Sight-seeing trip - with Medieval Villages, Roman Remains, a Big Viaduct, and some Cheese...

The onset of Spring with a substantial crop of cyclists in lycra, men in camouflage waistcoats standing in rivers, birds singing outrageously early in the morning and other men setting fire to bushes in the fields, encouraged us to set off for a bit of a sight-seeing tour.

Things were hastily thrown into the van and we headed South hoping to find somewhere to camp on the way to see the Millau viaduct. TomTom told us it would be more than seven hours driving from here so starting late on Monday afternoon meant a stop somewhere overnight.

Amongst all the other stuff I did pack some walking gear; boots, rucksack, and jacket. As it turned out I didn't actually DO any walking but we did stay reasonably active for six days........

The campervan was a joy - as usual - and we found that being out of season that, although the campsites weren't open, there was plenty of room in the 'aires de camping car', which are found fairly easily in most tourist areas in France. In the height of Summer these are usually over-populated by large, expensive (often Italian) motorhomes so it's hard to get parked - but no such problems in mid-March.

{I 'borrowed' this from a Motorhome website. It shows the sign to look for and one of the usual 'big' vans parked up.}

We had a week of glorious sunshine, with a few chilly nights. Each day we moved to a new location, explored the village or castle or cave, then stayed the night in the van.

{A panoramic photo of the Millau Viaduct spanning the valley}

Our first objective was to visit the Millau bridge designed by Norman Foster. It was more imposing (in both senses of the word)  from afar than it was travelling over it. There's a visitor's centre with some good video presentations of the Aveyron area and the story of the building of the bridge.

After staying the night in Millau itself, we headed to Roquefort to visit the caves and see the famous cheese being made. I had hoped to see the sheep too, but they must have still been in their Winter barns so not a single one was spotted in the fields. The visit to the cave was interesting and naturally we were given a taste of the products and presented with the opportunity to buy some!  There were three varieties to choose from and as John and I liked different ones, no cheese was bought, but we will get some in the supermarket next time we are entertaining.

{A photo of the display area at the Roquefort cheese factory - no cameras were allowed in the cheese storage areas}

The Aveyron area of France was also home to the Knights Templar in the Middle Ages so we headed off across the Larzac plateau to have a look around la Couvertoirade, a still complete walled village.  A walk on the ramparts, above the old stone roofs of the houses was a real treat - dodging pigeons and all!

{La Couvertoirade}

Turning for home, we travelled into the wine growing region of Cotes du Rhone and came upon a huge castle built above a village, with a wonderful woodland of green oaks which we could wander around. The Chateau of Suze la Rousse is a University of Wine but wasn't open to the public until the afternoon.

{The view of the town below the massive tower of the Chateau}

{The Evergreen or Holm Oaks with their dark trunks and thick leaves}

We ended our week away by visiting the town of Vaison la Romaine. It was once a bustling Roman town with large villas and farms. There are Roman remains a plenty. After a wander round the museum with an audio guide (the English version left a lot to be desired!) which continued outside to extensive ruins, I own up to failing to see all of them!

{The beautiful old Roman bridge at Vaison}

Luckily for us, now in need of showers and an electrical boost for the van battery, we found the campsite at Vaison had just opened for the season.

All the photos I've posted are from my phone, the ones from my camera need more sorting out and anyway, they take an age to load up.

As we arrived back here the weather changed, and became stormy, wet and very windy, so it was a well timed trip and hopefully The Toe is now on the mend............

Making the best of it.............

The Toe is still not healed - so no downhill skiing for three weeks has meant a lot of time for me to do some x-country and a bit of snowshoeing. Unfortunately for the snowsports, the increasingly warm weather has made ice and mush where there was lovely powdery snow before. We're now approaching the end of the second week of daytime temperatures around 18 to 20 degrees. The overnight temperatures have also risen and sometimes are barely below freezing. All this means the end of the ski season seems to be arriving a bit early this year.

HI kindly offered to take me to where I wanted to ski and wait in the sun with a book for me to do a couple of hours on the snow. I have taken him up on the offer otherwise he would be sitting in the house with no transport while I went away to enjoy the day! Some days we have had a packed lunch and others we have found a reasonable restaurant to have lunch together.

{That's me - disappearing into the distance...}

I've been trying to visit a different cross-country skiing venue each time. Now with the deterioration of the snow it's becoming difficult to find good pistes. I'm not keen on the icy bits!

Other days we decide to do something together - this gives my toes a rest (they tend to get bruised in the x-c ski boots) and lets us explore the area more fully. On one of these visits we went to look at the lake that I spent so many days walking around in the summer last year - Serre Poncon.  The water level is really low, possibly the lowest I have ever seen it. The island with the little church on was completely exposed from the water - there were even some people on it, having walked across the mud. The only way to get to it in summer is to use a boat.

{Chapelle de Saint-Michel - on its tiny island of mud}

On the other side of the lake, there is an interesting site, geologically. The action of water on the hillsides has left tall pillars of earth, protected by a harder rock on the top. These pillars are called 'demoiselles coffees' and occur in various sites throughout this area. We went to have a closer look at a group of them. Unfortunately we didn't take the microspikes and walking up to them was too icy without. We took some photos though.

{The information board}

{The young ladies with their fancy hair!}

First things...............

I've been meaning to post for the past few days but my computer has been mis-behaving and wouldn't load my photos from the sd card - until this morning............

Last Sunday was our first day back at home after the 'progress' up through England into Scotland, visiting relatives, going to a lovely birthday party, then the Outdoor Pursuits Show in Edinburgh, and finally, after a trip to Tesco's in Blairgowrie, arriving home on Saturday evening.

Sunday was a beautiful, sunny April day, so I couldn't resist the temptation to go for a quick walk. There's nothing to beat the route up to the pyramid on Balmoral Estate - so I set off after lunch having failed to persuade Him Indoors to come with me (well, there was football on the tele!)

I walked into Glen Gelder to investigate the fence I had spotted during the winter (but couldn't get up to in the deep snow. (click here). Actually it appears to be an enclosure and I noted on my GPS that there was only one gate I could see. The fence runs more or less parallel to the Gelder Burn alongside the landrover track. However, as I discovered on a subsequent walk on Tuesday, it doesn't go very far into the Glen and should cause no problems if you're walking over to the bothy.

{Looking along the fence towards Lochnagar}

{Looking back towards the forest - the gate at NO 25410 92845}

I turned back and climbed the hill up to the pyramid. Queen Victoria had this built in memory of Prince Albert. I had a neighbour here once who told me confidentially that the present Queen rides round this monument on Mid-summer's Eve, naked, to retain her powers.

{Prince Albert's Cairn}

No sign of anyone around as I walked on down the other side of the hill towards another monument - this time Princess Beatrice's cairn.

{Princess Beatrice's Cairn}

Obviously Spring is here. I saw large masses of frog spawn in the ditches and the daffodils in the garden are blooming.

{Frog spawn in a ditch}

This is a great little walk to blow away cobwebs and stretch the legs.

{Daffodils in my garden}

*There should be photos to go with the text as I said at the top - unfortunately now they won't upload to the blog - I'll try later (when the Gremlins are sleeping....shsh)

Success!!!

Going it Alone.............

But never lonely!

I realised (not for the first time!) today why I like walking on my own. I'm often asked if I'm not scared or worried about being alone on the hill. The answer is an emphatic 'hardly ever!'. I want to say 'never' but it wouldn't be quite true.

I do sometimes think not to take an unnecessary risk in case of an accident. So I tend to err on the side of caution about exposed paths or very steep descents.

Just once I remember being completely spooked by I don't know what. It happened on one of my frequent wanders. I was just descending back from Bealach Buidhe onto the Glenshee road when for no reason I suddenly felt very alone, very vulnerable and very shivery. The feeling passed as quickly as it came - I can still recall it. But it's never happened since.

Yesterday I had a marvellous time walking up in the forest behind the house here. There are quite a few paths between the pine and larch trees. I'm gradually exploring all of them and how they link together as not all of them are mapped.

{Photo of path between the rocks}

On the way I noticed some wildlife I might not have seen if there had been a group of us. A small lizard sunbathing on a rock, two large buzzards hunting above the trees, a pair of deer I came across in a clearing, a very lively and tuneful Crested Tit in a tree right beside the path, and a grumpy Jay.

There's also more chance of seeing other things that catch the eye. Colours seem to stand out so well in early Spring. Maybe the brain is glad to see orange, yellow or red instead of white, green and blue!

{Photo of amazing lichen on a tree trunk}

Once I had climbed high enough I found some snow - still thigh deep in places. The small hamlets up here are left over from the days of transhumance - when the local farmers and their families would de-camp completely for the summer onto high pastures along with their sheep. These buildings seem to make great holiday homes now! Apart from the chapel the rest of the houses were shuttered for the Winter.

{Photo of hamlet called Le Truchet at 1450m)

On the way I was musing about the joys of walking on my own.  Being able to stop and start when I choose, and faff around as much as I like - priceless!

Of course there are times when I would love to share a walk like this. The views were excellent, the mountains looking particularly splendid in the sunshine.  So a photo is a good way to do the sharing!

{Photo taken looking across the valley)

Spring................

I can announce that Spring is definitely here!

(My tick list is completely ticked.)

Crocuses...........

Fishermen............

Lycra................

Burning bushes..................

Loudly singing birds.............(Oh.. and a Willy Wagtail!)

Day time temperatures in double figures.......

My face - the colour of a beetroot! (Ooops!....I didn't put on enough sunscreen!)

{Photo of crocuses in my garden}

Is it Spring yet?..............

The temperatures are beginning to rise - leading to more rain or sleet than snow below 1000 metres.

Most of the snow lying beside the house here is well cooked and melting away - some of it into our garage! We've lifted the 'stuff' that lives down there from the floor so it doesn't get wet.  This is 'stuff' like skis, boots, bikes, tools, snorkelling gear, camping gear, old clothes, empty boxes...............etc. 

Skiing today started well, then the sun disappeared and with it the light, leaving us with poor visibility and an early stop for tea!

The small garden birds I've been feeding all winter are becoming more active and have started singing in the morning now. They're all dressed in their finest which is definitely a sign of Spring approaching.

Other signs I'm looking out for are:- the first green shoots of crocuses in the garden, groups of cyclists in lots of lycra, brush burning by locals, and the most telling..............fishermen in full 'Decathlon' camouflage gear skulking on the river bank! 

When I've seen all these things I will know it's Spring. 

I was once told that Spring moves North 16 miles a day so then it should be possible to work out when the Winter will end in Scotland..........................

{Photo across the valley}