Sunday 20th September

Another superb autumn day. We decided on a picnic at the Cirque de Navacelles, a quite amazing geological feature on the River Vis, that is not too far from Lodeve. We also planned to visit the local Buddhist monastery on our way home as it is only open to tourists between 2pm and 6pm some Sundays of the year. We met a young Spanish woman last night at La House, who told us she had come from Valencia just to visit the temple, and that we should too.
On our way down into the Cirque, close to the village of Navacelles, we spotted a small track that looked like it might lead to the river. With some reservation from the women in the car, who thought the track looked too small for a car and way too steep, we took it anyway. It opened out into a grassed area close to the river that looked a good place for a private picnic but further exploration found a tiny foot-track that lead right onto the rocky bed of the river. A better place to picnic on a warm autumn afternoon is hard to imagine. The photos below show the view into the Cirque, and our picnic spot by the river at the bottom of the canyon.

We had a very pretty and technically challenging drive back using tiny roads that were barely marked on maps, but were generally well sign-posted, and eventually found the monastery which is situated in the middle of pine plantations in the mountains above Lodeve. Way too many people lined up and waiting to get in, so we changed our minds and headed back to Lodeve. Later on a walk around town we passed the Brasserie L’Esperance (opposite La House) and were spotted by Abraham (the proprietor) who we had also met the day before. He is a Berber (from Nth Africa), and proud of it, who fancies himself as a bit of a rock star, and stakes a claim to being related to Hannibal. He and his mate were just packing up their gear after entertaining the crowd, but he insisted that they would start again, just for his new Australian friends – he is a real character. So we stayed for a couple of beers and a bit of music, and were soon joined by a growing number of locals who joined in the frivolity. It wasn’t long before one of the locals (obviously a penny or two short of a pound) who grabbed the mike and proceeded to entertain us with his versions of some French folk songs, La Marsellaise and even impersonations of motorbikes and F1 cars in action….very funny!

We have met some terrific people this time including Samir, the proprietor of La House (think I have mentioned him before), Mimi an young Irish woman who is studying French and Buddhism here (she has been to Oz several times and knows Fremantle well), and Abraham.