Sunday 31 October 2010

We're in!

It's been a full-on kind of day. First thing, more work on Sadie followed by a brief interlude for me to 'pop down' to Tarascon for H to cut my hair, followed by the arrival of the wet weather which generated a spontaneous, frenzied packing and car-loading mission and a drive to Fougax. We were due to move in tomorrow but having secured the keys yesterday and being without broadband at home due to Free terminating our contract 2 days early (Gawd bless 'em!), today was as good a time as any. We have had the Godin woodburner going full blast since we arrived which has succeeded in removing that 'empty house' chill and it is all now snug and toasty. The weather is dire, but regardless, I will be donning my waterproofs tomorrow, stepping out of the door and starting to explore the myriad tracks & trails around us. How exciting!

3 comments:

gabriele gray said...

Congratulations on moving in!
In your explorations, I'm sure you have a lot of the local scale maps, but here's one with history as to how things used to be:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b77116964.zoom.f1.langEN

It's a link to the French National Library and more especially, to the Carte Cassini, and your area specifically. There are tools at the top right of the screen. First,you'll need to click on the enlarge button and then position the cursor in the upper left corner...enlarge and then move around until you find the separate communities of Fougaux and Barrineuf. Once found and enlarged as much as possible, you'll see all the missing landmarks...

It's a little more complex to find the other parts which cover all of France (done in late 1700-early 1800s). The Cassini space probe was named for this family who created these monumental maps.
If you want to explore some more, let me know and I explain the process.

This is Perpignan area
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b7711733z.r=.langEN
Ax les Thermes
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b7711716f.r=.langEN
Carcassonne
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b7711695q.r=.langEN

There are two versions of the maps one done in black and white, one hand tinted. I've selected the b/w version for simplicity.

Hope you find it interesting and useful in exploring your new stomping grounds (a US expression).
Lynda

penny said...

What a fascinating map, Lynda! Thanks so much for that :-) How do I find Massat?

gabriele gray said...

Here goes (for any place in France)
http://sylvain.chardon.pagesperso-orange.fr/locom/loc_listcomd09.htm

This is a wonderful site, one used to be able to go directly to the Cassinni maps from the site but then the govt changed things so begin here.
The link takes you to the Ariege guide. Use the pull down menu to find the commune/town you want. Highlight it, the dot for the location will blink on the map.
Below the pulldown are two choices:
external sites and the Cassini map.
Click on the Cassini link, then scroll down to the bottom of the page.
It will show the map you need to consult. The blocks are what would have been the actual maps.
Now you know the map you need to find, and you can access that from the http://gallica.fng.fr site.
The second link (of three) is No.40, Ax-les-Thermes (the one you want).

For another department, you can start at LOCOM (same page) and select a new department at the top of the page.

When you access the new map, you'll need to go first to the first tab on the far left, Display. Select Zoom.
This will take you to a new page which will give you other options.
On the new page, on the far right side there is another pulldown menu,
'Page'.
With this you can choose the amount of magnification. Or you can use any of the green buttons for other options. I haven't tried using the 'print' function so don't know how well it works.

Here is the link to the colored version of the map:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b77115494.r=carte+cassini++40+ax-les-thermes.langEN
This map is separated into individual panels which were (and still are)mounted on a heavy fabric.
The upper right corner of this map shows Montferrier. To locate other locations, go back to the LOCOM page, where to the far right of the listing for the correct map is a grid with the name Navigation.
The dots on the grid show the location of the town on the greater map.
This also provides the information on the number for the adjacent maps. If you click on the direction (#) wanted, it will pull up the name of the map, which you can look for on the official Carte Cassini.
I love maps, so finding this was a source of great pleasure to me and I'm glad to find someone to share it with.
One more link:
http://www.cdip.com/cassini/cassini_carte_liste.htm
This is another list of the various leaves of the maps (a little easier to read) but it also gives the dates of the maps.

Since you cover a lot of ground, have you read The Yellow Cross by Rene Weiss? It's not just the best account of the later days cathars but he also did a great deal of work to figure out the paths the various parfaits took...
Hope this gives you something to think about/research while you're inside during the colder/wetter weather.
And I agree, the Lavelanet market is great.