A walk in the woods

Today we did a relatively short local circular walk to Noarre, which we've done before. No doubt it was easy for everyone else, but I'd forgotten how much climbing there is at the beginning, and I haven't done any serious walking since March. I don't think a daily swim really prepares you for this. However, it was a lovely day, and almost all of the walk is in the woods, so it was nice and shady.  Stats: 5 1/2 km, 300 m climbing, four hours, but that includes a very long coffee break.

After the drought we've had for the last few months, it was lovely to be constantly within earshot of the gurgling river. It had been dry here too, but a dramatic storm last weekend resulted in snow on the peaks and a group of people having to be rescued, suffering from hypothermia. I guess this flow represents the snowmelt -- there's none left now.

In Noarre, we found G and A's friends A and M-J at home in the little stone house they spend three or four months in during the summer. They were happy to make us coffee, and S produced the remaining brownies from his rucksack. M-J was born here, but they've lived in France for many years, so general chat in French ensued. It was nice to meet them, as G and A have mentioned them to us often.

We walked back via the waterfall and had a Spanish hour lunch (3 pm) of various cold cuts and salad. Then we universally felt a bit tired and had siestas of varying lengths assorted with reading, accordion playing, and crocheting. We know how to live!

Now the sun is over the yardarm (it goes behind the mountain at about six) so G&Ts all round, followed by an eclectic dinner of various dishes we brought with us, and the clafoutis we didn't have room for last night because we ate too much delicious tagine.