It seems that the principal purpose of this visit to France
is to show willing and be attentive to the various workmen
when they arrive at 8.00 in the morning and then
for Colm and I to get the hell out of the way for the day.

As yesterday promised to be an autumn peach of a day, sunshine
but temperatures in the low twenties,we decided to do a grand tour
of the Parc Regional de La Haute Languedoc, which involved us in
touring the Monts de l’Espinousse, its lakes and villages.

Not much pain in that I hear you say, Ah but this must be seen in
the light of research and development of someone who intends to
run a tourism project in the region.
(that’s my excuse anyway)

First stop was on the bridge of Vieussan, an allotment with a pump
directly into the Orb river

The Orb at 9.00 with the morning mist just clearing

On the Col de Cabaretou some one had created a monument
to the Cathars which had a nice primitive feel.

Next stop was le Lac de Laouzas, whic was created by damming
the Vebvre River.
All concrete on this side.

But all gentle lapping water on the other.

The dam was so high I just held the camera over the top
and clicked, the camera, fortunately doesn’t suffer from
Vertigo.

Continuing on we found the lovely village of Brusque.
(where the people were not in the least short with us)
This is from the bridge over the River Dourdou

We found this tower in the centre of the cobbled village.
It was incongruously attached to a much more modern
house.

It had a strange almost cruciform window at the base.
Once, possibly defensive, now filled with cobwebs.

Here also people had found the elusive Cardabelle, a sort of
native thistle, which can predict changes in the weather.
Now rare, Colm managed to find one up on the garrigue
so will soon be able to forecast rain from our own terrace.

early on in the day we had found these mushrooms in a
wood near Cabaretou. We thought we had done well but
then met an experienced mushroom hunter who told us
that only one was edible, and that was the littlest.
Ah Well!

Perhaps the best part of the day was home to nicely
chilled glasses of Picpoul de Pinet on the terrace.
Today the temperature is 35 C so we plan to take it easy.