We set off through the forest at a good following the red and white stripes. We had the notes with us, just in case. Judith set off at a good pace.
Higher up we met our first real patches of snow looking rather grey, but still snow.
We stopped for a elevenses by the Lac d'Ouradou.
Picnic sites are rare on the route, so we took advantage of it.
We dropped steeply down to the castle at Luc and ate lunch. RLS visited the site as the tower in the rear had just been converted to a chapel.
A snake snoozing in the sun. I could have done with 40 winks myself.
We walked down into Luc where we chatted with a local lady sweeping the street who insisted the water from the spring in the main street was the finest in France. Cleaning the street outside one's house is something very South German and Swiss. Odd to see it in France. We wandered on along the Allier Valley and crossed the bridge into the next departement. We walked on a D road past a pair of mining industry holiday homes which no longer seem to be in use. There had been a small area of coal mining in Alès to the south near St Jean du Gard. It was a warm day and the climb out of Laveyrune seemed to go on for ever. We turned off on a path down to a hamlet with the English sounding name of Rogleton. The path was along a stream and not nice. It was thick grass and squelchy mud. Judith was not a happy camper at this point. Matters were not improved after we crossed the D906 and the river to follow a path parallel to the railway line. After about a kilometre or so we came to a stream that was full of water. Streams are like this. This one was quite deep. The bridge at this point designed to get us across had been taken out in a storm some years ago. We could not see enough stones on the bank to build stepping stones and neither did we fancy the Norwegian technique of wading across in our boots without socks and putting the dry socks afterwards. Our notes suggested we walk back and take a detour adding at least a kilometre to our day. We were quite tired by this time and this suggestion did not go down well. We noticed that the railway builders had incorporated a tunnel in the embankment to let the stream through. There seemed to be a path across the portal behind a coated plastic net fence. We slogged up the embankment and squeezed behind the fence and a several large clumps of brush. We got across. We noticed there was a miniscule red and white stripe on the first fence post.
We walked back into the forest and then met a pair of old ladies, probably younger than us, plus a large black dog running free. One of the ladies called out that the dog was "gentille et amicable", but we both quite worried by his tactics of jumping around us trying to nip at our hands and ankles. Fortunately nothing happened. We dropped into La Bastide, a small railway town with regular services to the rest of the world. Our hotel for the night: La Grand'Halte was near the station. Dinner was salad, trout chips and fromage blanc with chestnut puree. We are both great fans of fromage blanc which is a soft white cheese eaten with cream or a fruit sauce.
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