This is the story of a hike we did last week - probably one of the finest medium distance hikes (Picasa link) I've ever done. It all started a couple of weeks ago when Awanti wrote to Alice, her friend from France and who she met while studying in Sydney. They had been out of touch for the past few years, but as soon as Awanti wrote to her she responded back enthusiastically about meetingup in France. A few days later, she wrote again saying she was planning on doing a hike in the south of France, and asked us if by any chance we would be interested in joining her and her boyfriend, Camille. Realizing that such an opportunity does not come along daily, we jumped at it.
Well..first we had to get there, which was no mean feat. A bit of background will help you see why - the hike is a 240 kms hike over 12 days and follows the route taken by the US author RL Stevenson in 1878. The hike is in the Cevennes Range which, while not the highest by any stretch of imagination (it tops out at 1700m), it certainly does take home a few trophies for stunning French countryside. The trail passes through numerous villages, hamlets really, of five to twenty houses. Alice was planning on joining the hike at its mid-point and hiking for 6 days to its end. Agreeing to meet her at the mid-point, Le Blemyard, we started to look at public transportation options, confident that the vaunted European public transportation would not fail us. Well, we found out we needed 2 trains, a bus that only runs 2 twice a week and our legs to get us to the starting point. Wisely, Alice suggested we meet her at her parent's place in the country-side. A bit about her parents and their place.
They both are doctors who just moved back to the mainland from Reunion Islands and bought a 500 yr old house in the countryside. The house is one of those rambling stone semi-manors you read about in novels and is perched on a hill-side surrounded by a couple of acres of lawns. They even have a stream flowing through their property! We had a great dinner at their place that was accompanied by some good wine and the obligatory cheese plate. Having eaten way too much we hauled ourselves to bed for an early start the next day.
The hike started off under overcast skies that soon led to a downpour. This was the only blemish on what was to be six sun drenched days. Alice had planned out the hike so that we skipped any 'major' towns and ended up staying in a succession of smaller and smaller villages as the hike progressed. The hike is pretty popular in France and has led to creation of at least one bed & breakfast (b&b) or hostel in each of the villages. Our plan was to camp each night, but Alice had made reservations at each of these place before-hand so that we could eat a hot home-cooked dinner in each village.
Here's a brief snapshot of how each day passed:
We woke up fairly early and after packing up our tents headed to the hostel kitchen for a cup of coffee. From there we headed to the village bakery, or if it was too small to sport one (which was the case in quite a few), we walked to the next village and picked up some croissants and other baked goods for breakfast, as well as some bread, cheese, and sausage for lunch. We then did some serious walking until about 1pm, at which point we found a nice meadow, or ridge, or some other scenic point to have lunch. Lunch was a simple affair of bread, sausage, and cheese. Dessert was fruits that we plucked along the way, which included apples, raspberries, and blackberries. Having thus sated ourselves, we would take a nap for 30 minutes or so. Having roused ourselves, we would then resume walking and be at our campsite by 5pm. After setting up tents, we would have hot water showers, which Awanti and I still found a novelty, having never experienced showers on our hikes in the Sahyadris, Himalayas, or the Rocky Mts. This was usually followed by a beer and an hour of reading or playing cards until dinner time. Dinner was around 8pm and was cooked by the b&b or hostel host using ingredients from their gardens. A bit more detail on dinner - these were 4 course affairs, that started off with an appetizer or salad, followed by a local and rustic veggies and meat dish. Post this was dessert which was normally pie (the rhubarb pie was my favorite) or cake and topped off by a cheese plate and coffee. The cheese was for the most part made in the near-by farms. In one instance, the goat cheese served was so fresh that it was still leeching milk (I assume) and had to be served in plastic containers with holes for the milk to drain. All the courses were obviously accompanied by prodigious quantities of wine and a few of the local drinks. Having thus eaten and drunken, we would stumble to our tents.
It wasn't all fun and games though. We also had to hunt or rather fish for our dinner one of the nights. At one of the camp-sites, the host did not make any dinner. However, she had a pond that was stocked with trout and she handed us an over-grown twig to which attached a rusted hook via an old twine and told us to go fish. The first step involved finding some bait. So its 7pm and you have a French and Indian couple running around the campsite trying to catch grasshoppers by hand. Having captured a few, we proceeded to skewer them on the hooks and toss the line in the pond. The fish were biting that night and in short order we had four large trouts. The next task was gutting and cleaning them, something neither of us had done. Camille gallantly stepped forward and completed the messy task while the rest of us attempted to look busy making canned soup. Dinner was great though - grilled fish and veggies.
And so passed 6 ideal days. On the last day we hiked out the final 15 kms to St. Jean du Gard and took a steam train from there to Anduze where we were picked up by Veronique - Alice's mother. We had covered 120 kms by foot over the past week and were glad for some fossil fuel driven mode of transportation. The hike also has the distinction of being the only hike where I ended the hike weighing more than what I did at the start. And so ends the story.
- Ashish
Well..first we had to get there, which was no mean feat. A bit of background will help you see why - the hike is a 240 kms hike over 12 days and follows the route taken by the US author RL Stevenson in 1878. The hike is in the Cevennes Range which, while not the highest by any stretch of imagination (it tops out at 1700m), it certainly does take home a few trophies for stunning French countryside. The trail passes through numerous villages, hamlets really, of five to twenty houses. Alice was planning on joining the hike at its mid-point and hiking for 6 days to its end. Agreeing to meet her at the mid-point, Le Blemyard, we started to look at public transportation options, confident that the vaunted European public transportation would not fail us. Well, we found out we needed 2 trains, a bus that only runs 2 twice a week and our legs to get us to the starting point. Wisely, Alice suggested we meet her at her parent's place in the country-side. A bit about her parents and their place.
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| The Carr Villa |
The hike started off under overcast skies that soon led to a downpour. This was the only blemish on what was to be six sun drenched days. Alice had planned out the hike so that we skipped any 'major' towns and ended up staying in a succession of smaller and smaller villages as the hike progressed. The hike is pretty popular in France and has led to creation of at least one bed & breakfast (b&b) or hostel in each of the villages. Our plan was to camp each night, but Alice had made reservations at each of these place before-hand so that we could eat a hot home-cooked dinner in each village.
Here's a brief snapshot of how each day passed:
We woke up fairly early and after packing up our tents headed to the hostel kitchen for a cup of coffee. From there we headed to the village bakery, or if it was too small to sport one (which was the case in quite a few), we walked to the next village and picked up some croissants and other baked goods for breakfast, as well as some bread, cheese, and sausage for lunch. We then did some serious walking until about 1pm, at which point we found a nice meadow, or ridge, or some other scenic point to have lunch. Lunch was a simple affair of bread, sausage, and cheese. Dessert was fruits that we plucked along the way, which included apples, raspberries, and blackberries. Having thus sated ourselves, we would take a nap for 30 minutes or so. Having roused ourselves, we would then resume walking and be at our campsite by 5pm. After setting up tents, we would have hot water showers, which Awanti and I still found a novelty, having never experienced showers on our hikes in the Sahyadris, Himalayas, or the Rocky Mts. This was usually followed by a beer and an hour of reading or playing cards until dinner time. Dinner was around 8pm and was cooked by the b&b or hostel host using ingredients from their gardens. A bit more detail on dinner - these were 4 course affairs, that started off with an appetizer or salad, followed by a local and rustic veggies and meat dish. Post this was dessert which was normally pie (the rhubarb pie was my favorite) or cake and topped off by a cheese plate and coffee. The cheese was for the most part made in the near-by farms. In one instance, the goat cheese served was so fresh that it was still leeching milk (I assume) and had to be served in plastic containers with holes for the milk to drain. All the courses were obviously accompanied by prodigious quantities of wine and a few of the local drinks. Having thus eaten and drunken, we would stumble to our tents.
 |
| Trout for dinner |
And so passed 6 ideal days. On the last day we hiked out the final 15 kms to St. Jean du Gard and took a steam train from there to Anduze where we were picked up by Veronique - Alice's mother. We had covered 120 kms by foot over the past week and were glad for some fossil fuel driven mode of transportation. The hike also has the distinction of being the only hike where I ended the hike weighing more than what I did at the start. And so ends the story.
- Ashish
Sounds like it was fun! I cant imagine munching on fresh, hand-picked fruit and berries on US hikes..although that might be the case in a few.
ReplyDeleteHello to you two travelers. I see that you are having an awesome time in Europe. Just the other day I mentioned to my wife about searching your mail which had this blog link so that we could catch up on what you guys are up to. It sure as hell sounds a lot of fun what you are doing. Hope to catch up with you during the India stint.
ReplyDeleteHave fun, Be safe,
Saurabh