2 June - 9 June Montbolo Walk

Since we got back from our short break to Spain, the weather has been very wet, and often with decent thunderstorms and heavy rain in the afternoon. Hence, we tried to get our morning walks in before breakfast. Most afternoons have been spent putting a fair number of hours searching for and booking accommodation for our month-long trip to the Rhone Valley/French Alps when we have to relinquish our apartment to renters. We've also been researching what walks to do. We've finally got it all sorted. Some friends came around for dinner one evening, and we've had coffees and apero with others during the week. It's nice to be meeting new people.

The weather took a U-turn a few days ago and the forecast for the next 10 days is for most hot sunny weather, typically with temperatures in the high 20s. It's been a very sudden change.

We made the most of the improving weather by heading 15 mins up the valley to Amelie-les-Bains on Friday. There is a walk there we have done 3 times before. It starts with a sharp 1.5hr climb up a hill, thankfully through shaded forest, before emerging at a lovely little village, complete with 17th century church, at the top. The village boasts just one restaurant/cafe, and we'd planned our arrival to have a quick (small) beer/coffee at 11.30am, followed by the Menu de Jour at noon. It was a delicious meal, very simple but tasty. We recognised the owner from previous occasions. We suspected she was an alcoholic, and this time she definitely seemed under the weather. She was very shaky putting things on the table, and took immense care when placing the bottle of water and glasses. It was pretty sad to see. She didn't seem very happy. We know she is English, but had married a local and has lived in this rather secluded little village for years. 

Most of the way up the track - view across to the restaurant not too far away at the top

Village church on the left, restaurant centre (red umbrellas) and view down the valley.
The Mediterranean Sea is in the very distance

After recovering from the uphill effort, it took another 1.5hrs to make our way back down to the car, parked in the town on the valley floor. With a stop for groceries at Lidl on the way home, we were back by 4pm and well and truly ready to put our feet up. A great day all round. Bread and cheese for dinner while watching the French Tennis Open made for an easy evening. Unfortunately it was not so cruisy for John. Having had no side-effects from restarting coffee since we returned to France (4 weeks ago now) he took a dive in the evening, probably because he hadn't had a coffee that day and was a bit dehydrated. He ended up being sick and had an early night. As usual, he was absolutely fine the following day. We were really starting to believe he had reset his 'coffee clock' by abstaining for 3 full weeks before we left NZ but it seems it was just waiting in the wings ready to pounce back when he was a bit susceptible and low on fluids.