Sunday, 25 March 2012

A Randonée round Usseau

The map in the village square looked straightforward enough...


Ten minutes later we were still looking for the start of the walk....

Wrong way - again!
However, it was worth persevering! We climbed steadily and this gave us some fantastic panoramas


Against the cloudless blue sky the views were spectacular with a stark contrast between the colour of the ploughed land and the vibrant greens of the new crops...


Along the edges of the track there was an abundance of fleur de coucou. Only a week ago we remarked that this was absent in any numbers. What a difference this last week's sunshine has made.




Also in abundance were these tiny violets...


and of course, the lesser celandine - a reliable spring flower if ever there was one.


The circular walk covered just over 4 kilometres and we found it most enjoyable, with lots to see at this time of year. (More of this in another post.)

Colin's sense of direction got us back to Usseau. The walk was waymarked but I got the feeling that times must have been hard in the "sign allocation" department when the walk was mapped out...


Had I been doing the walk alone, I'd still be out there looking for the next red and green marker..... and I may have been some time!

6 comments:

Susan said...

Hmmm...your violet is interesting - might just be Common Dog Violet, might be something a bit more unusual.

Colin and Elizabeth said...

I just wonder if it could be the Sweet Violet because it downy in appearance??

Diane said...

Interesting walk, great photos. We have plenty of violets and celandine around here, but I have yet to see a cowslip and usually around here the fields are yellow with them! Diane

Colin and Elizabeth said...

Diane, I wonder if they are going to be later this year, or if it's not such a good year for them? We keep looking in places we usually see them in drifts but there are none to be seen yet... Here's hoping!

Janice said...

Hello Colin and Elizabeth, I'm not sure how I arrived here at your blog, but have thoroughly enjoyed reading of your adventures. We bought a house near Carcassonne last September, and are doing the "half our time here, and half there"thing. We are very excited at the prospect of our first spring and summer in France, only having made 3 or 4 shortish trips to the house since we bought it last year. Anyway, I will be calling back here...to see how you are both getting on. I love your photos. best wishes Janice.

Colin and Elizabeth said...

Thank you, Janice! It's lovely to receive a comment from someone we haven't 'met' before. Very best wishes for your forthcoming stay in Caunes. Just think how much you've enjoyed your short stays there, then multiply that by at least 50 and you'll get a feel for what a longer stay will be like! Enjoy!