Two Walks on The Causse

Last weekend we parked the car at the pretty village of Loze for a four hour circular walk.  It took us up onto the causse. Much of this area is owned by the military and we passed many signs warning us to keep out.  The walk should have been straightforward and, for the most part it was until we got distracted by a local cycling race close to the village of St Project.  So engrossed were we in encouraging the last rider (who incidentally did not seem impressed by our cries of “Aller, Aller”) we missed our path.  But this was ok as our water supply was getting low and we thought we would take a detour to stop at the chateau in St Project for refreshments.  No tea rooms here, but a small cabinet containing luke-warm fizzy drinks – but they did go down well, we were parched!  It was just as well we had stocked up on liquid, as several detours later we still hadn’t found the correct path.  In the end we decided to walk back along the road (D19) to Loze.  It proved to be the right decision as the afternoon had turned hot and the road was gloriously shady.

Mouillac PR1 – this was supposed to be a short walk of 5 kms.  The original route was out and back on the same path, but the parish council (or French equivalent) had re-routed the path and it was now a longer circular walk, which was good as I find circular walks more satisfying.  This was an area we had never visited before despite only being 30 minutes from home.  The book describes it as a magnificent wild walk and it lived up to this description.  It felt so remote and we had the path to ourselves.  The land on the causse is poor and scrubby and we imagined how hard it must have been for past inhabitants to scratch a living and survive on such rough terrain.  The walk was, for the most part, on shady paths through a pretty valley and around the village of Pech.  We passed various ancient water sources – a lifeline for these rural communities years ago.  It was necessary to take a short detour to see the church and windmill at Mouillac before retracing our footsteps to a path opposite the Maire to continue our journey.  Later, we found a forlorn bench in an overgrown field with a long forgotten basketball net – it felt surreal as if the world had ended without our knowing it.  Despite the sense of surrealism and remoteness it was only a short walk back to civilisation and the car.    

The walks were taken from this book

Pacific Grove

After the highs of Yosemite I didn’t mind where we went for our final two days in Northern California as I thought it would be an anti-climax.  Pacific Grove, a chilling, laid-back town on the Monterey Peninsula exceeded my expectations and proved to be the perfect choice.  We stayed at The Old St Angela Inn in a room called the Crow’s Nest from which it was possible to glimpse the sea.  

We drove along the famous Seventeen Mile Drive, marveling not at the mansions, but at the marine life and vast seascapes.  We bypassed the busy town of Carmel and instead headed to the Point Lobos State Natural Reserve.  It was a popular spot, but there were numerous walking tracks to absorb the weekend crowds. The sea views were dazzling and in the distance we could hear the bark of sea lions.  The reserve is staffed by knowledgeable volunteers (docents).  One volunteer had set up his telescope on the cliff edge in the direction of seal rock.  One look showed us a magnificent seal lion -the culprit behind the barking.  We asked if he had seen any sea otters and he quickly adjusted his telescope, inviting us to peer through it again. His joy and passion were infections.  There among the kelp was a family (or raft) of sea otters.  It was hard to relinquish the telescope, so ecstatic were we at seeing our first sea otter.   

  

Our first sea otter!

We stopped by the information hut to buy postcards (of sea otters!)  We were just in time to join a wild flower tour on the Cypress Grove Trail – I’m not normally one for “tours,” but again, the volunteers, Ann and Art, were knowledgeable and enthusiastic, opening our eyes to all the different plant varieties.  Ann was also a poet and she started and ended the walk by reading one of her poems, which were inspired by her love for Point Lobos.  It was hard to leave this beautiful place and once again I was both surprised and impressed with the commitment America and Americans have to their national parks.

  

Seals!

China Cove