Ramblers Llanelli visit French twin
16/11/2007
The ties of Franco-Welsh friendship have been strengthened with a group of Llanelli Ramblers spending a week walking in Agen, Llanelli's twin town in south-west France.
The group had been invited by the French region's walking group, and on were treated to a civic reception in the Mairie. The Agen Twinning Committee participated in the visit also.
The main attraction for Ramblers Llanelli was the walks programme. The host town was ever genial, providing a brilliant programme of walks through the lovely rolling Gascon countryside, once the stamping ground of d'Artagnon, the fourth musketeer.
Each walk took in one of the bastides, or walled townships, in which the region abounds, for this was a border region in the middle ages, constantly fought over between the French, and the English crown. The bastides occupy many of the steep hills which pepper the landscape - not Pen y Fan or even Carn Ingli, but sharp pulls all the same in this grand walking area.
The group found out much they did not know about the history of France, as their visit covered the national Heritage Weekend. For this reason there was an opportunity to visit the Prefecture in Agen, a noble eighteenth-century building, which helps make this a sought-after posting for the top civil servants who are accommodated here to run the departement.
Dependable, brilliant sunshine is conducive to longer picnic breaks than would be comfortable in our Welsh weather, and there was a variety of regional delicacies on offer. Reciprocal offerings of canapes au laverbread et aux cockles were well received.
The farewell dinner to which the Randonneurs treated the Ramblers was a blast, held in the vaulted guardroom of a medieval castle, hosted by the self-styled "baron" who was enjoying his role hugely.
Having enjoyed French-style hospitality, the Llanelli ramblers will be responding, Welsh style, when their Gascon friends visit them over the Llanelli Festival of Walks. This will be on the bank holiday at the end of May, and it is well attended by locals and visitors from further afield.
Details of the festival can be found at: www.llanelliramblers.org.uk