ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER WALK (Languedoc)
I have stolen the title from fellow blogger, daily walker, and Orb valley 'neighbour' Pam Smith - find her blog here http://anotherdayanotherwalk.blogspot.fr/
I do well to walk every other day and these days rarely get past the 2-3 hour mark so its just a morning or afternoon randonnee, but Pam really does make it out every day, come hail, rain or shine - but then she does have a dog, Phoebe.
I was fortunate to go for a walk with Pam a couple of months ago and discovered what she doesn't know about walking in the extended Orb valley and surrounding mountains you could fit on the back of a stamp, fantastic knowledge.
She also started a facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/337053039794196/ 'Walks in the Languedoc' which every now and again I'll post some details of a walk or photos on. But not so much lately, as at this time of year with rising temperatures we tend to head for the hills, cooler climes, and these are mostly over in the Tarn department, which isn't part of the Languedoc.
We had a good walk above Mazamet prior to our grocery shop last weekend, always like to kill 2 birds with one stone! The circuit was called 'Hauts de Mole', it had a nice mix of terrain.
And on Tuesday I composed a circular walk between, Prouilhe, Sabo and Courniou - which I've only just realised are all in the Herault so could go on the Facebook page.
Prouilhe is one of the many little villages we walk through where we say 'Isn't this nice, I could live here if it wasn't a 15 minute drive to the shop', no big deal you think, until you have drive it nearly everyday and the route is verging on single track, and the shop doesn't really amount to much.
In Prouilhe there always seems to be someone walking about who says Bonjour to you, access is good and we could still do our shopping in St.Pons - but this is besides the point.
The walk -
Mostly on (very) minor roads, never saw a car the entire time, and a couple of stretches on shady paths, and a bit on the voie vert (old railway line). The main 'feature' of the walk was the 'big hole' (this is a bit Father Ted/Craggy island!), we had a bit of a conversation en route with a guy (dutch?) and he'd asked which direction we'd come in and had we seen the big hole in the road? well we hadn't come that way, so this phenomenon was still to come, so we looked forward with excitement!
Unfortunately it was just 2 areas were the side of the road had parted company down the hill, admittedly the second area was spectacular enough for me to think it best not to walk too near the edge - but not so spectacular to merit a photograph! Having expected a hole akin to a meteor strike right in the middle of the road we were a bit let down by the 'big hole' warning. The final bit up from the voie vert to Prouilhe was the killer, not really steep and not really hot under the trees - although there was a lot of perspiration going on, it just came a bit of a surprise, as if we had stuck to the road it would have been a fair bit shorter. And when you want to get back for the end of the Tour de France stage on TV this is an issue! Sabo is also a nice little collection of houses to walk through, I do like a bit of architecture on my walks.
I do well to walk every other day and these days rarely get past the 2-3 hour mark so its just a morning or afternoon randonnee, but Pam really does make it out every day, come hail, rain or shine - but then she does have a dog, Phoebe.
I was fortunate to go for a walk with Pam a couple of months ago and discovered what she doesn't know about walking in the extended Orb valley and surrounding mountains you could fit on the back of a stamp, fantastic knowledge.
She also started a facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/337053039794196/ 'Walks in the Languedoc' which every now and again I'll post some details of a walk or photos on. But not so much lately, as at this time of year with rising temperatures we tend to head for the hills, cooler climes, and these are mostly over in the Tarn department, which isn't part of the Languedoc.
We had a good walk above Mazamet prior to our grocery shop last weekend, always like to kill 2 birds with one stone! The circuit was called 'Hauts de Mole', it had a nice mix of terrain.
Prouilhe
Prouilhe is one of the many little villages we walk through where we say 'Isn't this nice, I could live here if it wasn't a 15 minute drive to the shop', no big deal you think, until you have drive it nearly everyday and the route is verging on single track, and the shop doesn't really amount to much.
In Prouilhe there always seems to be someone walking about who says Bonjour to you, access is good and we could still do our shopping in St.Pons - but this is besides the point.
The walk -
Mostly on (very) minor roads, never saw a car the entire time, and a couple of stretches on shady paths, and a bit on the voie vert (old railway line). The main 'feature' of the walk was the 'big hole' (this is a bit Father Ted/Craggy island!), we had a bit of a conversation en route with a guy (dutch?) and he'd asked which direction we'd come in and had we seen the big hole in the road? well we hadn't come that way, so this phenomenon was still to come, so we looked forward with excitement!
I was hoping for something like this - complete with men standing looking into it
scratching their heads!
Just before the end - Bee Town
But will we ever do the walk again? I guess just to see the further developments hole wise - will it get bigger, will it disappear? Literally 'watch this space'!
P.S. the wee shop in Corniou is the place to go if you like beer, owned by a Belgian, I think his aim is to sell every beer brewed in Belgium, and its quite cheap too.
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