Owner:
squiz
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Member#: 71 Location: Poole Registered: 17-10-2002 Diary Entries: 2
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28th April 2013
Hiking - Walking: Cascades de Runes Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: cloudy and wet :( Max Speed: Distance Covered:
Saturday 27th April – sightseeing in the snow in the van – rain then
snow!!!
It poured with rain all night so we were in no hurry to get up and read our
books for ages. Finally left our very soggy spot by the river and were
relieved to get off without getting stuck! Went back into Villefort to get
some bread and cake to cheer us up and the lady in the cake shop – who
was lovely and trying out her English on us – said it was going to rain
until Wednesday and even got the calendar out to show us and make sure she
had got the right day!!!!!!!!! We decided to head for Mende which is the
nearest big town (about 35 miles) and close to the free motorway if we
decide to head south. Wanted to check the weather at a McDonalds with
their free Wi-Fi before making a decision and fill up with cheapish diesel.
The road to Mende was really scenic and dramatic with hills, gorges,
chateaus etc., and we were surprised to cross over the river Lot as a tiny
ditch as its source is just up in the hills above the road we were on. As
we got higher into the hills the rain turned to snow and everywhere was
white and very beautiful :) Stopped at the aire in Mende which is right
next to the river Lot (wider here) and had our lunch. Found a Hyper U on a
new complex which included good old McDonalds too. Went into the shop
first and found some low fold up chairs for the van, we have been looking
for some for a while. Unfortunately Mag then discovered she hadn’t got
her purse and thought she had lost it but I went back to the van and found
it in her cagoule pocket (from when she went to the bread shop!). Phew!
Bought our chairs and the rest of the shopping, filled up with diesel and
headed for McD’s and the usual internet bits and pieces – the weather
is supposed to be ok tomorrow so will stay in the Cevenne as there is no
wind forecast for a the foreseeable future. We had a coffee and ate the
cake we bought this morning! Left there and returned to the aire where we
managed to get a great parking space right on the river bank. The weather
had cleared out and there were actually blue skies so we walked up into the
very old town of Mende and had a wander through the narrow streets. Lots
of old buildings, a huge church and amazingly, in the square, some farm
animals in little enclosures for some reason. We walked back across the
old Notre Dame bridge which is near the camper aire and back along the
other side of the river. Had pasta for tea.
Sunday 28th April – walk *** Cascades de Runes – cloudy and wet :(
Fine to start with so hoping it would brighten up. Walked to the
Intermarche to get some pastries for our breakfast. Drove back the way we
came yesterday to about half way then turned up into the mountains. Got
nearly up to the ski station at La Bleymard Mont Lozere when it started
snowing! It was really quite hard and had obviously been snowing yesterday
too because it was quite thick on the trees and the ground and one part of
the road looked as if it had been ploughed! As we drove down towards the
source of the river Tarn it turned to rain and basically rained all day :(
We parked up at the Cascade de Runes above Florac and sat and played cards,
Mag finished another book and did her puzzle book. We listened to Nostalgi
radio as it is the only one you can get up here but it wasn’t bad :)
Three groups of people went to visit the cascade in the rain taking between
11 and 47 minutes (sadly I timed them! That was how bored I was!) We got
stir crazy about 7 and as the rain had eased decided to go and have a look
at the waterfall. It was a bit of a scramble down and we did laugh at the
viewing point – there was a board naming everything you could see was –
various hills and a chateau etc. and all you could see was a thick curtain
of grey cloud right in front of you so you couldn’t see anything at all!
We carried on down to the actual cascade and it was spectacular, one of the
best we have seen! Really high with water hitting rocks on the way down so
splashing up and throwing spume everywhere. We didn’t get back to the
van until after 8 partly due to hanging around to see if the ‘view’
appeared through the fog – it got temptingly close but not quite! Stayed
the night in the car park which we think is probably very pretty but
can’t see it!
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