23 July - Grenoble

Our modus operandi is 'Walk Day followed by Off Day'. A wonderful leisurely start to the off day necessitated lying in bed and reading for quite a while. Coffee in a nearby square was the entree to spending the next few hours in the Musee de Grenoble. We had read that it was considered to be one of better museums in Europe, particularly for its collection of historic, contemporary and modern art. Many of its works were by such notable personages as Picasso, Gauguin, Sisley, Reubens, Monet amongst others. It was indeed a great experience wandering through the galleries. We were also very interested to see the art on display by Soutine, Picasso, Chagall and Braque, all of  who spent quite a bit of time staying and painting with Picasso in our home town of Ceret. On top of this, there was a small but perfectly formed display of Egyptian hieroglyphics and funerary objects.

Masters paintings - Museum of Grenoble

Silhouette of the painter, Andre Lhote, as he paints a double portrait of a woman

Marcel Gromaire, very cool

Emerging, feeling pretty privileged to have seen such an interesting collection of art, we walked the short distance back to the Old Quarter and chose a small restaurant in the shade to have a light lunch. To complete our cultural education for the day, we then headed over to the other side of  the river to visit the Archaeological Museum. This was another intriguing find. It was actually housed in a Romanesque church, which was constructed over a very early Christian burial site, with a crypt also dug into the ground. It was a multi-layered structure, telling the story of the assorted eras of development. Inside it was possible to peer into many of the unearthed tombs, complete with bones, and appreciate the high level of frescoes that once existed on the walls. It was well worth the visit.

Tombs buried below the church (Archaeological Museum)

Individual graves plus walls of bones

Egyptian hieroglyphics on a stele from 1330 BC.

Casket in amazing condition

Home to a quiet evening. As with everywhere else in France, and possibly Europe, the temperatures continue to be high. It's mid-30s here.

20-22 July - To Grenoble

We left Die at 9am on Friday morning. We’d decided to give the lavender distillery another go. It opened at 9am, with the first tour scheduled half an hour later. The overwhelming aroma of lavender greeted us as soon as we got out of the car, and after stumbling around the complex a little, found the outlet shop for their lavender products. Soon found out we were the only ones present for the 9:30am tour. A lovely young lass, presumably a daughter of the family business, showed up to give us a cheerful run-down (in English) of the different varieties of lavender and how the extraction process works. It’s an exceedingly simple process – just toss the harvested stalks into a cylinder, add steam, the oils and water combine, then are condensed after being piped into a holding vat. The oil separates and floats to the top and is syphoned off. Simple!

Lavender field beside the distillery.

Hefting the harvested lavender into the silo, prior to steaming it.

Back on our way at 10am, and this time I drove over the Col de Rousset (John did yesterday's trip). The valley on the other side was very different to the one we left, turning from cropped fields to rolling pasture, Animals (it’s been so rare to see any so far) and pretty farmhouses nestled below the treeline. This valley is noted as being particularly pretty, and this is why we chose this route. En route we drove through an amazing gorge, complete with overhanging cliffs, narrow roads, minimal roadedge barriers and some rural traffic.

Seriously challenging gorge

Late morning was scheduled for a coffee stop in one particular village, noted for its 400+ year-old lime tree in the village square. We duly had our coffee there as recommended in our guide book. 

Coffee stop beneath the lime tree planted in 1597

For once we had only a short driving day, so had the leisure of not feeling rushed. The last village in the valley, Villards-de-Lans, was pretty, complete with a backdrop of ski-fields and a tobogganing area right on its doorstep. What an amazing landscape. Irrespective of it being the peak summer season, there were very few tourists about, confirmed by a chat with the waitress who served us a simple but tasty lunch in one of the restaurants. Town was indeed very quiet.

John found a cheese that's just the right size

Ski field in the distance, tobogganing track next to Villards-de-Lans

Back on the road, we anticipated the short 30-minute drive remaining into Grenoble would see us happily parked up in our reserved carpark space near the centre of the city by 2pm. However, we hadn’t accounted for the Tour de France. We knew the cycle race was crossing from the east of Grenoble to its west during the morning, but, even after lunchtime, there was a deviation away from the main road, which necessitated taking a small winding route into Grenoble itself, and then the numerous deviations and roadblocks within town meant we took perhaps an extra 40 minutes circling the street system to get to our parking garage. It was a relief to finally make it. 

We don't know why they do it, but the French have a habit of making directions and traffic flow unnecessarily complex. They love a good roundabout, and scatter them at kilometre intervals along many of the departmental routes. A prime example of their desire for complexity was a Decathlon (sports store) carpark in Die. It had perhaps 10 cars parked of 200 spaces, so was not by any means likely to be full, ever. It was away from anywhere else, and had a single access road in. To get into the carpark required a left turn, a right, a right, a right, a left, a left and a left before we could get to a parking space. Getting out was just as convoluted, except it apparently needed a roundabout as well! Anywhere else would have had the road go straight into and out of the carpark, and leave people to sort themselves out from there. Aaaarrrgh!

John had taken the precaution to pre-book a car space for the week we are here  in Grenoble, otherwise it would have cost an arm and several legs to pay day-by-day. The car parking area is also only 5 minutes’ walk from our apartment, and so easy to transfer our bags. By now it was 4pm. We’d organised to meet our host at the apartment’s doorstep at 5pm, so wandered around the Old Quarter a bit. However, it was seriously hot and we just wanted to get ourselves sorted so called our host. She turned up on a cycle 5 minutes later, let us in to a lovely apartment, located above a restaurant and just a few minutes’ walk from the Old Quarter. We went back to collect our bags from the car, flopped down for a bit, then out for a wander again, buying a bread on the way to have with salad for dinner.

The neighbourhood we are in is full of antiques shops, and we are looking forward to having a poke around a number of them. The first one we dipped into on Saturday morning held a wooden screen that very much took John’s fancy. However, it was extremely, heavy, large, expensive and awkward to think about trying to transport. Other than that he would definitely have considered buying it. The entire historic centre here is filled with people in the late morning, many having coffee, some shopping, but it goes very quiet from noon (except the eating establishments) until about 5pm. After that everything cranks up again, and even on Saturday the shops are open until about 7pm. John made a major discovery while looking up Tripadvisor for places to eat, finding a Kiwi-owned café was just a few hundred metres away, called Kai-Iwi. Naturally we included it on our walk around about in the early evening and I enjoyed a divine Flat White, my first in months. The café was set up by a guy from Waikanae, who, we imagine, married a French woman. We’ll be back to find out more, and possibly have a few more coffees... 

We cooked up a simple spaghetti and tomato dish for dinner, but enjoyed hearing all the voices and laughter from those dining in the restaurant below or wandering along the streets. 

Sunday we had planned to be a walk day. We’d searched out a few that looked as though they’d give us great views over Grenoble from the mountain slopes above, and set off on the short drive to the first of these at 8:30am. The winding road took us part-way up a decent hillside, which was good news because it meant there was less height for us to have to gain on foot. However in the end the walk turned out to be a bit too easy and uneventful. Much of the walk was along a gravel 4WD track, followed by a nice trickle through forest and a bit of pasture-land near the ridge, but it wasn’t too exciting. Unfortunately, even though we’d headed off with brilliant blue skies, and the forecast for the day, and next four days, was for clear sunny skies, by the time we got to the ridgetop clouds were skudding around and the view over Grenoble and surrounding mountains was seriously diminished. A shame, but perhaps that happens a lot. We are up in an alpine area after all, and the weather is presumably pretty changeable. We had a violent thunderstorm the first afternoon/evening we were here – it was great.

View of Grenoble and surrounding mountains from our walk

The tightly clustered Old Quarter

We tried to find a fort and chateau marked on our map on the short drive back to the centre of town but missed out on both counts. Just couldn’t track down their locations in the myriad of little hillside streets. By noon we had parked the car back in its slot, and decided it was high time for a coffee, prior to having lunch back at our place. As always, it is so nice to feel you can order one small coffee and be able to sit happily at a table, without having to jump up and vacate it, either because you’ve finished your drink or think you should free up the space. France, and no doubt many other countries do this so well. Back in NZ I know you feel you can’t just sit back for ages and watch the world go by, or read a magazine or whatever while the tables are full. Here there is no pressure to move on whatsoever. We have made this observation many times. It’s an interesting thought that NZ, and Aussie, are considered to be very laid back, but we don’t feel we can allow ourselves to chill out at a table for as long as we like. Either a waiter will clear your dishes away, and therefore imply ‘you’re finished here’, or you feel the pressure to move on yourself. 

We also love the way that the traffic in the very heart of the city is so calm. Pedestrians, trams, cycles, cars, and delivery vehicles all go about their business in a seemingly leisurely way. There is no rush, no urgency and it's all quite quiet. The numerous cyclists (typically not wearing helmets) wend their way around the streets at a gentle pace in any direction on any street or tramway, everyone lets everyone else in or waits patiently behind until any congestion is cleared, nobody toots. It combines to give a remarkably gentle and pleasant pace of life.

  

We’re enjoying being in Grenoble, and viewing a little of French city life. It’s certainly different to Céret or even the larger places further south. People are more smartly dressed, tend to be in pretty good shape, and are taller and stronger than down south. I guess that’s because we are not so far away from Germany, Holland and similar countries. There is a great mix of ethnicities. 

Road cycling is major pastime in France, and we have passed countless numbers, often old grey-haired men, grinding their way up the innumerable hills and passes we have driven over. The Tour-de-France spirit is alive and well.

While making these observations, one thing that constantly sticks out is the proliferation of smoking. We just can’t get used to seeing so many people smoking, or someone lighting up who you just wouldn’t think of as a smoker back in NZ. So many young girls and boys are smokers, often with pot too. It’s a sad state of affairs, and often detracts from the enjoyment when we’re sitting enjoying a coffee and then become enveloped in smoke when one or more light up at the next table. It sometimes means we have to beat a hasty retreat.

16-19 July - Die, Drôme

Arriving in Die, we got straight into our little apartment right on the edge of the main street. A latish lunch next door at a rather hippy-style bio cafe, and we did little else than a orientation wander around Die. It was very hot, and we were not inclined to do much. We treated ourselves to a nice dinner at Restaurant Mazel. For me the highlight was an excellent cheese course of Bleu de Vercors, Picodon (a soft goat's cheese), St Marcellin and a Brebis de Montagne. All were local, and all delicious. One of the delights of France is the variation of food from place to place.

On the following day we did a walk up from a particularly pretty village, Chatillon-en-Diois. It took us up from the town, south up a hillside and over a ridge, then along above the valley to the Col des Caux. Every walk we've done seems to bring something different, and on this one it was the alpine forest of beeches. A fair old climb up, but a nice easy return, followed by a beer at a very pretty little square in Chatillon.

Lovely beech forest

Square with fountain in Chatillon-en-Diois

A few Skypes to start Wednesday morning, then we set off to see a mosaic at a little old chapel. The chapel opened its doors at 10am, so while we waited for it to open up had a little wander around the local market, which was in full swing. It was similar in many ways to Céret's market, though we have definitely noticed a major inclination here towards things hippyish. There are clearly large numbers in town. It has the feeling of a very laid-back chilled lifestyle, though there are quite a few tourists buzzing around town at the same time.

The mosaic turned out to be a fabulous surprise. It was in a now-nondescript building which had once been the bishop's residence, but the one little chapel room had just been left alone. We had imagined the mosaic might be Roman, but it was much later, and a charmingly naive interpretation of the four rivers of antiquity. Quite a little jewel.

Mosaic of the 4 Rivers

Wednesday was a non-walking day, so we went swimming at the local pool. At least we weren't walking up hills, but we did put in a fair few lengths, and I course I did some aqua-jogging while John turned the other way and tried to disown me. The noon-day sun told us it was time to go, so we seated ourselves at the little restaurant we'd had dinner at the night before. The food was so good, we thought we'd treat ourselves, and at just 12.50E for a 3 course lunch, it was very nice. A much-needed and we have to say rare snooze after lunch before we jumped in the car and drove the 6km along a narrow valley road to search out the Abbaye de Valcroissant. 

One hour guided visits are only given at 5pm just 3 times a week so we were lucky to be able to manage one. The abbey was built in the 11th century, though much of the original structure had been destroyed. There is also plenty of 'new' building work attached to it and the entire complex is now part of a working farm. The guide was a very earnest Frenchman, very nice and clearly passionate and knowledgeable about the abbey and its history, but unfortunately he spoke so softly that we caught only the odd phrase in the entire one-hour tour. It was quite disappointing for us to find the French so difficult. However, we both loved looking around the structures, and it was fascinating to see how the chapel and other parts of the complex had been stabilised, as opposed to restored, and formed an integral part of a large and presumably viable farm. 

Abbaye de Valcroissant, now a working farm building and home

On Thursday we got ourselves fabulously organised and set off early (8am!!) to beat the heat of the day on our next major trek. First we had to drive the tortuous 30min up the mountainside to the Col de Rousset. The hairpin bends were quite spectacular. Unfortunately we have to drive them twice more, once back down the mountain to get back for our last night in Die, and then again the next morning when we head north to Grenoble. Given the limited options for accommodation nearby, this was the only way we could have done this walk.

We chose to walk to Les Rochers de l'Aiglette via the Col de Chironne because it looked to offer incredible views. It started a little surprisingly with a narrow track glued to the very edge of the mountain, some of it actually chipped out from the rock. Most of the route was then through high summer pastures. However, as we progressed towards the end of the spur, the views were indeed spectacular. There weren't too many peaks higher than ours. We had extensive vistas over mountains, towns afar, cultivated fields in the valleys... and a military helicopter which seemed to be circling around searching for something in the ranges. The sheep flocks here have patou to look after them. These are big white fluffy sheepdogs which are raised all their lives with the sheep, and serve to protect them from humans, wolves and bears - the latter two of which are making a human-aided return to much of France.

 Start of the walk

Then beech forest

Pasture across the tops, not what you might expect in the alps

View back along the ridge. Tiny dot on the skyline at the top is a mountainbiker

Feels pretty much on top of the world, 1550m

Vulture soaring, waiting for exhausted hikers

To top this off, two vultures were using the updraughts to circle around, coming quite near to investigate after I deliberately flailed my walking poles in the air. As usual we had loaded up with 3 bottles of water when we set out, but being so high up in the mountains, and on the ridges where there was a bit of breeze, we were much cooler and didn't overheat for once. I even tipped some water out to lighten my load. We think we were definitely feeling the altitude to some extent though. Our pace was definitely slower than usual, and short hard sections of track uphill really got us huffing and puffing. We got up to 1550m. A fantastic varied walk, one of our best ever.

With the early start we got back to the car a bit about 11.30am. We were hoping to visit a lavender distillery on the way back, with the final guided tour of the morning set for noon, however, we didn't make it in time. Also, being after noon, the entire place was shut for lunchtime. We opted to drive the remaining 15 minutes back into Die and have a lunch at home. Like every other day here, the afternoons are very quiet - it is so hot that few are out and about. We are right in the main street, next to a cafe/bar, and there is not a sound to be heard.

Who would have thought there'd be a lovely Japanese restaurant in Die in the Drome?

Japanese Bento meal at Estaminette Yamaneko, Die

15 July Digne les Bains

We awoke during the night to hear rain on the roof, and plenty of thunder rolling around the hills. It continued in the morning so we stayed in bed a little and caught up on some sleep. The sun started to break through before 9am so we decided to head off on the walk we had planned for the day - a 3km walk through forest alongside the river to a well-rated geopark. The walk was lovely, unfortunately the geopark mostly consisted of obscure cerebral art (e.g. a wooden box around a dead tree-trunk), in an overgrown garden. Payment wasn't required until we reached the building at the very top of the garden, having walked through the greater part of it. By the time we were over halfway through we decided the place was a dead loss and not worth the 8 Euros each to see a few display cases of fossils in the building at the top. It was really disappointing to see the place so run down, and unenticing. 

Twisted landforms, with older layers overlying younger rocks.

We retraced our steps along the riverside track and emerged back in Dignes at 11:30am, in time for a much-needed coffee. A quick look around town to try and track down a big screen TV to watch the greatly-anticipated France vs Croatia World Cup final later this afternoon drew a bit of a blank. A number of the bars have small screens inside, but we didn't see any decent outdoor screens, unlike Ceret. Not to worry, we would follow the crowds later in the day and hopefully find a seat somewhere. A cheap lunch of a slice of lamb, frites and salad, then back to our apartment for a cooler temperature and a few hours rest. The extreme temperatures here are making us feel weary, especially with the high humidity. Rain and thunderstorms were still threatening.

Digne, from across the river

The following morning, we packed up, filled up the car and set off for Die, still in the Drome region. This consists of mostly narrow valleys, with ancient high mountains all around.

On the way we passed through Le Claps, where a massive layer of rock had split off a mountainside and left a fabulous jumble of massive angular boulders on the valley bottom. There was also a via ferrata, a French or Italian thing where a track is made up a rock face consisting of iron, hence the ferrata, U-shaped foot and handholds cemented onto the rock. There'a also a wire rope beside onto which the climber is attached for safety.

The rockfall at Le Claps

14 July - Velodrome and Lame de Facibelle

Given the temperatures, we knew we'd have to set off early for our planned walk, and managed a getaway by 8am, near a record for us. I'd mapped out a 15km loop covering a couple of amazing geological features - the Velodrome d'Esclangon and the Lame de Facibelle. The former is a huge basin that looks rather like a tracked cycle velodrome, and the 50m-high Lame (blade) de Facibelle is an extraordinary narrow vertical wall of rock sticking up from the surrounding land.I can't emphasise enough how good it is to be able to make routes on the computer, then load them on the phone and watch. it opens up so many possibilities, all in great safety as we know exactly where we are at all times.

With the heat, we decided that the full 15km loop would have been too much, so we chose to walk up to a lookout at Vieil Esclangon to view the Velodrome from above, and to do a shorter walk direct to the Lame. Wise choice as it turned out as both tracks involved an awful lot of high steps. The view walk was lovely, and quite unlike our southern French walks. The trees were clearly alpine - beeches and conifers, and still plenty of alpine flowers about.

The start of the walk

Amazing geology, many of the formations look man-made

The area is known for its unusual geology. The hills are an amazing mess of folded, rippled and shattered lines of rock, and this was most evident when we reached the viewpoint at the top, overlooking the Velodrome. What an amazing sight - it's said to be one of the best panoramas in Europe. The Velodrome itself is special, but the Lame sticking up out of it is spectacular. It is so narrow that you wonder how it could possibly still be standing.

The Velodrome d'Escalangon, with the Lame de Facibelle at its centre

A close-up of the Lame de Facibelle

Back down to the car and one kilometre back to the track to the Lame. Another nice track culminating at the foot of the Lame, which is just as amazing from its foot below as from well above. We felt we'd had quite enough climbing and steps for the day as we headed back towards Digne.

Lame de Facibelle from below

Last stop was a wall of ammonites that was uncovered in the '90s. Hundreds of them from 70cm downwards.

Dalle des Ammonites

All that took us through to a latish lunchtime, which we managed at a simple cafe in the centre of Digne. Next to us was a table of three - a couple about 45-ish, and the mother of one of them. Over the full three-quarters of an hour we were there the mother virtually never stopped talking, the younger woman said quite a bit, and the man spoke literally one 4-word sentence at the 35-minute mark. He looked interminably bored, and we imagine this could well be a Saturday lunchtime ritual he suffers each week. He had to pay, of course. We found it all hilarious.

14th July was Bastille Day, so all around the country the storming of the Bastille is celebrated, typically by fireworks at night, and often with a range of other festivities during the evening. After our serious walk in the morning we enjoyed a welcome siesta in the afternoon, ate a scanty dinner of bread, cheese, tomato and peppers, then headed off to see the fireworks at 10pm. They were set off from the riverbed, between the two main bridges in town. The population of Digne (18,000) is over double that of Ceret, and there must have been many thousands of people out and about to watch the event. The fireworks were indeed spectacular, though we were naturally biased and thought Ceret puts on a better display. 

We were absolutely delighted in our walks earlier in the day. Being up in the Alps, the the riverbeds descending to the valley floor as just the same as in NZ - wide, braided and gravelled, with teal-coloured water. It makes us think of home. It really is splendid country. Digne is surrounded on three sides by steep mountains and on the other by a very wide riverbed. 

The town of Digne-les-Bains

It has suffered from huge floods in the past, and also a fair number of earthquakes. It is the earthquakes that have uplifted and twisted the land mass, forming the incredible landforms in the mountains around about. There are also hot springs here but we're not tempted to jump in given the daily temperatures.

12-13 July Ceret - Digne les Bains

Wow, it's been hot. Seriously hot. We managed to get in a run/walk before breakfast, closely followed by a visit from our tenants-to-be from October onwards. They wanted to see how they could organise televising German channels on our TV. They stayed for an hour, during which time they also gave us many good ideas of places to visit while we are in the Colmar area, as Daniele came from Alsace.

We put the finishing touches on readying the apartment and did our final packing just half an hour before our guests from Nelson arrived mid-afternoon. They brought with them a thunderstorm and very heavy rain. We opened a bottle of bubbly and offered them a 'welcome to Ceret' pastry before we all went to the car park in between showers to collect their bags and drop off most of ours. Unfortunately the heavens opened again while we were in the carpark and we all got soaked. Nevertheless, John and I were keen to hit the road by 5pm, so soon jumped in the car, turned up the temperature (that felt really weird) and pointed the car in the direction of Sète, two hours away to the north. 

We soon dried out and 'warmed' to being on the road (apologies for the pun), using the toll road for once so that we made good time and also didn't get too bogged down in holiday traffic. Since the start of July France has started going on holiday and it will be totally shut down and clogged up by August. There's definitely a lot of traffic but most of it seemed to be heading south. That's why we are heading north, although Sète is in fact on the coast so it was getting its fair share of seaside-heading traffic. Our trip went well until the last 5 kilometres, which took us 20 minutes. 

We had been to Sète twice before. It's very picturesque, with a marina, canals and a working fishing port. We'd booked a hotel for the night, over the hill from the centre. It was a shambles trying to get into our room at 5pm. First the reception wasn't open (was supposed to be until 7pm), the 24hr automatic machine by the door that was supposed to let you register and enter the locked doors wouldn't let us do so either by Option 1, entering our name, Option 2, inserting our credit card, nor Option 3, typing in our reservation number. The last resort was the after-hours telephone number posted on the door, but no-one was answering. After half an hour we were getting pretty frustrated. Thankfully a nice guy who was going in asked if we were having problems. He said he had had issues too when he tried to register a few weeks ago. He hadn't seen any of the breakfasts he had ordered for himself or others for the past three weeks either. Anyway, he tried ringing up the after-hours number on his phone and got a response. No idea why we didn't - we use an ordinary French phone card when in France. The guy on the other end just said go up to Room 324 and the key will be on the bed inside. So, at least we had a bed for the night. We were envisaging having to sleep in the car, since we'd never get a bed anywhere near in the busy holiday season. By 8:30pm our plans to have a long quiet meal out had disappeared. We were too tired. Instead we jumped in the car, drove to the closest bunch of cheap restaurants, chose one that still had a vacant table and ordered some skewers of meat and frites and one moule-frites. We tossed that down, couldn't get enthused to spend 7 Euro per dessert (it's definitely holiday prices here) so walked to the supermarket nearby and came away with a box of 6 ice cream trumpets for 2 Euros! They started to melt instantly, but we manfully got through them OK. By 9:30pm we were in bed!

With yesterday's rather abortive start to our holiday under our belt, we figured we'd start the trip afresh in the morning. With just a brief stop at a boulanger to pick up some pastries for breakfast, we drove round the hill to the central canal of Sète. We managed to fluke a carpark so decided to stop and have a coffee before putting some miles under our belt. A great coffee it was too, and a pleasant half hour watching the boat traffic. We are sure Sete could be a lovely place to live, except it has a much hotter and windier climate than Ceret, and the landscape around about is flat and marshy. We love the hills too much to consider it.

Looking along the main canal of Sète

Onward through very pretty country, with the roads often lined with tall plane trees on either side, dappling the road in shade. Around midday we knew the holiday travellers would be sitting down to lunch in the restaurants en route so we set to looking for one ourselves. We soon spotted a routier restaurant (a roadside restaurant) - the Route 66 Restaurant. There were a number of trucks parked outside so we knew the food must be good. Trucks and workers' vehicles are always a sign to look for when you are after a good feed in France. Indeed it was extremely tasty, bountiful and cheap. The menu de jour consisted of a salad and quiche, followed by incredibly tender roast pork with lentils, and fruit salad and coffee to finish. All for 14 Euros. With that meal we knew we wouldn't have to worry much about dinner! 

Roast pork and lentils - not flash in any way but delicious and honest

On the way again by 1pm, soon passing beside the Plateau de Valensole. This was supposed to give us unsurpassed views of extensive lavender fields in full bloom. We saw a small field of young scruffy bushes but virtually nothing else. We know we are definitely in lavender country, but were just below the Plateau itself where they must grow. It was rather disappointing. I'd also tried to take some photos of fields of sunflowers but they were all facing the wrong way, as they invariably do.

The only other waypoint on this trip was to see the 'Penitents de Mees'. This is a very high, very long deeply eroded cliff-face which borders the town of Mees. Legend has it that the eroded mounds are monks that were turned to stone because they got a little over-excited observing some charming Muslim women.

Some of the Penitents de Mees

Only another half hour and we arrived in Digne-les-Bains, our stop for the next 3 nights. It was still 35 degrees when we arrived at 4pm, having been 38 degrees a little earlier. We didn't expect the temperature to be so high because we have been climbing steadily on our way north and were already well elevated above the coast. We puffed into the Tourist Info Centre and picked up some maps. Unfortunately one of the walks we were planning to do, to see a fossilised ichthyosaur, was closed off for renovation work. It being 4:30pm,  and us hot and weary, we opted to look through the geological museum another day and just head to our accommodation. 

Unfortunately, this turned into another bit of a drama. We'd booked the Gambetta Apartments Airbnb, thought we had found the address OK, and after a few false starts tracked down the route to enter the car park area at the rear of that building. We had apparently been sent a parking map that morning by email but we hadn't had data on. We'd also been phoned earlier to say they were giving us a different room in the apartment block, just climb the stairs and the key is in the room on Level 2. However, the apartment block was huge and had four doors. We rang back - which door and stairwell do we use? "Oh, you're at the wrong building. You're actually not staying at those Gambetta apartments, you're staying a few doors down." Thanks for telling us. Reversed, found the accessway for a block further down signposted Fontainbleu apartments, and followed the directions to the building next door to this. Thankfully there was only one entrance, so up the stairs to Level 2, opened the door and inside was a nice little apartment, plus a door key. We then tried to find the key to lock the main door when we went out. No luck. Rang up again - "Oh, we don't have a key for the main door. It's never locked." Thanks for telling us. Airbnb is great, but so often there are issues meeting the managers, or finding the place. There's something to be said for hotels, though not those with defunct auto check-ins obviously!

Not a problem in the end, after a cool shower to let our temperatures cool off a little, we walked the few hundred metres (still 34 degrees) to the local supermarket to buy some yoghurt, some bread and a few odd and sods. Needless to say it was bread and cheese for dinner and an early night.

Remarkably, the temperature dropped a lot during the night and we were actually a bit cold with just a sheet on the bed. It dropped to about 18 degrees, I guess because we are in an alpine area now. Back in Ceret the temperature was often only getting down to the low-20s each night.

4-11 July Heatwave

The start of July was rather warm. Every day in the 31-34 degree range, with humidity a little higher than normal. To get our walks in, we had to get up a bit earlier and do them before breakfast in the cooler morning air. It's not a problem, but it would have been nice to get a cooler day every now and again.

The day after my nephew left we rushed down to the local pool which had recently opened. Unfortunately it was a particularly hot day, and it was packed! There were no lanes set up, so we attempted to go up and down dodging the many small locals frolicing in the middle of the pool. It was a little frustrating, but so nice being in the water and catching a little sun at the same time.

A big thrill during in the week was the departure of the owner below us, complete with all her possessions. She has not been the best of neighbours, with three horrible yappy dogs which went berserk each time we passed her apartment door. She'd been living in the apartment on and off, but without power, the meter having been removed due to non-payment of her bills, and worse still, without water either. We can't fathom how that worked. After a couple of days of her moving her tired gear out, the stairwell was deep in filth, with a complete thick layer of dog-hair. It wasn't pleasant. We've scrubbed it clean. She was behind in her share of the building costs, but thankfully the French system allows them to be taken from her sale price at handover mid-July. The new owners will be an English couple, one being an interior decorator. Perfect!

We did our normal complement of walks, and walks with sprints. but with lanes installed in the pool on Friday we were able to do two decent swims. It's so nice swimming outside rather than in an enclosed pool.

Friday saw us seeing two couples before they headed back to respectively Scotland and Sweden. It's a always tricky keeping up with friends here, with almost everyone coming back and forth from Ceret at different times.

Sunday saw us at a 141st birthday (she 70, he 71) up above Corsavy. We hitched a lift with another couple of guests which was nice. We enjoyed the lunch - it's a great place with lovely open views. It was quite an affair, held at their amazing mas (large farm house), complete with marquees erected to sit under for lunch. Another of our friends is a caterer and she produced an lovely meal.

On Tuesday we arranged to meet up with our autumn/winter tenants for a lunch at St-Genis-des-Fontaines. We get on very well with them - they are also very well-travelled and interested how other countries work. However they are finding living in their 10-metre camper in the middle of a busy French holiday camp a bit of a trial - just too many people around them all the time, particularly lots of noisy children. They have to head back to Luxembourg shortly to fulfil their residency requirements. Following a leisurely lunch we followed their new Jeep up to their house build above Villelongue-dels-Monts. The site is superb with great views out along the Alberes, past Laroque and out to the Mediterranean. I was fascinated with the build. Apparently it is the first architect-designed house that the main macon (builder) has done, so a bit of a learning curve for him. It all seems to be going well. Both Danielle and the macon were amazed by the amount of steel reinforcement. I was amazed by how little there was!

France beats Belgium!

The last few days have been spent packing up and cleaning the apartment, in readiness for our departure on 12th. This had to be fitted in around watching the World Cup football matches, Wimbledon and a bit of the Tour de France. With France playing Belgium in the quarter-final, all the bars, cafes and restaurants in town had at least one big screen TV mounted for the viewing pleasure of their patrons, and anyone else who wanted to pull up a chair and watch. The locals were definitely out in force, and when they won it was great fun for everyone. Not so much so for the English when they lost to Croatia last night - not nearly so many people out and about watching the big screens. Those that were were mostly English.