The Beziers Blog

A few months ago we bought a book of walks, 54 in all, each within a 65 mile radius of Beziers. Well 65 miles north east & west obviously not south because unless your initials are J.C. You would find it very difficult to walk on water. The Mediterranean is only about 8 miles due south of us.

Anyway back to the book of walks. We have done some of them and enjoyed them all. When arriving at the start of a walk the way signs are easy to find and they clearly mark the route all the way along to the end. There are 4 grades of walks ranging from very easy to difficult. Yellow markers are painted at each significant point, a dash to follow and a cross to say do not go this way. It is a bit strange that when looking for this book on the “net” to see if it was available in English I came across a comment from one reader that said a route was not marked and that the stated distance was way out. Being a bit “critical” myself I have on occasion worn a pedometer and the walks we have done have been accurately stated in the book. Title of book. L’Herault….a pied. ISBN 978-2-7514-01862-2.

Yesterday was beautiful, far to nice to stay at home, just the day to try another walk. Nothing too long or too energetic but where to go? Out comes the book,the very 1^st walk attracted our attention ,don’t know why we have not done it before. La Via Domitia is the name of the walk. When I suggested it to Geoff he said he thought it would be a bit far in one afternoon. I replied that it was only 6 Km. There is always one clever one isn’t there? “ The Via Domitia runs from Italy to Spain “ I was duly informed. I suppose I knew that really because we had seen sections of it when visiting Narbonne but I obviously do not have the same instant recall. If like me your knowledge of said Via Domitia is a bit scant I can recommend “Wikipedia””s reference about it.

Back to the walk. We drove to Pinet as directed in the book ( Wine buffs will know the name,”Picpoul de Pinet). It was necessary to use a large scale map to find the start of the walk but not too difficult. At the beginning of the walk near the car park there was a picnic place, it would be lovely in the spring or summer and children could really let off steam running around. Some creatures can let off steam at any time, Peete being one of them. She really enjoys exploring, sniffing and trail blazing which is allowed as dogs do not have to be on a lead all the time. She showed us where to go next, which was along a path the side of which was covered with purple heather (I think) and also young fir trees. It took us to a lovely view point looking across the vines toward Mont-Saint- Clair, at the foot of which is the town of Sete. At one point on the walk we walked along the Via Domitia and at two other points we crossed over it. Following the circuit we went past fields of vines and also a field that had sunflowers growing in it last year. The birds must have had a hey day with all the seed heads which are now empty. Wild rosemary and pine filled the air with their heady perfumes. I am not clever enough to describe fully the delightfulness of this walk but maybe the photos will help. 

I forgot to say that when driving to Pinet we passed a flock of flamingoes, it was not possible to stop at that place but maybe at the week-end we will return to try and get some pics. We might even go to Bouzigues. More about that next time. Until then keep warm.

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Just a short one this evening. We have just returned from a walk up into town where it is now a lot quieter than it has been for the past month. The novelty of the fair on Allee Paul Riquet has obviously worn off. Just as well really as the stalls are slowly being dismantled. I wander why the slot machines are one of the last to close

Even the tobbogan run has lost its appeal

A last go on the dodgems

Goodbye fair until next Christmas time.

Surprise surprise at 00.30 hours last night as Peete (the dog) was requesting a little walk before settling down for the night we were somewhat amazed to see that our world had turned white. Snow in Beziers now that is unusual, though not unheard of but definitely not the norm, even in winter. I must admit it felt strange standing on our balcony taking photos of our orange tree coated with snow at nearly 1 o/clock in the morning. Any sensible person would have been snuggled up in bed that probably explains why I was outside.

When we woke up this morning the snow was still covering the ground and the rooftops. It looked crisp and sharp and felt crisper and sharper than it looked. I really did not want to spend the day indoors so we decided to go for a drive and maybe have a walk while we were out.

As usual no route was planned but we had a vague idea that the snow would be pretty in the mountains. That proved to be the wrong direction because the nearer we got to the Haut Languedoc the greener they looked so we changed direction and headed towards the coast. Having lived by the sea in Somerset we knew it would be unusual to see snow at the coast but we went anyway. We crossed the Route de Narbonne and drove to Vendres a little village with a an impressive church, the tower of which dominates the skyline. When standing at the foot of the tower we could see the sun shimmering on the etang (lake) and also glistening on the pockets of snow that had not been fully exposed to the sun. On returning to the car we both agreed that a hot chocolate would be nice so we carried onto Vendres Plage and visited a little bar frequented by the locals. After the drink we walked along the beach, one side of the sea wall sand and sea the other side little snow drifts. Can I lay claim to a new expression .”Sun Sea And Snow”? Peete enjoyed her run along the beach , clear blue skies , shining water and no people but no dogs to play with either. Oh well she cannot have everything . I think she was quite content to get back in the car.

Until this point in the drive we had followed roads that we had been along before so we deviated off the way that we knew and went to Port Vendres not a lot to see today except men working very hard on some new construction. (Do not know what.) Apparently Charles Rennie Mackintosh painted scenes in this area during the last four years of his life. Some people say it reminded him of Glasgow ! I am afraid my imagination does not stretch that far. Ever onwards following the road that runs alongside the river Aude. We both enjoy watching birds and were delighted to see Egrets both little and great, Herons, Cormorants and many herring gulls. There was also a plethora of Buzzards funny though they all seem camera shy?

I suppose it was inevitable that we would end up in one of the wine terroirs of the region and I am pleased to say that the signs for La Clape (pronounced Clap) began to appear. Had to be done (well it is a while since we went tasting) Chateau Laquirou sounded attractive and looked welcoming and we were not disappointed. Guillaume the young man who explained and described the wines spoke very good English (always useful) and made us feel very comfortable when we made mistakes with our use of the French language. To be really honest although the wines were excellent and we did buy some he could have sold me the Eiffel tower. Well just because one is on a diet does not mean one cannot look at the menu.!!

Think I had better stop at this point before I get carried away. Wonder if it will snow again tonight.

Hello everybody I hope you have all had the sort of New Year that you wished for. We actually spent the evening at home and had a very English dinner of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding followed by the Christmas pudding that did not get eaten on Christmas day. Although New Year was quiet things certainly livened up on Friday the 2^nd. To cut a long story short. A few months ago I answered a request in the Nursing Standard about the benefits or negatives of retiring abroad. I must have made a little impact because just before Christmas a lovely lady contacted me to ask if they could send down a photographer to take pics for her article. Of course I said that would be fine and on Friday Charlie arrived.

We went to collect him from Beziers airport and drove him around the town before returning to the house for dinner. He said he was amazed at the size of the town as he had imagined it would be like a village. Tut tut Charlie had not done his homework, not that he had had much time to do anything. Anyway after dinner and of course a couple of glasses of a local wine Charlie went to bed as he was weary after travelling. It was arranged that he would take the photos on Saturday and could we have blue skies please? Geoff and I were a little worried as we had been having some very grey wet days since Christmas. Oh us of little faith, the morning positively bloomed and Charlie was like a dog with two tails.

He wanted to take photos of us (risky) with the cathedral as a back drop. It took us 3 minutes to walk to the spot where he started to click away with his camera. Now, having my picture taken is not something I enjoy and after an hour or more of smiling I like it even less. How those models can pose and smile for a living I will never know. Eventually he thought he had finished so we carried on walking up to the cathedral. A very impressive edifice with lovely views across the region. Actually the views from the top of the tower are very good as well but the curator was on his dinner break so we could not go up. After the cathedral we walked around the town and into the gardens. We had booked up at one of our favourite restaurants for dinner that evening so we headed back home for a petite sieste Guess what Charlie did on the way back , He got that flipping camera out again. He said it was a shame to miss the afternoon light. We did get back home and had a catnap before going out to dinner at the “ Cep D’Or” Everybody ate too much and probably drank a little too much as well but the walk home (downhill) sorted us all out.

Sunday brought us another beautiful day. We gave Charlie a bit of a whistle stop tour of the area. 1st stop was Les Halles as you can see from the photos a colourful mouth-watering place. I particularly like the trimming around the bar !!!! 2^nd port of call the beach at Serignan. Although it was a little bit windy we could have sun bathed according to Charlie. Final place to visit was the oppidum near Nissan lez Enserunes. Finally arrived back at the house feeling a little tired, must have been all that fresh air and sunshine. Geoff cooked a very nice chilli and a relaxing evening was had by all .

Charlie was booked on a flight this afternoon so we all went for a walk this morning along the canal which also gave him a chance to see the Neuf Ecluses (9 locks). I think he enjoyed his stay and hopefully will have some good pictures and nice memories of the start of 2009.

Well I have rambled on a bit with this one but I hope it is not too boring and that you all enjoy the pictures.