Lower balcony from Mons to La Pomarede and return

Lower balcony from Mons to La Pomarede and return. 9.5km. 2H.30. This is a super walk that kisses the edge of the Caroux, giving you a glimpse of times not so long ago, when the fields were terraced with vines and chestnuts, donkeys were the main transport and villages were the homes of many agricultural workers.

I begin the walk in Mons because that's where I live but you can see by the map that there are any number of different places to start form. The walk is made up by joining the blue walk in Mons with the blue walk in St Martin de l'Arcon. This is achieved by using the Voie verte and the yellow route that joins St Martin to the Gorge d'Heric.

Start by following the red/yellow path in Mons down through the chestnut woods towards the gorge. Once you arrive at the road cross it and take the little passage marked blue that goes through Le Verdier Haut.

Turn left to reach the gorge car park and continue following the blue path down through it. It follows the river and arrives at the base of the voie verte in Le Verdier Bas. Don't go under the bridge, if you look to the righthand side of it there is a way up onto the greenway.

Once on the greenway turn left over the bridge, pass through the first tunnel, over the bridge, through the second tunnel and after about 100m further you will see a small tunnel marked by stones in wire casing. Just before these stones turn left at a blue marker and take the little path that goes under the voie verte. (You can continue on this route and leave the Voie verte when you see the signs for La Pomarede).

Now you are in the little fields that edge the Orb. Keep left at the first junction, right at the second and left again at the third. You will pass beside the river and then turn left beside a small field, sometimes containing donkeys. Now turn left again and up a tiny walled path to meet the steps coming down from the voie verte.

Turn right and pass the railings and then left under the bridge. You will now see the donkeys and goats before crossing the road to walk past the activity centre. Go up past the building for the adventure centre on a tiny path until you reach the hamlet of La Pomarede. Turn left and right and the next junction. There is a route barrie sign here but it does not mean people or cycles, just that the track has been damaged in the winter and not passable by automobiles.

Continue on through lovely chestnut woods and you will soon come out onto more lovely views. Soon you reach St Martin where you can visit if you wish and join the route later (stay on the blue route to do this). Or follow the yellow markers by turning right and then left down the concrete track. Pass through more chestnut woods, vines and turn right when you reach a slope. Soon you will reach La Coste.

Turn right and go through the hamlet, finally turning right at the end. Now you pass under a white house and turn left down a small passageway to the stream below. After going up to the top of the track you will need to quickly turn right, cross the track and turn left onto a small path that continues through the woods to reach the gorge d Heric. Here you need to cross the footbridge and turn left towards the car park. Passing this and turning right at the railings to reach Mons via the chestnut woods. All very pretty, quaint and rather lovely.

Saint Michel de Mercairol, Les Aires.

Saint Michel de Mercairol. A delightful walk starting from Les Aires in the Orb valley and walking up to the light chapel and castle ruins though a beautiful lush valley and back down through chestnut and holm oak woodland. 6.5km / 2h with yellow markers on the descent. 

Leave the car park on the D160 at Les Aires and walk up through the streets of this pretty little village past the church and then keep right where you will see a few yellow markers. End the end of the western side side of the village you will find a small lane which shortly splits. 

Take the right fork and follow this track which is marked as a cycle route up the hill for some way. After about 3km you will come to a hairpin bend at the foot of the castle, look carefully for a small path on your right beside a large standing stone/rock which marks its entrance. 

Now climb to the top of this small path which is quite steep,it will bring you to a junction marked with yellow markers. Turn right here and it will take you to a wooden sign for the steps to the castle and chapel. The little path takes you first to the castle ruins with amazing views in every direction. From here there is a lovely view of the Orb valley and it's mountains. 

Further up you will come to the little chapel which you may enter. After one more flight of steps you reach the table of orientation, with a beautiful panorama of the Caroux and the valley below. It's a great place for a picnic before taking the steps back down to the small path below. 

Once you reach the wooden sign again turn left and this will take you to the north gate, You then reach a little picnic area will a small road leading down, marked yellow. Follow the road through the chestnuts until you come to a sign for Les Abbes. 

Turn right onto this pretty little path through holme oaks until you reach the village of Les Abbes. Just before the village take a left once again and this path will lead to Les Aires. 

Lots of interest on this pretty route and many beautiful wild flowers including thyme, hare's ears and lots of soles too. 

The smells were wonderful the views stupendous. We picniced at the little picnic area just below the castle, it's nice and cool under the shade there, although most of the walk had some shade. We really loved this walk today.

The summit of the Caroux.

The summit of the Caroux. 3H. 8km. Yellow, moderate. This is a fairly easy walk with some splendid views. Take the road up to Douch, which is a lovely trip in itself.

Park at the little car park just before you enter the village and take the wide track that rises to the east. This zigzags up to join a path just before you turn left to go up to the summit. If you don't want to go up to the summit just carry on down to join the GR7.

After leaving the summit go down to join the GR7 and turn right. Shortly after this take the track to the left and go across the boardwalk. The heather is pretty just before you enter the pine woods.

Go through the pine woods and turn left on a path that soon reaches the table of orientation.

It's a great place to view the Orb valley and from here you can usually see down to the coast and the Pyrenees. Following the path around the edge heading west now, you will soon reach an area of beech trees and a small refuge.

Turn right here and follow the path as it goes through another beech wood and then another open area with yet move wonderful views of the Espinouse. The path now heads down through more beech woods and finally reaches the hamlet of Douch. Turn right to return to the car park.  

Mons, a short stroll in the woods.

A short walk in the woods from Mons. Takes about 20 minutes. 1km. Just go through the village and take the path to the gorge.

Walk down through the chestnut woods, then turn left at the blue sign. Now climb up to you reach another lovely view of the valley and pass through the pine trees.

At the junction you can either turn left and go down the little track marked with the blue x then turn right at the junction to retrace your steps back to the village or continue on up following the blue markers until you come out at the top of the village.

Turn left and go through the village. Such a pretty little path

St-Etienne-d'Albgnan.

St-Etienne-d'Albgnan. 6km. 2H. no markers. 

We were just exploring a new area this morning so we parked in the Voie vert car park at the old station and turned right to reach the greenway. 

Turn left onto the Voie vert and walk a short distance until you reach a bridge, cross the small bridge and turn right off the bridge to meet a small road. Turn left onto it and continue up towards Mas du Rieu. Pass through Valausse and continue uphill until you reach a track on your right at a small col. 

We kept to the lower track and after the zigzags turned right on the road towards La Mouline. We didn't go into the hamlet there, maybe that was what we should have done as if you reach the main road there doesn't appear to be a way back onto the voie vert until you return to St-Etienne. 

We thought that there were two other better possibilities to try another time the first being the circular 1H.30 route called "Promenade de Callasourdes". which takes the same route as far as Valausse and then turns left and back down the valley on the other side of the stream before returning on the voie vert. 

Or taking the road up to the track at the col but returning on the upper track which descends into Valausse and then return on the Callasourdes routes. Lots of possibilities up there.

An Appalachian Adventure, Bear bells.

An Appalachian Adventure.  Bear bells.

August and September 2014. 

It’s always exciting to pack for an adventure and this trip was no exception. We had travelled back from the Languedoc to gather our camping equipment and found myself at the first class check in a Heathrow with four rather bulging bags. We had an unlimited baggage allowance on our Air miles tickets and had improved our camping experience to include a slightly bigger tent this year. I think the poor girl checking us in thought she was missing out on some exclusive luxury travel and asked if she could join us. I smiled and said only if she didn't mind sharing her tent with black bears, bravely she replied she was up for the adventure!

We had spent many evenings planning with maps and a lap top and now we were heading out to our first camp The ADK mountain club wilderness camp at Heart Lake, in the Adirondack Mountains, North York State, http://www.adk.org/page.php?pname=wilderness-campground . 

An area of wild, tree covered mountains with endless trails and plenty of summits to enjoy the views from. Unfortunately that is the only way to see the views as the forests are so thick they encompass the whole mountain apart from a few metres bare rock around the lofty summits. The forest really are quite beautiful; full of wild flowers, chipmunks, and red squirrels and of course black bears!

I had encountered lots of bears on trips before and was well prepared with a bear bell attached to my backpack. The bears normally spend most of their time grazing on the berry bushes and it’s lovely to see them from a distance but they don't like being surprised, so a bell or my constant chatter is a must. 

I've come across families of bears doing just this in the past and even mountain lions but the berry crop was poor this year and they must have found another solution to fill their dietary requirements because we didn't see any. That wasn't to say we didn’t hear them at night in our next camp!

We climbed a number of beautiful peaks including Mt Jo, Phelps Mountain, Indian pass and Whales tail. There was so much to explore; Lake Placid (it does have an enormous man eating reptile dwelling in its depths by the way), the beautiful Saranac Lakes area and the Green mountains further to the east where we travelled next.

Well the Green mountains were green, very green. In fact covered in so many trees that it made it quite impossible to see anything else from the tops. So we enjoyed some fast flowing rivers, the most delightful villages full of little white wooden houses and churches, all built in the seventeen hundreds and the ruins of forts, both English and French as they fought to claim the flag for their nations. Quite a bloody past as there were Indians who also claimed the land and wild animals including wolf to deal with. Now “tamed” it’s very New England and was a peaceful setting for our next stop.

So if the Green mountains were green, one who have thought the White Mountains perhaps would have borne some resemblance to their name, but no, they were pretty green still. The mountains here are quite a lot higher and The Appalachian Trail cuts through them on its 2,181 mile journey south. It’s one of the longest continuously marked footpaths in the world, crossing through fourteen states. 

This part of the trail goes through the Presidential Range taking in Crawford and Franconia Notch state parks. Camping along the trail is the norm with a number of mountain cabins in this area making lightweight travel much easier. Wild camping is usually free in the USA and registration is either by entering your details in the trail book or by permit. Our first night in the area was spent in Crawford Notch campground. A little less basic with a pitch for up to eight people, toilets and even a shower. 

These campsites are wonderful for families too with a large wooden bench and a fire ring, a bargain at $20, bookable on line from the national parks website.http://www.nps.gov/index.htm. All you really need to take with you is a tent, sleeping bags, sleeping mat, a small cooker that attaches to a disposable gas cylinder and a saucepan/plates and cutlery.

Installed in our tent, having enjoyed a delicious meal cooked on the open fire we were happy in the recently acquired knowledge (from the ranger) that the bears had taken the hump and gone up into the mountains early this year as they had eaten all the available berries. We had a close bear encounter once before when the side of our tent had been pushed in by a large animal that neither of us had had the courage to evict from our humble abode. My husband had pulled the cord on the hood of his sleeping bag so tight, I could only see his nose and here we were again, with branches crunching and crashing about outside and only half a millimetre of nylon to separate us from his hunger. Fortunately I must have fallen asleep and the only thing that had eaten me in the night were a few midges.

Now if you are looking for a location that has everything except perhaps washing facilities and somewhere to hide when the biggest storm you can imagine that is emptying itself onto your tent, then Blackwoods campground in Acadia national park is the perfect place. Camping is not allowed anywhere else on the island, but the site can be booked on the same NP website. Acadia has a fantastic network of trails, climbs with ladders and cycle tracks. You can kayak in the sea or the many beautiful lakes and walk to remote beaches; their edges clad with tall pines and watch seals and porpoises. This was our last stop before working our way down the coast of Maine back to Boston. We didn’t complete the whole trail, that would take a couple of months, but we had a great adventure in some of America’s most beautiful states.

Les Sagnes, Les Cross and the chapel St Martin des Oeufs. 7.4km. 2H.

Les Sagnes, Les Cross and the chapel St Martin des Oeufs. 7.4km. 2H. Blue markers. A pretty route with lovely views to the west of Olargues, up to the Espinouse and down the Jaur valley on the first part of the walk and across to the Caroux and Orb valley during the second half. Take the D908 to Olagues and park.

Walk across the beautiful 13th century Pont du Diable, turn left and walk a short distance along the road . Soon you will see a little concrete road to your right (Faubourg de Gue), take this goes up a hill and then down to meet another small track coming up from the road below. At this junction turn right and continue up the hill as it winds through pretty countryside.

Ignore the little turn to the left and continue on to the little chapel of St Martin des Oeufs situated on a small col. There is a picnic bench here and it makes a pleasant spot to enjoy some refreshments. It's a lovely little chapel built at the end of the 19th century and has a lovely little altar, rows of benches and is decorated with some pretty frescoes.

Now continue on the higher path and over the little bridge. You can ignore a path a little further on your left and continue on this track until you reach the road. If you do this turn left on the road as it winds down to Le Cros, this route is still marked blue. (There is a another way of doing this walk without taking the road route, but it's not marked. At this fork turn left up through the chestnut trees and soon you will find a narrow lane.

Soon you will turn left, passing the hamlet of Les Codouls and turning left again at the next junction. Walk through Les Sagnes and go uphill to find an old path on your right with stone walls and some cherry trees that have seen better days. Drop down then to meet the road at Le Cros). Turn right to go down to the village, taking the new concrete track to the right and then left down to meet a stone track just before an old building, turn right onto the track and then right again at the next junction onto a tiny road that winds back down into Olagues.

This road comes out on the D908,it's not an easy road to walk on but you need to turn right now and after a while you will reach the Pont du Diable once again. There is another little chapel here. St Roch, but it's not easy to see inside. You are also beside a very beautiful restaurant that overlooks the river (although you might not be dressed for something so lovely).

If you fancy a look around Olargues it's a lovely place to wander. It was rather busy today with a vide grenier in full swing, but normally you can enjoy a pleasant stroll up to the castle hill or enjoy lunch in one of the little bars or pizza restaurants. Enjoy.