Picture postcards

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We've been off-line for 7 long weeks, hence the long silence. You really don't want to know the long drawn out saga of bungling and non co-operation involving the three main players: France Telecom, NordNet and us. So I won't tell you.

But for the last fortnight, we've enjoyed having visitors from England, and have had the greatest fun being tourists in our own adopted region. Here then, are a few picture postcards from the South of France

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Photos

Poppies
I wasn't clever enough to get images of the poppy fields that seem to be everywhere at the moment. These few floweres will have to do

Lac de Montbel
A nearby playground to relax ansd swim, and often impossibly blue in the summer

Arques
Over the last 2 weeks, with 2 sets of guests, we've had some enthusiasm for visiting castles. This is our first

Roquefixade
One of our neighbouring castles

Quéribus
This castle, one of the last Cathar strongholds, faces Peyrepertuse in one direction. Both make commanding statements against the sky

It's hard to know which is more impressive,...
..the castle itself, or the views from it

Peyrepertuse
In its heyday in the 13th century, 800 people lived here. It seems plenty big enough for all of them

Almost as impressive as the castle itself, and the views....
...are the flowers at Peyrepertuse. Our best treat was to see hosts of hummingbird hawkmoths gathering nectar. But they didn't wait to have their photos taken. Not by me, anyway

This is the standard picture postcard view of Peyrepertuse...
...but it's so astonishing to stand at the highest part of the castle, and see that there's still so much of it below you

The Gorges de Galamus
Unphotographable. But this is the river running through

An attempt at a view.....
...of the water, far below in the narrow gorge which the then ribbon of river has carved

A wild walk
My London based son & daughter in law requested a wild walk. We took them beyond Aston, well on the way to Spain. We start with a stream....

...and climb higher.....
...through forest, then meadows of summer flowers, broom and azalea

In the distance were a group of Merens horses
We thought they were wild, until we heard the music of their bells, drifting towards us on the breeze

This is the view we'd come to see, near the mountain refuge at Quioulès
There were some shepherds here, and cows at their summer pasture.