Le Chemin d'Autrefois

Autumn in the forest.

On Wednesday my parents offered to look after the children so that Roger and I could go out together. (Which was just what we needed.) We went and had lunch at our favourite restaurant, the Auberge de Saint Vincent de Mercuze.

The Auberge de Saint Vincent de Mercuze - our favourite restaurant.

We had a long lunch and a good discussion without any child-induced interruptions. It is time to start thinking about our next step after so much time over the last few years has been concerned with getting our exchange experience happening. Now it is nearly finished!! Well there are three months left, but that doesn't sound like much to me...

After our long lovely lunch we set out to walk the chemin d'autrefois up to the cascade (waterfall).
The autumn weather was perfect for an afternoon walk, and the colours of autumn were at their best. Roger took a little backpack with a snack and some water, and I took my SLR camera.

The beauty was mesmerising. No wonder it took so long to walk up...
I had to keep stopping to take photographs!

The stream cascading through mossy rocks.

The colours of autumn leaves in the stream.

An interesting rock formation?? No, some metal debris...

The path criss-crossed back and forth across the stream, and it was very well maintained with hand-rails, steps, and cables in place.

Roger ascending with the help of a metal hand rail.

Another, more natural handrail.

A path being held up with wire netting.

A plastic-covered metal cable for protection,
lest one should fall to the stream below.

I am glad we did the walk while the weather was good, and before it rained, because I don't think I would enjoy it so much if it was slippery and muddy. And I am definitely glad that we didn't try to take the children. Odette would not have the stamina for such a walk, Hugh would be a danger and too slow. Sophie and could probably make it, but not with her foot still unfit after the sprain, and Bonnie would want to know where we would be going next (she has that much energy.)

If I had read this sign first I doubt that I would have considered walking...

Roger walking down the easy way.
There was an alternative route back to our starting point.

The village at Montalieu; we drive through often
but had never explored the narrow back streets before.

Apart from the day we went to Grenoble to change our airline tickets and have a medical check complete with chest x-rays, this was the first day we had had someone else look after the children so that we could go out. It was much appreciated, and Nanna and Granddad got to spend some quality(!) time with the children.

A Mountain Picnic

Yesterday we had a lovely day with Georges and Gaby, our French "grandparents". We drove up to the Alp d'Huez and continued up to a lake where we could have a picnic on the grass near the edge of the lake which was like carpet. The weather was perfect - clear and warm. It would have been hot down in our valley so it was a good day to go up into the mountains to escape the heat.
The mountain views are spectacular, so I had difficulty choosing just a few photos to put on the blog.
We had our traditional picnic fare of egg-and-bacon pie and salad, tarte aux pommes (apple tart), with orange juice and Perrier water.

Lakeside picnic

There was plenty of fishing activity around the lake (permit required), but we didn't actually see anyone reel in a fish. Schools of tiny little fish at the edge of the lake was the closest we got to the beautiful rainbow trout that were pictured on the fishing information signs. We paddled in the water, although one little boy did more paddling than the rest of us and ended up with very wet jeans. With the jeans removed he spent the rest of the day in just a nappy. [Don't get me started on this one! Yes he is still wearing nappies. Yes school starts in three days time. Yes he has to be toilet-trained in order to start school. Any miracle toilet training fairies out there?]

Hugh with Gaby, before the jeans got too wet.

After the picnic we walked around the lake, and saw the two other lakes nearby. The scenery was absolutely amazing, and there were plenty of other people (and their dogs) walking, or riding mountain bikes, but I'm surprised there weren't more people around. Maybe most people like to go to the beach, rather than the mountains, for summer holidays. But I loved it with the walking opportunities, and with all the hotels in Alpe d'Huez I reckon it would be a good choice as a summer honeymoon destination. (Only problem is if I wanted another honeymoon I would need another husband, and I think one is enough!)
On the way home we stopped at the Refuge de Sarenne and had a drink.

Roger and a lot of empty glasses. I love the slab of rock for the table.

We were able to climb a small hill across the road to get a good view of the valley and a glacier on the opposite mountain. We also met a group of Swiss motorcyclists, one of whom kindly let our moto-mad Hugh sit on his big bike!

Hugh - M. Moto!

Thursday Drive

A view of the distant snow

Jeff and Roger posing with views behind

Jeff really had to search for superlatives when we went driving in the mountains on Thursday. The views, the snow on the mountains, the mountain air, the mountains, etc etc. We drove up to a ski station which would be bustling with activity in winter. Now, on a week day at the start of summer, it was deserted apart from a few workmen doing maintenance, and a herd of cows. We heard the cows before we saw them, as several cows in each herd wear bells around their necks. They were happily grazing under the out-of-use ski-lift in the middle of the ski station.
We would have like to have taken a walk up to the top of the ski lift on one of the runs, but time was not on our side, because we had to get back in time for the school bus.

Cows grazing below a ski lift

Les Gorges du Verdon

A bridge across les Gorges du Verdon

Billed as France's little Grand Canyon (how do they get away with that?) the Gorges du Verdon is apparently only second to THE Grand Canyon in USA. Second in what way I'm not sure - size, popularity, beauty? I thought the gorges in Karijini National Park in WA were pretty stunning, and now I would just like to line them up side by side and compare them.

We took the long road home from the coast so that we could take a peek at this spot. Sophie just wanted to get home as quickly as possible, and wasn't keen on the detour.
SOPHIE: I want to get home but all Dad cares about is scenery.
ODETTE: What is scenery?

Sophie at the gorge

Ramatuelle

Caro and Bonnie, failing to look like rich and famous residents of the Riviera.

Port Grimaud is on the Gulf of Saint Tropez, on the French Riviera, which is renowned as a holiday spot for the rich and famous. We thought we might have spotted some celebrities while we were there, but they obviously weren't staying at the same holiday park as us.
St Tropez is the most famous holiday spot; so the first day we were there we did the tourist thing and headed to Saint Tropez; and we drove straight through and headed out again because we couldn't stand the amount of traffic and people. We really are country bumpkins and don't feel comfortable in crowds ...
The pretty medieval village of Ramatuelle (see the French tourist website or the English tourist website) was where we ended up. It was marked on our map as "one of the most beautiful villages in France" and it did indeed have some very picturesque scenes. And lots of tourists...
It wasn't possible to photograph anything successfully at the time of day when we were there, but you can see some pictures on the website links above.

Views of Besancon

A couple of photos of Besançon, with and without Odette.