern here???). Feedback was solicited on the trip so far, and we struggled to come up with a few criticisms along the lines of "The beers could be a degree colder" or "Perhaps we could arrange for some cloud cover around 2pm each day?". Award time was next up, and Matt donned his famous "Hat of Justice" (actually, an astray) which renders him completely impartial and unable to play favorites. Jerome, although strong all week, won "bonk of the day" on Montsegur. Tom won rider of the day. Matt won the KOM award by sprinting to the top of the big climb.

Tomorrow is a rest day and it seems everyone needs it.

The Cathedral in Limoux at night.

The Hat of Justice emerges