Mineral

A Tuesday walk on a very hot afternoon -- setting off in 30C heat with almost no wind was not ideal for a tough climb up the hills outside Cesseras, mostly shadeless garrigue and vineyards. The views from the top over the gorge de la Cesse towards Minerve were fabulous, but by 6 pm we were still about 2 km from the cars, hot and exhausted after half an hour descending a rocky gully full of ankle-breaking crevasses so you had to decide at every step where to safely place your foot. We finished the walk on the road to save time. 4 hours, 8 km, 280 m climbing (but it seemed like more). Phew!

The extensive vineyards on top of the plateau (blip) are composed almost entirely of broken up stone -- the type of terrain that is ideal for vins doux naturels like Muscat de St Jean. 

I got home in time for a swift and much-needed shower and change before dinner at I's. After such an exhausting and dehydrating afternoon it probably was not a good idea to drink several glasses of wine ... by midnight I was about ready to keel over. Lucky it's only about 50 metres from her house to ours. A large glass of water and fall into bed.