La Mount Baudille - hike with OnVaSortir

LE MONT SAINT BAUDILLE
Point culminant du Larzac méridional (848 metres)
Un des plus beaux panoramas du Languedoc Mediterranéen
11km - 545m de dénivelé - 4 heures de marche + pauses

Vous l'avez surement repéré de nombreuses fois lors de randos ou de balades dominicales car le Mont Saint Baudille est dominé par un imposant emetteur régional de télévision (les chaines dites "de montpellier" vous parviennent par cet emetteur). C'est dire le dégagement qu'il propose: pour les ondes mais aussi pour la vue (table d'orientation au sommet).

Tuesday we went hiking again. So far I think that we have hiked more around Montpellier than any other Monteplliarian 

It is a Tuesday (people are working) so we are only 5: Jacques the leader, Christine, Maggie, Mark and I.
This is our leader Jacques, finally took a picture of him:

This hike starts a bit farther than Guilleme Le Dessert. To get there Jacques is driving on this mountain very narrow winding road. There is lot of twisting and turning, lots of blind spots. I am worried that if a car is coming the other way there will be a head on coalition; Jacques is very confident and he is driving rather fast on this road. Fortunately there is very little traffic, only 2 cars are coming from the opposite directions and miraculously it seems that 2 cars somehow managed to fit and pass by each other on this narrow road.

We start hiking up and the views are getting better and better. It is a clear day, soon we see below the entire valley, and as far as Sete, Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees.

It is nice to have a small group, there is no one around but us. We can enjoy the views, the mountain and the quietness of the surroundings. Actually we enjoyed the quietness for a very little time because in our group there is Christine. Christine is very talkative and funny. She keeps chatting with Maggie and Jacques. She speaks very fast, we understand very little but I like her talking, her voice, the tone and French accent is like a music to me.

We made it up to the top in no time; on top it is windy again, it is a hot day but the wind is very cold.


We find a sheltered place to have lunch. We eat our lunches and I take out the dessert to share. To my surprise my French friends are ready to go, usually we take a long time for lunch, have coffee, dessert and so on. After a while I understand it is too cold to eat up here, we will have dessert down below where is warm.

We stopped for dessert on the padded green grass with beautiful little colorful wild flowers; then the cookies, cake, coffee are savored. We have a good time telling jokes and laughing of translations and misunderstandings.

Our car was parked by a Fromagerie = cheese farm; if the fromageie is right there how can we leave the place without checking it out. There is none around, we had to ring and a lady owner showed up. She let us sample the cheese and showed us where the cheese is kept and how. We liked the cheese, we all bought little rounds fresh cheese right from the source.

In our way home we decided that one can not have cheese without wine; next stop at the Wine Co-op degustation centre. The host is very welcoming, he seems quit proud of the wines that he is selling; he is trying his best to explain in English about the wineries, the uniqueness of the soil (the limestone from the north but the dryness from the south), and the wines.

We got to test a few wines, I was getting almost tipsy.

Mark and I got 3 bottle of wines, one white and two reds.

We have learned savoir vivre; we need only the French baguette, hmmm actually the baguette as we are in France………..

ps: how we call French onion soup in France? Onion soup 

Soubes - hike with OnVaSortir

Soubes
A partir de Soubès, passer par le sentier botanique puis l'ancienne route du sel pour atteindre les contreforts du plateau d Larzac. Cette rando offre un point de vue unique sur le Cirque du Bout du Monde.
A découvrir : village médiéval de Soubès, dolmens, forêt domaniale de Notre-Dame de Parlatges, chemin de Camargue, point de vue sur Gourgas.
Durée : 5 h Distance : 14 km Dénivelé : 519 m Niveau : Moyen

Sunday we went hiking again. We got a ride from Montpellier to Soubes with Chantal; we were five in the car: Chantal (she lived in many places in France and her son lives in Montreal) , Stephanie (very cute, from Paris, she moved to Montpellier 8 years ago) Freddy (from Montpellier, he did not talk too much), Mark and I and Chantal’s dog; we are all in the mini van , the ride is nice and comfortable.

This is a the farthest from Montpellier we been so far. Soubes is north of Lodeve about 50 km. It is a small medieval town with narrow street mostly covers in arches street; church in the middle of the town, a castle to visit.

The hike leader is Pascal. We meet the group in the parking lot, we know only Caroline and Virgine; it is all good as soon as we start walking up we start chatting with everyone.

As the previous hikes as soon as we start going up the views are magnificent. Down below in the valley, there is a small village with brick houses, beautiful green trees, yellow, purple and red flowers everywhere. There is thyme and rosemary as well; Caroline and Chantal are picking thyme, they told me to boil the thyme in water and drink with the honey, they assure me that is delicious and good for health.

We stopped for picnic up top and Freddy is offering everyone a glass of wine; well, wine, home made cake, coffee, cookies how can one resist not to randone with the French 

Picnic was delicious, everyone always is bringing something to share.

This hike is a loop too, on the others side of the mountain is a bit different.

We came across ruins, olive tree and cherry plantations.

After the hike we went to the only restaurant is town for drinks.

St Guilhem Le Desert - La Rando des Fenestrettes - hike with OnVaSortir

St Guilhem Le Desert – La rando des Fenestrettes
(10 km - 715m de dénivelé - difficulté moyenne - 3h30 de rando + pauses + visite du village médiéval de St Guilhem-Le-Desert et son abbaye)
Une balade surprenante dans le cirque de l'Infernet puis par les Fenestrettes: un étonnant chemin construit par les moines de St Guilhem, surplombant de magnifiques panoramas.

So far this is my favorite hike; the hike starts from the village St Guilhem Le Desert; this is the famous abbey.

The beginning of the trail is flat surrendered by beautiful green grass and tress; the trail climbs up gently and the higher we get the better the view.

The fenestrettes are like natural “windows” in the mountain; actually the fenestrettes are pillars to the road above that was build in 12th century when Shepherd’s were bringing sheep up and down the mountain.

We had picnic at the top, trying to find shade and nice view of the mountain.

The hike is only 10 km but very beautiful, I will come back here any time.

There were 14 people in the group, everyone very nice and friendly. As in previous groups quite a few people spoke English and we had interesting conversation about food, hiking is different places, Paris, working in Afghanistan…..

La Roc de la Vigne - Hike with On Va Sortir

La Roc De La Vigne
20km - 650m de dénivelé qui méritent d'être faits
Au programme: une grotte chargée d'histoire et une vue unique sur toute la région (des Cevennes à la Montagne noire, des Alpes au monts de l'ESpinouse et au Pic Saint Loup) sans oublier la traversée d'une magnifique forêt de pins Salzman et le passage par le superbe Mas d'Estagnol

We are lucky that Jacques (the leader) is now on chomage (temporally unemployed) so he has time to organize hikes during the week. Jacques is a very nice guy, knowledgeable of the area, good organizer, and patient; he reminds me of Scott, my friend back home in Vancouver.

We carpooled from Montpellier to the trail head, about 30 km from the city. People here are really into carpooling which is good for us, mostly for 2 reasons: gas is expensive, and parking is limited, so the fewer cars the better.

The trail starts from the beginning by gradual switch back. We gain elevation quite fast and the views are amazing. The vegetation is different here, it is dry and desert, there are olive trees and others that don’t know the name of. Jacques stopped and pointed to us this very interesting tree, that has different leaves and the top and different leaves at the bottom; at the top the leaves are softer, and the bottom there are stronger and…so the leaves can not be eaten by animals. Also the leaves are harder and “glisant” on the top (the part facing up, so protects for getting to dry) and softer and moistures underneath – very interesting.

After about on hour hike we stopped to visit a “grotte” = cave. It is a fairly big cave and it is free. We needed lamps to get in, not all of us had lamps, but we all share and helped so everyone got in the cave and visit. It is a deep cave with red walls, stalactites and stalagmites. For a few minutes we decided to sit quiet, I could hear only our breathing and the water dripping on the walls. It is hard to keep quite and listen to silence….eventually someone start giggling and then it was all over with our “meditation” experience. Our group in the cave:

Back in the sun we kept climbing up; it did not take too long to make it to the top.

On top the view is magnifique and the wind is strong- hey we are on top of the world; we took tons of pictures 

We sat down below the peak a bit away from the wind to have our picnic; we all had our food, and then we start sharing our goodies. We had coffee, tea, different kind of cookies, and Swiss chocolate from Switzerland that Ramon the Swiss guy brought with him; ummm, Swiss chocolate from Switzerland taste much better that Swiss chocolate that we buy in Canada- why is that??? no idea…hope one day I will make it to Switzerland.

This hike is a loop; after picnic we continue on flat and start descending. We stopped at Estagnol – a deserted site for a short break , water and more goodies, pictures and more chit chat.

In the group there are a few people that speak English and most of people understand English a bit so conversation is always very mixed French and English.

In no time we are back to the cars – was this hike really 20 km? I guess because the hike was so scenic and company so good we had fun too much fun and the hike didn’t seem long at all.

After hike we went for refreshments to a restaurant in a small village called St Jean de Fos.

First bike ride in France

I am so happy, I have a VTT = velo tout terrain, moutian bike which is very light and comfortalbe. How did I get a VTT? ? Claudine, the lady that I met at French American centre has landed me her VTT, she is very, very nice……

So today I was able to join On Va Sortir group for “moutian biking” or how they called it here VTT. This is my French bike.

We went to Villeneuve and biking around Les Salins de Villeneuve.
BALLADE VTT - A LA DECOUVERTE DES SALINS
15 kms à peine (dénivelé cumulé inexistant: 69m)
Apres les rives magnifiques des étangs de l'Arnel et de Vic, parcourrez les anciens salins appartenant au Conservatoire du littoral et découvrez un milieu d'une grande richesse ecologique.

After the bike ride we went to visit Abbey de la Magulone; at the end we had coffe in a very small village where café au lait means a very small strong coffee and a liltle bit of milk; where the we had to wait for the addtion because the patron is having a good chat with his friends 

Visiting Sete – outing with Evasion

As every Sunday morning we met Evasion group at the coffee shop on Esplanade d’Europe. This Sunday we are only 7, I guess because it is a rainy and windy day. People here are used to sunshine and warm weather, today is considered cold for them. For us it is nothing unusual except the wind. I have to admit that the wind in Montpellier bother me because it comes in gusts. For example we are walking on the street, it is a bit windy and all of the sudden there is a gust of wind that almost “flips” me over – that is scary!

Anyway back to our outing; despite the weather (and hoping for the best) plan remains in place and we are heading to Sete.

Sete is a port city at 40 km from Montpellier; it is a fishery and a commercial port; it is the second port on the Mediteraeen Sea (Marseille is first) and the ninth port in France.

Our first visit was the old fishing village which is the same as many, many years ago.


It is interesting to see the old houses and the new cars parked in front of the houses, a mixture of very old and new, maintain the old but adapting and taking advantages and to the new. (I feel that everywhere is France, there is desire to keep the old , but yet to embrace the new).


After we visited the old village it is almost noon, the French really have to eat at noon. We had lunch at one of the local, non touristy restaurants. We are in a port city, then for sure we are going to eat fish and seafood. I had a fish soup which was very good and Mark ordered menu de jour with oyster, calamari and dessert “tart a pomme avec de chantilly ”. He let me taste some of his food, everything was delicious! We shared a bottle of the local French wine that I really like it as well.

After lunch we vistied George Brassens museum. George Brassens as presented by our French friends is the Bob Dylan of France. I listen to same of the songs and I liked them a lot. You have to listen to the music and understands the words to really his music. He is still very well known and loved by the French.

Second museum was Paul Valery. The exhibition was interesting, local and contemporary art, the only names I knew was Raoul Dufy.


In the meantime the weather improved quite a bit, no rain and some blue skies. We drove up the highest point in the city to visit a small church and see the city from up top; but city view wasn’t the best as still the sky wasn’t very clear.

I definitely want to come back to Sete, be a tourist for the day, visit the port, narrow streets, have a coffee et de patisserie du jour dans le centre de la ville, browse the stores…
I also want to walk up (there is a stair case )to the view point and admire the port on a sunny day. I would like to come here by bike, hope to find someone to come with, Mark is not into biking 40 km to Sete :(

First hike with “On Va Sortir” group

Medium difficulty “Rando moyenne”LES FERMES CAUSSENARDES DU CAUSSE DE BLANDAS
Rando de 4h15 + pauses- Dénivelé 300m

On Friday I went hiking with the On Va sortir group (similar to meet.up hiking group); we were 10 people, Jacques was the leader. The hike is very scenic, not too much elevations, we were at the top quite fast and the view were magnificent.

This hike is a loop, we strated at one village and finish in other. (I can’ remember the name of villages)
“Le Causse du Blandas revêt un caractere particulier: d'austérité, de calme, de tranquilité mais, tout de même, de vie. De nombreuses fermes, le plus souvent abandonnées, hantent ces lieux désertés des hommes. Seuls les bovins et les ovins apprécient les pâturages chauds et secs aux alentours de vieux mas où il fait bon flâner et se reposer. Le Coulet est une des rares fermes toujours en activité dans ce coin de paradis, elle est le lieu de départ de notre randonnée.”
After the hike we went for coffee (not beer) in a village called Cirque de Navacelles; to get there we drove on this winding highway. Accroding to the tourist guide this view and village are unique in Europe. I have to come back to this place, there are numerous hikes around this area. This is the view from the coffee shop up top to the valley. The highwasy goes around the mountain, it is very impressive and beautiful.

Saint Guilhem Le Desert - Visit and short hike – Evasion outing

Our third outing with Evasion on a Sunday; we met as usual at 10 am at Esplanade de Europe. We chatted a bit having coffee at one of the trendiest “resto” (restaurants) by the Lez river.

We car pool with Jonathan, a French chemist that just moved to Montpellier from Bordeaux not too long ago. Same as us Jonathan doesn’t know Montpellier that well, so is happy to explore the city and beyond. Luckily he speaks some English, also understands quite a bit, we are relieved to be with someone that we can communicate easily.

Guilhem Le Desert is about 40 km from Montpellier. It is an amazing place (it is my favorite so far); this village was founded in 804, it is one of the most picturesque places in France (according to the guide book) and it is part of the French National Classified Site.

In the middle of the village there is an abbey; the abbey was rebuild in 11th century, it is considered a masterpiece of the Romanesque art and it is included in he World Heritage of Mankind by UNESCO.
The village and the abbey is also a starting point on the pilgrimage road to Santiago de Compostella in Spain.

The village is small and very charming, narrow streets, stairs and passages, many restaurants, coffee shops, artsy boutiques, flowers…….


There are several hikes of variable difficulty starting from the village. Due to the time constraints we choose a short but very scenic hike. These are the picture of the village from the top.

Amazing mountain view from same hike.

As any other outings with Evasion we had lunch in the village; this is a picture of the resto logo. I had lamb and sheep grill, frites, and salad.; all sounds good but I wasn’t very impressed with the food……..

Pot luck party with new friends

We were lucky enough to meet nice people through language exchange meetings.

Last Friday we went again (second time) to Book In Bar and we chat English-French with some people that we have already met and also some new people. At the end of the evening we got invited to a pot luck dinner at Alain (he is French from Montpellier) by Alain and Cressida from Australia living now in Montpellier; actually the pot luck was Cressida’s idea and Alain was happy to host.

Alain’s place is a one bedroom apartment with the nice view in a residential part of Montpellier. His place was 20 minutes pleasant walk from our place.
There were 10 quests, 6 from Montpellier, one British, Australian and us.

We all brought one dish, the dish was supposed to be from our country, but Mark and I agree on a American – Canadian version of a Indian - Moroccan dish: eggplant curry with couscous. All dishes were very good; I liked all of them, the aubergines caviar, meat balls with tomato sauce, curry chicken, dark bread with nuts; as dessert we had crème Brule and “oreillettes” French pastries, something like a dry doughnut.

We drank red wine and for dessert we had apple cider---everything was yummy! nous avons trop manger :)

Four of us walked home together at midnight, the night is warm and beautiful; hmmm…. I start to like Montpellier and my new friends, if I could get a job and make some Euros life would be really good here.

Bike ride from Montpellier to Carnon

This Thursday April 10 we finally made it to the Mediterranean Sea. Montpellier is only 10 km to Mediterranean Sea, we can bike, walk or run….

As it was our fist bike ride in a long time we decided to rent bikes for only 4 hours; to rent a bike for 4 hours is 1 Euro, to rent for the day (from 7 am to 7 pm) it is 2 Euros.

These bikes are for tourists and they are great just to get around the city; for long distance not that good, they are heavy and have only 3 gears. I would have preferred to rent a VTC bike (velo tout chemain) but the rental place did not have any left. The VTT (velo tout terrain) and VTC have to be rented for a long period of time, and apparently all the bike are already rented!

Montpellier has many bikes lanes; it is nice and comfortable to get from our place to the sea, we are on the bike lane, not in traffic at all. It took us a bit more than an hour to bike from Montpellier to Carnon. We biked into the city, it is a very typical Mediterranean sea resort with many hotels, restaurants and coffee shops. However this Thursday the resort looks deserted, it is too early in the season, also a chilly day by “Montpellier” standards.


In our way back we stopped at Carrefour for groceries; we like Carrefour, it is a big, big store with lots of choices of food, vegetable, bakery, wine, beer and everything else we can think of. We end up by buying much more than we wanted too (hey, everything was too yummy) so Mark had to take most of the heavy stuff on his bike (good work out for him) 

The best website - On Va Sortir Montpellier

Patricia, a interesting lady that we met at Book In Bar language exchange event, mentioned to us about On Va Sortir website. This website is very similar to the Meet up Groups, and in my opinion even better. The website is free, any activity can be posted and any members can post an activity.

Activities are sorted per days. New activities are in yellow, activities that one subscribe for are in green. Every time a new activity is posted is added as a plus to the existing activities.
There is a message board, contact the organizer link, pictures. I think this website is just perfect for activities. Mark and I are soooo happy to find out about this webiste. We are both members and already registered to a few activities.

In fact tonight was our fist activity; language exchange conversation at La Dome Brasserie. About 30 people showed up, main language French, everyone interested to converse in a different language. Sure enough I was happily chatting is English and broken French with people. I made a least one friend, a guy who is leading lots of hikes and bike rides, looking forward to my first serious hike.


Wow, we are busy people again; it feels like we are back home 

BTW – today was the first day when was cloudy and rained for a bit; to be honest I was quite content, it is nice to have a change, I know that for my friends back in Vancouver this will be hard to understand………

Evasion –Balade Gourmande (second outing)

On a beautiful Sunday morning we were happy to head out for our second outing with people from Evasion club. This time the group was a bit larger than last time and we met some new people.

We had coffee first and after carpooling to Clairan for wine and honey testing.

Honey testing was set up on this old farm; there were quite a few kinds of honey, and products made with honey, cakes and nougats. . The hosts also were serving coffee and slices of cakes. I had some nice cake with fruit and nuts and delicious coffee. People in our group didn’t really like the “American style coffee” but Mark and I just love it.
We bought a little honey sample jars and one jar with lots of fruits in honey, they all looks delicious and I have no doubt that they are delicious :)

There were many people at the honey testing and all around; people walking, people sitting around having picnic with families and kids. The French really like to go out on Sunday! Sunday all stores are closed, so people here are always going out on a Sunday to different events, from cultural to outdoors.

After stuffing ourselves with al the goodies, half of the group decided to go for a 10 km balade (easy hike); I was happy!!!

We walked mostly through the vineyards and also some very little villages. The scenery was very picturesque, I really enjoy it.


At the end of the hike we went to the wine testing place, but in the meantime there were tons on people there and we did not want to wait in line for the wine.

However inside the presentation room the hosts have set up a dark chocolate fountain surrendered by many fruits: strawberry, banana, kiwi, oranges, grapefruit. I did not have any wine but I had LOTS of chocolate, it was the Best!