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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3071 |
14th September 2014 Hiking - Walking: Monts du Forez Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny Max Speed: Distance Covered: Sunday 14th September - walks ***** Notre Dame de l’Hermitage and Col de la Loge in the Monts du Forez We did our exercises with the sound of rushing water and a lovely blue sky:) Found two rocks to crack some of the hazelnuts we found at Briare to have with breakfast. We didn’t leave until about 11.30 then drove up the gorge and on to St. Remy sur Dorelles. Went round the lake and called in at the village for some bread and a quick walk through the market to look at the view. It is getting very hilly. Notre Dame de l’Hermitage which was marked on our map was the perfect stop for lunch. A monastery/retreat with a little shop and buvette café. We parked in the car park and had our lunch then decided to go on one of the hikes on the signpost near the entrance. Firstly we went up onto the large rock for the panorama view then the hike took you past a small chapel (this was across the field and I visited it later as we were driving away – it had a source just outside the door) and a cemetery for the various members of the monastery. Then the path went up and round woodland making a 7km circuit back to the monastery which took us just over 2 hours. There were lots of different fungi in the woods but not many birds. However, when we drove on to the Col de la Loge in the Monts du Forez – a deserted cross country ski place and our overnight stop – there were loads of birds flitting around in the trees but hard to pin point with binoculars. We managed to identify a goldcrest, coal tit and marsh tit on our walk before tea - Left over curry from last night! Monday 15th September – travelling We had yet another leisurely morning, not getting up until nearly 9.30! There was a guy hitting a stake into the ground near his van and when we looked out again there were three huskies tied to it and he was getting his bike ready! That looked like a recipe for disaster, riding a bike pulled by huskies who were so desperate to be off they were jumping about all over the place! When he was ready he put one of the dogs back in his van and set off. It was amazing, as soon as he got on his bike the dogs ran off in a very controlled manner! He did a circuit of the cross country skiing piste then came and put the two dogs in the van and took the other one out – this one had a complete mind of his own and it looked very difficult to keep him on the straight and narrow! We did our exercises out on the grass on the plateau between the woods – it is very beautiful if a little cloudy this morning. Picked a few blackberries to go on our breakfast. We left about 12 and hadn’t driven very far when we could hear a clonking sounds coming from underneath the van. Pulled over and it was the waste water pipe half fallen off! We don’t use it anyway as we don’t pour water down our sink so its not a disaster. I cut it all off with our small scissors and we set off again. We didn’t get very far because we were completely distracted by a field of pigs who had dug themselves a trench to sleep in. They were packed in like sardines! We parked the van near the field and walked back. More and more pigs were coming out of their shed and having to wade through a 6” deep puddle of mud outside the door to line up and snuffle at the side of the field in more mud! The ones in the trench were mostly sound asleep. Fascinating to watch, poor old things. Drove on through beautiful countryside (seeing 3 red kites:)) to the small ski resort of Chalmazel which looked quite promising:) Then on to Montbrison where we stopped for diesel and after going into the Super U for the loo, ended up getting Mag’s birthday cake for tomorrow! A bargain at 2.50 euros – three tiers of a kind of iced bun with raspberry crumble over the top – sounds weird but very nice as we had one tier this afternoon. Drove on, using our van map rather than my map with all the arrows of where we have been before, to find somewhere for lunch. We stopped at the Barrage L de Grangent on the river Loire (again – cant believe its this far down). It was a beautiful view of the reservoir made by the barrage with a small island with a castle in front of us and another castle up on the hill. We wandered down to the viewing point and spotted lots of birds (I saw a crested tit when we first got there). After lunch we headed towards the castle on the hill and as the sign said it was only a five minute walk from the car park we decided to go and have a look. As we approached we both thought it looked familiar and realised we had been here before, last spring on our way to the Cevenne! What wallies, if we had looked at my map book we would have known! But this time it was open and Free! We went right up to the roof even though it meant going up a metal ladder with Mag in her flip flops! We walked round the castle then back to the car park along a different path which as time went on we weren’t sure would actually meet up but we were ok and the van appeared soon enough. We were beginning to want to find somewhere to stop the night so after we left the nice road along the Loire we headed round the ring road for St. Etienne (yuk!) and up into the hills to another deserted ski area - Le Bessat and followed the signs to a dead end called La Jasserie. Beautiful views across the valley, cows with bells and several birds to watch – perfect:) There is a café which looks like a church (we christened it the chafe) at the end of the car park but nobody about. Lots of walks go off from here so we might have a go at one to the Table of Orientation tomorrow – depending on the weather – it has been very cloudy today, one clap of thunder and a short shower of rain just as we got here. We had eggy bread and bacon bits for tea. |
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