With the gite now booked from the 5th July until mid September and a "star host bonus" of 100$ about to expire we decided to take a couple of days break on the Mediterranean coast. Collioure can get very busy so we opted to head further south towards the Spanish border and stay in Cerbère.

It's about 4 hours drive but a change of scenery was just what the doctor ordered.

We bought a full face snorkelling mask, which was a revelation! You can breathe through youe nose or mouth and see the amazing sea life that is all around you when you are swimming, even in the shallows. For me, it meant I could swim out of depth comfortably - I'm reasonably strong swimmer but water phobic.

On day two we went for a walk along the coast to Banyuls-sur-Mer through the natural coast nature reserve. Beautiful clear waters and Mediterranean flora. At Perrefitte there's an underwater walk that goes for 400m or so along the coast looking at various underwater habitats. I decided to go with the new mask. All went well until site 3 out of 5. Suddenly I realised that the oxygen supply in my mask was getting rapidly restricted! As it became harder and harder to breathe I began to panic. I looked for a rock that I might be able to stand on and get my head out of the water and so remove the mask, but the one I found was n't high enough. I had to really concentrate to subdue the panic and head for bouy 3 which I could hang onto. The air was getting less and less but finally I reached for the bouy and ripped off the mask to gasp for air. Obviously a more confident swimmer might have just removed the mask and carried on swimming but I was getting tired and not confident out of my depth to swim without the mask. Susie was watching from the shore and could see me panicking! After sometime refilling my lungs, I was able to resume my journey to the shore. 

It transpired that we had been erroneously sold a child's mask which wasn't suitable for adults...unable to expell enough CO2 the mask had been asphyxiating me. I managed to exchange it for an adult one the next day.

We continued our coast walk in searing heat for a much deserved lunch in Banyuls and a train ride back to Cerbère.

Back in the 1930's Cerbère was a favourite haunt of Orson Wells and Josephine Baker; who stayed in this unusual hotel, which is currently being restored.

A spectacular sunset changed the sea to rose - befitting of the "vermillion coast".

On Friday we headed for home via a morning in Collioure. It was busy with visitors from all over France and Europe...somewhat shocking that probably only 1 in 500 people was wearing a mask. I wore one in the busier streets and shops where it was impossible to observe 2m separation.

Wildlife

A female purple emperor, I couldn t get a photo of the male which is Purple

 A rare sighting of a pair of Egyptian Vultures over Camp Faba here in Aleu

Hay making

It's been a wet June, but that has made the grass grow. Good weather since the weekend meant it was time once again for making hay. With our finger mower and baler dating from the late 1950's, it's always a fraught time trying to get everything to work. This year after changing the cutters on the Busatis mower all went reasonable well. The tedder worked without a problem, then we spent a 2-3 hours raking the hay into winrows (we don't have an andaineur). Then out rolled the baler which worked marvelously last summer. This year it just refused to work. As per normal the knotters wouldn't knot. I spent all afternoon fiddling but without success.

This morning armed with various manuals and advice, I sharpened the cutters, synchronised the needles with the knotters and adjusted the wipers and hey presto it worked again. The bales weren't very dense but I dared not change anything. I had already had to fluff up all the winrows which were damp with the overnight dew! Susie had dance class so I was baling single handed and failed to notice that 40 bales had passed with only one twine...one of the bobbins had run out! All the bales had to be broken apart and rebaled.

A hastily put together extension to our trailer doubled its capacity and 7 trips later the barn is full for the winter. There's still another 50 or so bales in the field but at 9.30 we'd had enough. Should be hot enough tomorrow to dry the dew out of those bales....I ll find somewhere to store them.

Gerac, Turguilla, Rabaserre

A break in the rainy unsettled weather allowed another hastily arranged walk in the mountains with Sheri and Michiel. Despite the sunny appearance of the weather in the photos an icy wind was blowing a hoolie and it was both bitterly cold in the morning and sometimes difficult to keep your balance.

Pointe de Rabaserre (left) and Pointe de Hillette (right)

At the cabane de Tuguilla we took refuge from the wind for an early lunch and discuss the onward route options. We decided to head up to the Etang de Reglisse and then the col on the west ridge of Pointe de Rabaserre, as this looked like it would be more sheltered from the wind.

Etang de Rabaserre

A few hundred meters below the col the fresh snow appeared and Sheri and Susie decided to cal it a day. 

Michiel and I pressed on to the col which was decidedly delicate as some 20cm of fresh snow had covered the patchwork of huge boulders and old névé with a seemingly continuous snowfield but this disguised deep holes and weak snow bridges. Mostly we managed to stick to the edges. Below the col there was a small patch of steep grass covered in melting snow and this was perhaps the trickiest bit to cross as a slip would have nasty consequences! Inhte end all passed without incident and at the col we were greated with the icy wind and marvrllous view to Certescan and Montabone.

Compost bins

Decided we needed to get more serious about compost so have built 2 big bins to turn our grass, old hay, sheep manure and vegetable waste into Black Gold!

Peyrelade, port de Barlonguère, Etang Long, Etang Rond

A hastily arranged walk with our neighbour Sandrine and we opted to head over the Col de Barlonguère and descend via the Etang Long and Etang Rond, which are often snow filled at this time of year.

The steep climb up past the cascades d'echelles was a rude awakening, especially for Sandrine as this was her first mountain walk since lock-down. On emerging from the tree line an overdose of sensations from the noise of the torrent and the colours of the wild flowers and butterflies.

Looking back to the skyline we walked a few days ago

We managed to find a place to cross the torrent without too much difficulty, before the long ascent in the sun to the upper valley.

Snow patches appeared a km or so before the cabane de Barlonguère

We had a short lunch at the cabin because it was gone 1.30 by the time we arrived and it was 2.30 by the time we started our descent from the Port de Barlonguère. The views were magnificent and the descent though all on snow was soft and easy.

The Etang Long still had a sprinkling of snow islands floating around.

The descent to the Etang Rond was snow free though there is a place where the the path has fallen off this winter requiring a short detour.

From the Etang Rond the long descent back down to Pla de Lau on tired legs. 18km and 1450m of height gain, it's always a tough day.