Rock Climbing

There is very little wildlife in the South of France. We saw a scattering of birds including a few multicolored jays, blackbirds, pigeons, and reclusive tits but orders of magnitude less wildlife than we would see back home. Ja said squirrels were rare in France because the French people eat them and there are no other large wildlife. Amanda asked about wildlife rehabilitation but they have none since there are no animals to injure. The largest wild animal loose in Menton are the sanglier (wild pigs) which tear up the fields and orchards in the night. The French are afraid of these wild pigs which is strange when you consider the fate of the squirrels.

We got up at 6:20 and went on an early morning walk up the ravine, following the river and skirting picturesque country villas. At the paved road, Ja said we could walk down a ways to a waterfall and swimming hole or we could continue up the ridge to see one of the largest WWII forts in France. We started up the ridge but only made it a few kilometers up the steep mountain before the heat stopped Amanda.

I continued on alone a couple more kilometers but didn't manage to get over the ridge before the strap on my sandals broke. The mountain was exposed limestone, and it was like hiking in the Swiss alps (we were in the southern range). The rock was full of worm holes and strange sharp ridges and you could see the path had to be blasted out of the side of the mountain. There were steel cables holding a few of the more precarious rock formations from tumbling down into the ravine but I didn't know how they kept everything from rolling down and flattening the houses below. The houses were set right at the base of the mountain.

Lucille arrived with chocolate filled croissants a short time after we got back to the house and we packed our rock climbing gear and drove off into the mountains. The climbing wall was located only 50m from the road, across a steep river and overlooked a mountain lake and some picturesque ruins. They had a sign at the base illustrating the various climbs and their difficulties. We started on a difficulty 4 then onto a 5 and a 5+ and while setting up to do another climb, thunder rolled out over the valley and it began to rain.

01:12 (17.9MiB)

01:22 (20.5MiB)

The rain was scattered at first but the drops were huge; like water balloons. It was so sparse you could look up and see individual drops and catch them out of the sky. We packed up our stuff and took shelter under the small sign hoping that this was just a passing shower but the clouds only grew darker so we packed up and ran back to the car.

00:41 (10.2MiB)

Following a train of French cars driving down the mountain we went straight back to the house rather than stop at any of the mountain villages along the way. The rain remained in the mountains and the temperature climbed as we approached the house. Back to the house I borrowed a pick from the garage and carved a set of steps down the steep section leading to the stream. By the time I finished carving out the path, I was sweating profusely and the water felt glorious. I stretched out in a small pool situated in a rocky channel that bubbled continuously like a Jacuzzi.

That evening we had blood sausages with eggplants in creme for dinner. It looked disgusting but was tasty. Amanda teased me for being too squeamish to eat the casein around the cylinder of congealed blood. I didn't mention my vampire theory.

After dinner we discussed our plans for the next ten days. We had friends in Ardennes and Marseille (both 4 hour trips in good traffic) and Amanda wanted to visit Florence. Ja had one week off but said he wanted a couple days to get some personal things done. Not having my license and Amanda being unable to drive stick made everything harder. There were places we wanted to go but we didn't want to risk having the car impounded.

That evening we went on a short walk up the trail. There's a place in the ravine where the trail splits and the fragile fence on the left hand side is torn down. There's also a channel in the dirt with a trickle of water running in it from a small upstream dam. We followed this stream up onto some private property and into a small plastic lined pool, half empty, and overgrown with algae. Ja said that neighbor used his influence over a real estate company to trick the owner into selling the property at half price and has been trying to make a bunch of changes to the area; building a new road through the quiet neighborhood and replacing all the old rustic stonework with fancy tile. All the neighbors hated him and have been discussing ways to get rid of him.