Thursday, September 26, 2002

    Now we are finishing breakfast, planning the day. Elizabeth will have a day on her own. B and I are to travel, probably a hike.
    12:45 p.m. Passed through tiny Mas Audra, just past the back of Lake Salagou Dam. This a happy mistake—we meant to go the other way 'round the lake, but got off the track somehow. The road down into the river gorge and up out again passed right under the dam, and the bottom most part of it was marked with danger signs. It's obviously under water now and then! Incredible wildly eroded cliffsides in the gorge.
    5:25 p.m. We began our hike near St. Pierre de la Fage at 1:30. Eleven kilometers and "moyen" difficulty. Our guide book said three hours and the signs at the trail head said four. With a brief stop in Palatges for lunch, we finished about five p.m., so three and a half hours, including a lunch stop.
    It was a beautiful walk. Blue sky, crystal clear air, sunlight making the greens sparkle, mountains in the distance (the Pyrenees?), eroded rock faces thrusting up from steep pine clad slopes falling into the valley.
    The light is incredible. The French language walking guide (purchased in the bookstore in St. G.) L'Herault à pied was fine--no trouble following it. Well, one or two places, particularly in the town of Parlatges, where there was a bit of a question in our minds, but we always found the very good blazes again and carried on.
    We were walking on fire roads and foot trails through the foret domaniale de Parlatges, a forest of pines planted in the 1940s to prevent erosion. (We think that's what the guide is telling us!) Midway through the hike we went through the tiny town of Parlatges. It was no more than two dozen houses around an old church, nestled in the valley at the source of the river. So, we walked along the valley, down into it and up out again. In town, we stopped at the village green to eat our trail lunch of bread, apple, cheese and sausage. On one edge of the green was an eau potable fountain, and right next to that a big barbecue! Three bars of soap and a drinking glass were set behind the fountain. There was also a very nice bus shelter, here in the middle of what seems to us, except for this tiny hamlet, to be the middle of nowhere.
    This was a place of indecision about the trail. We had trouble with the French in our guide book, and could not see the next blaze. B walked about a bit, following his good instincts and the map and found a blaze, and we were on our way again, over the tiny river and up a fantastically long steep slope.
    As we ascended a bit, we looked back. I took a picture of B pointing to "his" house – a place he would like to live. I took lots of photos along the way, and aside from three people in town, we saw no one at all on the trail. Well, there were two fierce poodles guarding the church, two dogs in a fenced yard and two cats disdaining the dogs. There was also a hawk circling low near the end of the walk (B said our guardian spirit, going in circles), a crowing rooster, one brave lizard, ravens calling and the wind roaring in the pines.
    I'm writing this in the car while B walks back a bit to take pictures. A wonderful, perfect day. Remember the light through the field of clover above town—luminous in a way I've never seen. The big wild rosemary bushes along the trail. The flower is from the walk. It has a lovely scent and the color is the same as my pink tee shirt. Now, home, maybe the Intermarché in Lodeve, and see if E has bought all the postcards in Couvertoirade. And supper!
    9:45 As we were leaving the trail head, we saw a goatherd and his white dog walking their goats across the rough road. Our hiking guide book told us to stop in Saint Pierre la Fage and find the chapelle caussenarde typique. We did, and it was lovely. I bet we got some good pictures! We think a causse has something to do with a mountain or hill, and that the type of chapel is so named for the conical pillars at its corners.

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