Day 5 – Le Somail to Homps to Marseillette
We had breakfast with Madam and then took a cab to Homps. Today was supposed to be a 38km walk and it that is just too much! So we took a cab to Homps to make it a 24km, which is much more enjoyable. Our cab driver has a daughter living in Atlanta!!! It is a small world!!! Although it rained most of the day, it was an absolutely lovely day! Along our walk we saw how the are cutting down the infected trees. The plane trees that line the canal, 42,000 of them, all have to be cut down. Planted in 1830 to shield the canal from the sun, they are all infected with a deadly fungus that has been traced to the ammunition boxes American soldiers brought over to Europe in World War II, which were made from North American plane trees. It is heartbreaking to watch a tree that has been there since 1830 taken down in 20 minutes. The experts are also afraid that this fungus will also kill the the trees that align the streets in Paris, London and Berlin. The removal of the trees and replanting of new ones will cost over 200 million Euros. You can read more about it here. The day finished by walking to Marseillette and staying in another amazing, amazing place, Le Relais Occitan. Jo, the amazing woman who owns it, could not have been nicer to us. Le Relais is on the grounds of a massive vineyard. The B&B is the “cave” where the grapes were left to mature and where the wine was made. Many of her her rooms are actually wine barrels! Jo took us here and there, found us a restaurant took us there and then even came back to pick us up. She could not have been kinder. We are so blessed to meet such kind and hospitable people.
All the trees except this one have been removed.
New trees!!!!
Singing in the rain
These stones are really painful to walk on
Cutting down the trees
All of these trees will be cut down
Kisses to you!
My new home
These are little rooms you can sleep in!
