Concours de tonte

Today the national sheep shearing championships were being held in Saissac, in the Montagne Noire, a wooded range of hills on the far side of Carcassonne. Of course today is the weekend between July and August, also known as le grand chassé-croisé, because all the people who went on holiday in July are going home and the ones going in August are setting off. Well, that's how it used to work when everyone took a month off in the summer -- holidays are more bitty now. Westbound traffic on the autoroute was OK -- the other direction had about 10 km of stationary traffic, so I was glad I wasn't heading for the seaside.

The contest was held in a tent. There were hundreds of competitors so they were holding heats of four, each of whom had to shear three sheep as fast as possible to the accompaniment of loud rock music. I don't know much about sheep shearing, but most competitors were shearing each sheep in just over a minute, without looking rushed -- they were just very efficient. Helpers swept the masses of fleece off the stage and they were then pushed into bins and jumped on. An audience of hundreds cheered on their mates. This young woman was the fastest in her group of four, though not the most muscular.

Outside, I saw cute ducklings, punky llamas,  and a magnificent Gascon bull.  In blip mode, I also admired some rather fine moss and lichen -- the microclimate is so damp it was even growing on the road signs. More in a small Flickr set.