SOLO WALK TO LES FARGOUSSIERES: RESISTANCE!

I enjoy walking in groups but I also enjoy walking by myself. Setting my own pace. Trying new paths. Getting lost. The sorts of things that you can't do in a group, especially when you are in the lead. So when no one took up my offer to lead a walk the other day, I wasn't disappointed. All spring long, I'd been wanting to see what a walk to Le Fargoussieres would be like. I particularly wanted to check out a memorial to the French resistance that I'd visited a year or so ago on a walk sponsored by the local historical society.

I began on the path to the Croix de Juillet, a walk that our group has taken a time or two in the past. Then I broke off, took the paved road to the hamlet of Les Fargoussieres, visited the memorial, then found me way back to the return path of the Croix de Juillet walk. It all worked well. With the help of my GPS mapper, I didn't get lost. But the route was a few of kilometers longer that I thought that it would be. Shade was scarce as the day warmed up. My water ran out. I was on the cusp of sending up a flare. Add to that my disappointment that the memorial has not been well maintained - the weeds were waist high and the printed information sheets were not properly protected and were water stained - and I did not finish the day a happy hiker.

But here are the pics. I'll talk to the local historical society about fixing things up, maybe laminating some of the documents. You can find more of our walks and my takes on French life in general HERE and HERE.

Started in the church square as we so often do.

I could have taken the D184 all of the way to Les Fargoussieres, but that would have been too easy.

I have to remember to carry an apple or a pear or something.

It's been a good year for poppies. I'm headed up and over the hill in the upper left.

Three paths cross: the road, the greenway for walkers and bikes, and the path into the vines. Yes, I choose the path least traveled.

The path least traveled had a car at the top. Hunter? Working the vines? Walking the dog? Never saw whoever it was.

The storage tanks at the co-op make a good visual reference.

The yellow bastards have a picture of my nose imprinted on their DNA. As soon as they flower, they attack!

But they can't hide the lovely views...

And I walked to school and back every day, and it was uphill both ways.

It's been a good year for more than the poppies.

I don't remember seeing these before.

You can barely see the blue arrow on that rock but in life it's very prominent. Turn left at the T!

The blue X on the tree means that I'm going off the path to the Croix de Juillet.

The featureless D184. I never saw a car.

A small hamlet but an ancient one...

With well kept flower beds.

A roadside display for no apparent reason except to be pretty.

It's early spring but I would have thought that the weeds would have been mowed.

Water stained document telling the important story of young people risking their lives for their freedom.

This 'garden' is what's left of the hard work of the former Resistance fighter detailed above.

Leaving Les Fargoussieres and heading back into the vines.

Give me the words to describe views like this.

Not the Croix de Juillet. This is the Arab Cross.

Yes, the co-op can be seen in the distance. I can get home from here blindfolded.