I like to think we were part of a New Order,
calling ourselves the 'The Knights of Roquefort'...Protectors of the Cheese. In my mind we were completely cloaked in chainmail. Randi would be wearing a haubergeon...with her sexy boots. I'd wear full armour. And over it, I'd wear a surcoat. It would be embroidered with a crest, 
that looked like a Peuqeot Lion, biting into a hunk of cheese, while holding a bottle of wine...maybe a corkscrew weapon in it's mouth. We look awesome! (JohnE, I need a little photoshop help to make a pic of that crest) This isn't the first time I've imagined ourselves as knights with a noble cause, like bread, wine and cheese!The Templars settled on the Larzac plain in 1140 and remained there for about 200 years. They were half soldier, half monks...soldier monks if you will. These fighting monks of the Larzac flourished, as they cultivated wheat and barley, and bred sheep and horses destined for the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Their main objective was to contribute to the survival of their brother knights in the East and the upkeep of the great fortresses built to protect the tomb of Christ in the Holy Land. The Larzac, conveniently close to Mediterranean ports for the shipment of money and provisions, served as one of the major bases for the Knights Templar in Europe. The soldier-monks generated huge wealth. I imagined that, even back then, the soldier monk liked to stop on the side of the road from time to time, to drink wine, eat bread and roquefort cheese. A tradition that can still be seen on the side of a deserted road there today!
We drove the Circuit du Larzac Templier et Hospitalier and ended up going to 3 of 5 of the Templar towns, La Cavalerie, Sainte-Eulalie de Cernon and La Couvertoirade.
In La Cavalerie we were very impressed and slightly spooked? by the 18th century church there,
where you can find the remains of the first templar church. On my first attempt at entering the church, I opened the door to find that I was about to interrupt what seemed like some sort of very solemn, very private service going on. I thought maybe they were sacrificing somebody or somethin...none of my business. But I accidentally hit the shutter button on my camera and got a really nice shot for the feel of this ancient church, with it's unique interior, in use. 
We walked around the back and found a large outdoor statue of the crucification and around it there was an archaeological dig in progress which showed the foundation of the first templar church on that site. There was an older guy there, who spoke English (that's what made it spooky) and he explained to us the layout of the ancient 12th century church and the work going on there. I'm glad he didn't say "I know exactly where you're from and you won't be going back there anymore". ....what!...Run honey!
In Sainte-Eulalie de Cernon 
we visited another church. The limestone masoned church of Sainte-Eulalie. There was a beautiful square there with a fountain shaded by plane trees. We went from there onto La Couvertoirade. I rode my Peuqeot like the wind, with a bright flag of my crest flying out the back window.
It is one of the 500 villages that seem to be in the 'Top Ten Most Beautiful Villages of France' list. It is the most famous of the Templar settlements due to its exceptional state of preservation. Randi and I did an audio tour as we walked through the town. 
This fortified medieval village has an intact surrounding wall (built in the 14th century) of round and square towers connected by a rampart walk, with no guardrails. I was a very sweaty, slow-moving, cautious knight on the rampart..."hey guys, wait for me!" From atop the rampart wall it was cool to imagine the medieval city in action and how hard life must have been back then.It was a very nice ride with huge vistas and bright green pastures. We saw large herds of sheep everywhere.
I hoped to find them at a lavogne or village sheep pond, like we saw in post cards but decided to get out of the car and take a look at a large herd that were grazing. Apparently a herding method could be to get out of the car and point a camera at them. Hundreds of them came towards us. And they became very loud and boisterous. We became concerned and returned back to our car quickly, before some sort of sheep uprising took place.
