LAST 'WINTER' WALK (Escales, Aude)

It was the last walk of the 'winter' calendar yesterday for the WIC group (Women's International Club). We were in the Aude for a change, and surprisingly the temperature seemed to stay at about 33 degrees down on the plain, much the same as St.Pons, even though at times there is often up to a 10 degree difference with the change in altitude. A short report because it was a short walk, just an hour instead of the usual 2, curtailed because of the temperature, for goodness sake! they are all low landers, they should be used to it!

 

Windmills turning in the distance, grasses blowing in the breeze.

 

 

The walk is called 'Le Tour de Escales' (I think) in its entirety it is just 4km long and there is also another longer walk starting from the centre of the village so it may be worth returning one day. Although we were 'down on the plain' as we call it, this area is a little ripple of garrigue hills between the canal du Midi and the coast.

 

Our walk leader for the day has just taken delivery of a bee colony, and was like a proud parent with photographs a plenty on his phone and tales to tell, we thought he'd set up his hive some weeks previous, but it had only been the previous night they had arrived, he was so excited! I bet he hadn't slept the previous night fretting that his new babies would fly off in the morning and not find their way back to their new home. The garrigue should be bee heaven for them, although the term sort of means scrub land, the scrub is full of aromatics; tyme, rosemary, and thistles, cistus and wild flowers.

 

 

 

The walk and hive visit over we had a lovely drink by his pool, as we said whilst out walking, 'how lucky we are'. I seem to have fallen into the habit of taking photos of me with my feet up, I'm sorry because they aren't particularly attractive feet.