California Dreaming

First impressions of San Diego were good.  The city is located on the shores of the Pacific ocean.  Everyone seemed relaxed and friendly.   But I only got a glimpse of the city as only there for the night. We had arranged to hire a car so that we can drive out to the Grand Canyon.  We've been given a bright red Mustang!!! 

We left San Diego and drove to La Jolla.  The beaches here are popular so the roads were busy.  I couldn't believe the number of cormorants, pelicans and seagulls  scattering the rocks and then on the boulders below were seals and sea lions sunning themselves completely unperturbed by the snorkelers and swimmers.

I was impressed by the chipmunk until I heard someone whispering 'look at that woman taking a photo of a squirrel!!' After having a truly tasty lunch in the Whisknladle restaurant we headed for Julian where we are staying tonight in the Eaglesnest B&B.  Julian is an old gold mining town and couldn't be more different to La Jolla!  We've stocked up on plenty of water ready for our traverse of the desert tomorrow - it's at least an 8 hour drive to the
Grand Canyon.

A Walk With William

We last did this walk in April 2013  - see earlier blog post:-  

http://ninetoednomad.blogspot.fr/2013/04/a-walk-down-aveyron.html.  

Then we were lucky enough to see our first otter in the Aveyron River.  No such luck today, although we did spot a deer in the woods at the start of the walk.  The climb uphill took us 45 minutes – we must be out of condition!  As we got to the top, we joined the GR36 on a broad track, where there is a beautiful view of Najac.  The track becomes a tarmac road as it goes through some houses (Le Bastit).  This is where we picked up William!  We tried to reason with him that we were going on a long walk, but he kept following us!  There are GR red and white flashes to mark the way.  After about 25 minutes you turn left at a junction – again it is signposted the GR36.  After 10 minutes you turn right on the Chemin des Enfants where the trees are festooned with toys.  Now there’s an idea for all those pre-loved toys!  

Continue on the path as it goes downhill over a stream and then through a conifer forest.  Ignore the first right fork uphill and keep going straight.  Take the next right fork still on the GR36.  Eventually you will arrive on the edge of Mergieux holiday village.  Since we did the walk last April Mergieux has closed and now looks rather forlorn.  The path now runs downhill to the river Aveyron.   Turn left (right follows the GR36 towards Laguepie).  

We stopped on our usual rock for our picnic – last April the river was so swollen our rock was submerged.   The rest of the walk was a nice easy one by the river back to Najac, the only obstacle being crossing the railway bridge – we had to improvise and so made the rucksack into a lead for William!   

The walk took us longer than usual (5 hours), probably because we sat and pondered along the way, absorbing the movement and life along the river.  And what about William? Well lucky for us he had a collar with his name and telephone number on so we took him home while we made the call.  Unlucky for us the telephone number didn’t work!  So we ended up driving him back to the spot he had joined us where he was reunited with the man who was looking after him – his owners are away.    We were sad to see him go.