A New Adventure in France

We’ve joked in the past about having a donkey if we ever had land and the fact that you can apparently buy them for half the price of a ‘fashionable’ dog. When we were walking one day by the river we saw a family with a donkey and also saw one with some walkers on the edge of Cahors. By chance, when we were passing through Luzech, about 20 minutes west of Cahors, we noticed a sign for a company (Entr’Anes) that hires out donkeys for self-guided walks by the half-day, full day or even longer periods for those doing sections of Chemin de Compostelle. We decided we’d like to do a full day walk with a donkey and booked it up for this Tuesday.

The weather was perfect, a very comfortable temperature of about 26C, fortunately avoiding the high temperatures of last week, also forecast for later this week. We arrived at 9.00 a.m to sign our lives away and to meet our donkey, Mouton, so named because he has a very long coat in the winter. Mouton is a Cotentin donkey from the Cotentin peninsula in Brittany where donkeys were used to carry milk churns in former times and was very smartly turned out with a yellow head-dress, giving him a rather raffish air.

We decided on a 17km circular walk mainly along the edge of the Lot and a route map, side bags to carry our belongings, rope and collapsible water container for Mouton were provided. (The other route we could have done was a shorter hillier walk but we preferred the longer route as we had all day.) The owner explained that we had to show Mouton who was boss straight away, and that it was us taking the donkey for a walk and not the other way round. He gaves us the key words for stop, go and turn, and told us Mouton would be settled once he cleared the bridge in the centre of the village. We loaded the side bags with our belongings and picnic provisions and so we set off….

As advised, Mouton was a little reluctant to leave his home base but we asserted our authority and were soon underway. If we thought life so far on this trip has been at a leisurely pace, Mouton’s pace certainly put a new perspective on that and we ambled along very comfortably taking turns to lead Mouton and to ensure that he didn’t stop and eat the whole way along. The route along the river was beautiful, via vineyards and hamlets and brought us eventually to the lovely town of Albas, which we have visited several times and which on a bright blue-skied day is still picture-postcard stunning. A donkey certainly attracts attention and all day long, whenever we were near civilisation, we heard cries of ‘il y a un âne!’ (There’s a donkey) and would have to stop so children could pet the docile Mouton. Yet again at Albas we were told the village bar was closed, despite a local sitting outside having a beer – obviously favours for friends. The owner is missing a trick as there are always visitors milling around who no doubt would love the café/bar to be open – this is the third time we’ve found it closed.

We crossed the river at Albas and headed into the hills and certainly found that Mouton needed a lot more encouragement, i.e dragging or taps on his hind quarters with the leading rope, to go up the hills. He showed his unwillingness by stopping dead or even trying to go back down the hill. As it was very nearly lunch time, perhaps his true french nature was simply trying to show us that it really was time to stop for a proper break. After cajoling him up one last path we stopped in the shade with a beautiful view over the river plain. As we weren’t having to carry anything ourselves, we were able to take a more extravagant picnic than usual with full crockery, cutlery and wine. The owner had told us that Mouton is quite good at untying himself so we made sure he was well-secured and he munched happily away on vegetation. Despite offering water to Mouton about 4 times during the day he showed no interest and, at a point on the river where he could have drunk directly from the shore, he refused to go anywhere near the water.

After a relaxing break we set off again. The map we had been provided with did not quite match up with all paths we found. At one point, having missed a path, we tried to go up an alternative incline. We would have managed it with a bit of a scramble ourselves, but Mouton refused point-blank. We were able to navigate our way back successfully to Luzech to get a drink before returning Mouton. Mouton obviously recognised where he was and just wanted to get back. Joe had been wondering all day when donkeys brayed, and it was at this point in the middle of the town, that he started braying when we tied him to a post whilst we sat and had a cold drink beside him. When we untied him, he took off like a rocket with Joe attached, dragging him across the road with no need for directions and with no intention of stopping. We hadn’t seen him move so fast all day!

All in all a great day out with a beautiful walk enhanced by our companion – we’re glad we didn’t choose the hilly walk with him. And it has probably got donkeys out of our system!

(We’re working our way though ‘Travels with a donkey in the Cévennes’ by Robert Louis Stevenson, which is pretty much next to the region we’re in. Sounds like our experience was pretty painless compared to his!)