I finally got to have my cheese fondue! I love it and since it is popular around these parts, thought it was only proper to have it in its preferred location - none of our guests so far have been up for it so we decided to treat ourselves before we left the Alps. It was as good as I remembered and surprisingly filling.
This week we set off to our fourth and final destination in the Pyrenees. We didn't know what to expect...other than a couple of paintbrushes and a tub of paint waiting for us.
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| Preparing to leave La Chambre... |
As we got prepared to leave our Alpine Hideaway in La Chambre the snow decided to descend. We were able to leave without any trouble (although the people we met when we were there have since told us, and sent us pictures to tell us that the snow is now very thick outside the house!) and began to head south.
About halfway, we stopped off near Nimes to view the Pont du Gard, a UNESCO world heritage site - a bridge. It's very big, with 35 arches that stretch along the river. We had an accidental detour of the surrounding forests before we found it and then continued on our journey.
All we knew about the house we were coming to stay in was the village that it was in, Canaveilles, which we had put in to our trusty satnav. As we followed the signs to the village we embarked upon a very windy, thin, topple off the edge of the mountain type road, which was a little unnerving in the pitch black when we first arrived! However we found our destination alright and managed to locate the house we were coming to, next to the nuns house in the village.
It really is a rural retreat here. We are perched on the top of a mountain with a handful of other houses and only the windy road for access to the village. The first morning when we woke up it was snowing and we were snowed in, so we started the painting. We have since finished it - we've been doing the kitchen, painting the walls and varnishing the exposed stones. It's all looking very fresh and bright now!
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| The beginning of the windy road as we awoke on the our first morning here... |
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| Kitchen before the painting commenced... |
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| Before we painted... |
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| All fresh and bright after we gave it a new lease of life |
Close by there is a village called 'Villefranche de Conflent' which is a medieval walled town...all the houses and shops are within big stone walls. It's quite nice when you wander around inside, but from the outside you wouldn't expect anything to be inside except ruins, and it's classified as another World Heritage site by UNESCO.
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| The walled city from the outside |
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| Inside Villefranche de Conflent |
We have had more snow this week, although it seems to disappear as quickly as it arrives, or at least it does at the moment! We have just one week left here before we head North and back to the UK.
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| View from our house |
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| Views from the village |
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| Local cat who keeps trying to break in |
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| A view of the windy road from halfway down...the only way in to our village |
The Pyrenean Brown Bear has been playing on my mind, I really want to find one. I have been looking for one everywhere but to no avail. Apparently they were thought to have died out...so a few years ago (like 20) they introduced some new ones from Slovenia, so there should be a few lurking about. I'm not entirely sure on their location...it looked a little bit west from here on the map, but I like to think one might come round for breakfast and I can share my porridge with it. I have however been photographing suspicious looking faeces that I have found on my forest and mountain walks - just incase it might be from the infamous Pyrenean bear.
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| Just to show you the sheer size of it... |
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| And a close up... |
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