On the first day of this warm-up walk, following the Voi de la Nive, we passed through an area famous for growing the espelette pepper. We saw drying peppers hanging under the eaves of the houses and other signs of mass production, including hectare after hectare of stubble. As farmers’ daughters, we are both interested in agricultural production and hoped to eat the local produce when available. We have purchased local specialties at the boucherie and boulangerie. But the interaction we saw between farm production processes and the French bird-life was unexpected and even more interesting than cheese and potted meats.
We had noticed dozens of large birds-of-prey circling over head, and wondered what was attracting them. When we turned the corner we noticed that a farmer was plowing the field, and that these huge vultures were carefully following the tractor’s progress. After each pass, as the tractor turned around, the vultures landed on the freshly turned soil, gathering food and only flying off when the tractor returned. That night at the Gite, we asked Natalia our host, to explain what we had seen. She said that these massive birds were gathering worms for their chicks. I couldn’t quite picture how this worked, because I was imaging the domestic-garden worms from home. Then the next morning, walking between Ustaritz and Cambo-les-Bains, we passed by some road kill that clarified the situation.
We walked past a massive dead worm, apparently squashed by a bike tyre.
Now many of you know that I don’t mind telling a tall tale. I may occasionally be found guilty of slight embellishment… but this story is the absolute truth! Susan will confirm… these worms were each at least 20cm long.
Over the next two days we saw two other large dead worms on the back roads of the Basque Country we were traversing.
During our warm-up walk, which was about 60km, the only ‘roadkill’ that we passed… were three huge dead worms.
There is no point to this story, except to say that things are different here. The road kill smells less than the cheese.
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