Left the south of France behind -- I'm glad I saw it but it wasn't what I had hoped it would be. Almost didn't make it out of Nice -- spent half an hour going around in circles, ovals, out and backs, etc... as my GPS decided to sleep in -- unbelievable, can't wait to dump off this car on Saturday!
Took my first step on the march back to Paris -- stopped in a small village called Rustrel located in the Rousillion-Luberon district to do some hiking -- probably my last here in France. It was pretty neat -- the trails are in a National Park by the name of Colorado-Provence -- they explore the site of an old ocher mine.
The mine is an open-pit/surface type of mine that been around for along time and is still used by local artists who supposedly come here and mine small amounts of the different colored ochers to use in their paints. Ocher is a type of mineral that occurs naturally in a number of different colors -- red, yellow, white, purple, brown are the most common here.
There are two or three main trails and a bunch of offshoots -- the ones I hiked went right through the deposits and then climbed the ridge overlooking the pits below. The mine level trail was somewhat up and down -- you could wander wherever you wanted to, including climbing some of the deposits. The ridge trail was another one of the "chute" type trails I've run into here -- you basicaly follow a steep stream bed up to the top of the ridge and back down -- it's all uphill and then downhill -- no flat sections to catch your breath-- and you're walking on roots, stones and mud as you ascend/descend -- really glad I decided to take one of my hiking poles -- would've been real dicey in places otherwise. For those of you who hike in Colorado Springs, think Section 16 steep section -- then triple the roots and rocks, narrow the trail by fifty percent and up the grade by another thirty percent.
Most people stay on the lower trail -- once I was on the ridge trail, I didn't see or hear another person the whole time -- really nice -- went at my own pace (slow) and just enjoyed being out in nature. About halfway there was an overlook of the mines -- stopped, found a rock to sit on (ended-up kind of hanging my feet over the edge) and ate a sandwich I brought with me -- watching little "ants" of people scrambling around the pits down below -- felt like I had the whole place to myself although there were twenty to thirty people on site. Descended the trail passing above some "hoo-doo" configured rock structures (think Bryce Canyon or the Grand Canyon for similar rock formations).
The place is billed as "a slice of Colorado USA" -- sorry, Colorado has nothing to worry about -- it was nice to get out and get some exercise but the place isn't even close to what we have in the foothills. Nice for Europe though!
Then it was back in the car for another couple of hours to get to my hotel for the night -- good old GPS dropped me off right in the middle of an industrial/warehouse district just as the sun was going down. Fortunately found the hotel about a mile or so away -- had a large lighted rooftop sign -- was looking for a business that was open when I saw the sign -- might have been more challenging to find it in the daytime.
Tomorrow I pass through the Burgundy wine growing region again -- was there in July for a week when everything was pretty and green -- now the grape vines are yellow and red -- will be interesting to compare what it feels like. May stop at a couple wineries and wine taste if I have enough time.
Except for the GPS, overall a very nice day in France!
