Hiking within our comfort zone

The few that get in touch with me about this blog have often said that it doesn't look as if we are outside our comfort zone at all. But think of this: one usually expects to spend two years in a city before feeling really at home......and that's if you speak the language fluently. One makes friends through work (we're retired) and through our kids (they're not here), their schools and sports teams. We've been here for 5 months now and during that time have been to Spain twice and the UK once. So it has taken awhile to get to feel "at home" here and the British Cultural Association has helped with that. We have attended their first of the month pub nights, one quiz night, a play reading group (and if I was here for a year, I'd love to get more involved in that), and last week's tour of the Musée Fabre. The people who are part of the group are either from Britain or one of her colonies, and three of the men on yesterday's hike had married French women. There are also French people who have worked in the UK for a couple of years and want to keep their English fluent. I really miss my Tuesday morning walking group, so I was quite eager and I also wanted to try out my new pack. So here is the description that we found on the website:

Note "easy" and "2-2 1/2". With that description, I would expect a level one walk, but wait a sec......"views". Will we be looking up or down???? Well, in fact, both.

So we packed sandwiches and drove to Lauret, about 40 minutes away. We arrived early, walked around the village (5 minutes) and then out to the village tennis courts (5 minutes) and back again. Ate our sandwiches and waited for the others. The walk was to start at 1:30, but we hung around for 15 minutes for a couple who said they were coming, but in fact, did not show. So at 1:45 we headed off with our trusty Kiwi leader, on a road that definitely had an upward slope to it. Basil, from Geneva, started complaining at once, in a joking manner, that he thought it was going to be easy. Within ten minutes, we were all gushing to our leader as the views just kept getting better and better. We climbed up to a moulin (water mill) that still had a huge wheel inside:

   and this was taken just outside the mill as we continued to climb to see the source of the river.

And here I am, coaching another woman on the benfits of walking backwards down the hills. Much easier on the knees and stretches the other muscles and tendons.

The walk was what I would call a level 2.5 and we returned to the cars at 5pm, so 3.25 hours. Fabulous walk and the woman walking backwards had had the foresight to make some apricot cake, enough pieces for everyone. We devoured them immediately.

And to top off the whole day, one of the men, married to Martine, who I had met a number of times, is from St. Helen's, so he and Les had a good laugh and a chat. Such a small world.