The blog has been lonely the last few days. I've been neglecting it because of lots going on---but also I forgot its password and couldn't get into the poor baby to give it any words of encouragement. To catch up, I'll hurry through some things, but hit all the high spots.
Going way back, Sunday was quite an interesting day, in a very good way. My rendez-vous with the Randonneurs was set for 8:30 behind the pharmacie. I packed an apple, some cheese & toast (the closest thing I could find to crackers at the super marche in Apt) and a Luna bar into my back pack, put on my hiking gear and took off for the meeting place. Walking down the street, I saw a guy dressed in hiking gear, wearing a pack and carrying walking poles going the same way. I asked if he were going on the hike, he said yes, I told him I was, too, that I was a visitor and did not speak very good French. So he said let's talk in English then. Turns out he's a Belgian staying in St. Sat for a while who speaks English well, has spent time in the US and really likes Bryce and Arches Parks. When we got to the parking lot, he introduced me to several people--I even got to do the 3-pecks-on-the-cheek greeting thing--and helped me find someone to ride with. I would have been lost without him.
We drove about 30 km. to the village of Simiane la Rodonde and started walking from the lot at the base of the village up to the church and round wall at the top of the village. The village is lovely, and pretty steep, probably the steepest bit of the day. From there we soon picked up the GR 4 trail. France has a system of trails, called Grand Randonnee, covering the whole country. Several go through this area, which is actually fairly rugged for France. This part of the GR4 was not so much. There was some walking on pavement, a lot on small dirt roads, a lot near cultivated fields of lavender with quite a lot of farmhouses around. The route followed GR4 for probably 8 or 9 miles, making its was through some forest to a ridge line. At the top there were lavender fields as far one could see. The lavender has all been cut--harvest is in early July--but there were enough stray stems left that I have a nice little bunch of lavender flowers drying on the mantle. At the top, there was also a lavender distillery in a small building. This place would work almost around the clock for the few weeks of harvest, then shut down for the rest of the year.
So far during the walk I had heard a couple gun shots, and had seen some dogs on the loose. Coming out of the woods into the fields at one point we encountered a lone hunter with his dog. This is the sanglier season for hunters in the Vaucluse, and Sunday seems to be a popular day. I have heard there is a movement to outlaw hunting on Sunday in order to make it safer for families to go for walks and enjoy the outdoors on that day. But then, everyone also says these wild boars are a menace and need to be hunted. I was told there are sanglier which come into gardens in St Sat. at night and root all through them.
Soon after passing the distillery we left the GR4 and turned back toward Simiane. Just at noon, there was a car parked along the small dirt road where we walked. Lunch was called, and we all stopped in the woods, where Michel, the husband of Monique, the hike leader, met us. He had brought cold apple cider for all. We sat down and got out lunchches. I soon finished my apple and cheese and started looking around to see when someone would leave. There was still a lot of laughing and talking, cider being drunk and no sign of leaving. A couple of guys passed around some digestif--I turned down what sounded like a pretty good homemade herbal liqeuer--and a few seemed to be napping. This was not the kind of hiking lunch stop I was used to. About 1 1/4 hours after stopping we gathered ourselves and got back on the trail---a tres French experience.
I was struck, though, at how much the day felt like being back with SO in Durango. The most striking difference--apart from lunch--was the numbers. This group has 150 members, and 36 of them showed up for this hike. This an average number, some are bigger.
About 16 km., and 7 hours after starting, we got back to the cars at Simiane.
It had been a long hot day, but one I enjoyed and needed. The exercise was way overdue.
When I got back to the house, my new classmates for the coming week had arrived. More to come on that.
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