Hiking Crozon: Plage de Lostmarc’h to Pointe de Dinan

With a little conditioning from our short hikes under our belts and a decent weather forecast, we headed out for our first longer hike yesterday. We started at the beach at Lostmarc’h, which is on the southern section of the trident-shaped Crozon peninsula. The beach is split into sections – one for surfers and one […]

Revisiting old haunts

Our first two hikes were local… we aren’t really in shape for long ones! J spent a lot of time weeding before departure and M cut up a huge amount of firewood – both strenuous in their own way, but not great preparation for long hikes. We’re getting up to speed with some easy hikes […]

We’re Back!

Our last days in France in January 2020 seem like a very, very long time ago. In retrospect, having to leave France early turned out to be the silver lining to the dark cloud of family medical issues. Instead of being marooned in France when the pandemic struck, we were at home (and, as an […]

Au Revoir

Unfortunately, we’ve left France early, heading home due to a serious health issue with J’s dad. We’re sorry to go, especially from our great rental in Narbonne, a city where we could see living (at least in the winter, when it isn’t too hot). We hope we’ll be able to come back for another long […]

Nîmes

One day in Nîmes was not enough! We could easily have spent a full day just wandering (and getting lost in!) the narrow streets of the old city. We were particularly impressed with the large number of beautiful balconies… We started our visit with an outstanding lunch at a South African-influenced restaurant, L’Esclafidou. It was […]

Le Pont du Gard

We spent a day with Roman ruins in and around Nîmes on Tuesday. It’s amazing what the Roman engineers could achieve with the arch! And they built it in just five years, around 2 AD. Environmental permitting wasn’t a thing back then… The view up and down the river was also delightful:

Hiking Narbonne: Massif de la Clape

On Sunday, as we headed toward the Mediterranean for a hike on the Massif de la Clape, there was a little surprise awaiting us in the parking garage: M was enchanted. Apparently a Citroën 2CV club came to town for lunch… My personal favorite: Our hike started in the mariner’s cemetery below the Chapelle de […]

Hiking Narbonne: Bages

Just a short distance outside Narbonne, on the Étang de Bages-Sigean (a lagoon connected to the Mediterranean), is the small town of Bages. On Saturday we went there to start our first hike in southern France. We parked near the water and enjoyed the view across the lagoon: There was a cool breeze as we […]

L’Abbaye de Fontfroide

This Cistercian abbey is just outside Narbonne, though you’d never guess it from the surroundings. I can easily imagine a life of quiet contemplation in these surroundings… We spent a long time in the church, which has beautiful stained glass… and great acoustics. The best part of the visit, by far, was the small private […]

Canal de la Robine

We’ve been taking regular long walks along the canal that runs through Narbonne. What a great addition to a city landscape! To the south it becomes rural pretty quickly, but to the north we enjoy walking through town and seeing lots of live-aboard boats. To the south are generally spiffier-looking boats, then country. But it […]