Blue Beast Voyages....

Markets and food; goats cheese and olive oil; strawberries and apricots; lavender; cherries and figs....... taste of Uzes! Olives and wine; tapenade and tomatoes; serenading the senses....... music under my window as night falls.....
Rue St Jaques....... chez moi!

Yesterday was a day for seeking timelessness in landscapes and towns. Travelling across limestone hills, winding twisted roads , lavender in the fields and vines green and lush..... villages perched on hills, wary of interlopers and battles, remain eternally vigilant, carved into the stone of the land by ancient hands.
Lussan.... but it was the lure of the Lussan birds for me..... so we found where they made the fowls and I have one now.... one poulet de Lussan.

Aigeuze, mentioned as a monument to the One Hundred Years War. I think of this then as a monument to fools and greed; religion and politics causing death of the rulers' peasants; but this city sits on the high up banks of the Ardeche River down which wanderers paddled kayaks, basking in the heat and cooled by the water....

So many photos to take but which ones to keep? how do photos convey what it was like at this place? It was my choice for places to return to.... maybe next holiday.....
Pottery of Aigueze

But I am driving
I am driving the blue beast

Onwards to other towns, old... ruins neglected, fields and more fields of lavender ... passed cottages and vines, castles and lost kingdoms ..... so many so long ago.
Tired now.... but one more... the spectacular Le Roque de Ceze... very steep, very high, cobbled streets and houses merge into the cobbles.... very old. The castle on top.. the cherry that is now owned by someone who has closed it off and has a helipad and swimming pool...... but I am tourist and cannot see.
Black and white cat wants to come with us, miaowing and following.... go home , puss......

Home, through forests of Oak trees, stunted on the arid ground but thickly together, shaded..... windy roads, narrow and only us in the blue beast travelling up out of the valley up onto the high country again.... headed to Lussan across the limestone floor.. through more old towns and villages.....

Finally back to Uzes...... truffled omelette for dinner.. thanks to the resident chef, Steve!

Have been to the markets this morning - need some food for our kitchen..... raining this morning too unlike yesterdays sunshine.... hope to get out this afternoon to another pottery and Pont du Gard....