Footprints

Another day , another venture into the mountains . Recent forays had created confidence that this ageing body was capable of more . Why not revisit Tour Masanne , at only ? 793m;  17km  from home, that would take (me ) 5/6 hours . Ah , another suggestion has just been made , to finish with a meal  at Argeles Port ; so a less strenuous route planned . A later start , dictated by sartorial lunch preparations, meant that the route was down to two hours now .

Still I’m off with a spring in my step , enthusiasm enhanced by thoughts of food . I was following a series of fire tracks for ease and speed . It was yet another still day .With no noise , or anyone else, it was as though I had these vast spaces to myself . Being a responsible walker, I enjoyed this little bit of wilderness , leaving behind only my footprints , and taking with me only pictures. Ah if only mankind emulated this example.

The folds of the mountain side had been created over the millenniums by fast flowing river torrents .Vegetation has softened the slopes ; wind and rain smoothing exposed rock, itself covered with moss and lichen . Natures harmony .

It’s much, much , drier now , with those torrents making only maybe yearly appearances. The landscape had stopped evolving . However  nature has now been rent asunder with the gash of the fire tracks . Fracturing rock faces , and tipping the detritus on the slopes . Man’s footprint writ large. The tracks themselves a response to mankind induced climatic reverberations.

Turning a corner and the sound level dramatically increased , reaching a crescendo as  I crossed the ‘Route Grand Vitesse’. Feeling somewhat smug , I traversed this carbon emission generating contrivance; knowing that my releases that day , so far , was sustainable. My diminishing carbon footprint was further enhanced by a meal of shell fish , somewhat offset by the odd glass of wine. Clearly I am not yet carbon neutral .

Argeles has some 800 boats anchored in the port . Perversely very few are at sea at anyone time . The commune is engaged in a public consultation exercise to , amongst others ‘Engage the port and its neighbourhood in the ecological transition ‘ ( Google translation); i.e. to expand for another 240 . Despite the promotional wooly words , the main objective. The port and boat construction will represent a size 14 carbon footprint . Still I suppose with sea level rises forecast between 0.5 and 1 metre by 2100; the boats will provide sorely needed alternative accommodation .

To be or not to be...

 

That is the question …but when in comes to insurance , for me there is no question . It could be said I am somewhat risk averse. After all we have our own lightning conductor : what are risks of being struck not once ( already happened ) , but twice ?. We have rain guns set up around the house to counter a passing forest fire , and  a standby generator to cover for a simultaneous  power cut . The basement could be turned into a fall out shelter; next project ?

 So when it comes to holiday insurance , it has to be comprehensive. Luggage could go missing ( it has ) ,valuables stolen ( they have ) , relative’s illness could demand an unplanned return ( it has) ; we could be caught in a potential war zone ( yep that has happened also ) .

 We were living in India  and it looked like they could go to war with Pakistan . Both sides had mobilised half million troops, and the paper in India had the radius of the Pakistani missiles ( nuclear ). Ah they could reach us . The French considered it all hype ; the British said we wouldn’t be rescued  if we didn't leave NOW . The propelling factor however was that if you ( as good Brits ) ignore Foreign Office advice, all your insurances  are cancelled  . So it was to Singapore for us , first class,  to ensure we got on the plane . Another potential risk covered.

Covid travel restrictions have relaxed somewhat , so we are off in search of winter warmth ; visiting family , fortunately now living in that warmth;  Maldives and Ecuador . Children’s careers had followed parent’s example of including climate in the list of country requirements . Didn't  always work as Armenia slipped into the pack ( 40 above in summer , but 20 below in winter . ) Still now ,back on track , and we are off . Insurance , no problem, obtained on line with our UK company . Paid, and minutes later document arrived . Oops ! , the now not so small print highlighting that insurance was void if you travelled against  Foreign Office advice . Ecuador was now ‘red’ , so that insurance didn't last the flight time of the email. All this computerisation has its drawbacks if the humans don't keep the information up to date .

The French of course were again more relaxed , issuing world wide coverage , and that at half the price . They did however restrict us from  vacationing in North Korea, Afghanistan and Somalia; perhaps next time .  A month to go : new improved suit cases have arrived , and case straps procured . We will plastic seal them as well …to be on the safe side . As with insurance , you cannot  prepare enough , and too early . All somewhat removed from a “ A walk on the wild side “ ( previous blog ). That too is possible with  insurance ; although surprisingly for the French it excludes inebriated induced accidents .  So abroad , with a glass in front of me, that  phrase will be haunting me …” to be or not to be “

Walk on the Wild Side

 Time to throw off post lock down inertia , and venture further afield ; well across our electric fence and into the wild woods. Not exactly virgin forest , but secondary regrowth on former agricultural land long since abandoned , and now being reclaimed by nature . Oak has re-established itself with a local broom filling the remaining spaces . So without a machete , following a hunters’ track was essential . The path itself was little used , so the local sanglier can feel relaxed , they had even dug themselves  a watering hole in which to wallow ; no doubt planning their next excursion into our garden .

This bit of wilderness lasted a total of a few hundred meters , and I emerged into fields more recently neglected . Grasses had now over taken the vines and the few grapes left for the wildlife ; those sanglier again. With all this open space around us , why do those sanglier want to endure a 14.000 volt shock just to eat our worms ? .. The other man’s worms !!

I am back on asphalt now , starting a gentle ascent to the bottom of our bit of Les Albères. Just a few months ago our galant pompiers had rescued the adjacent fields from  the ravages  of a wild fire , probably induced by discarded glass or  ‘megots’. ( ciggies ) . Now green grass was emerging from the blacked soil , and trees, abandoning their lower foliage, continuing their vertical ascent . Nature’s rapid reclamation.

I am on a steep winding path, properly in the mountains( well our bit of the Pyrenees ). Not a breadth of wind and no noise except the clinking of my Pacer poles and my creaking and wheezing . I am sure these hills are getting bigger. Even on these steep hillsides is evidence of man’s previous occupation. Extensive dry stone terracing still standing after some hundreds of years. Clearly then the workers were very fit and these hillsides capable of sustaining all that effort . They make my garden walling efforts look puny.

Despite ( or because of )  the steepness ,stones and twists and turns , this path has attracted mountain cyclists ; tell tale tracks spotted by this sharp eyed tracker.  I suppose that as more of these machines are electrified  , then the routes followed have to be more challenging . This little bit of wilderness is too fast disappearing.

Suddenly the track burst forth onto the wide spaces of the fire track. Constructed not many years ago to give pompiers access to these hillsides , it has dramatically increased human presence , and thus perversely the risk of carelessly induced fire . An unintended consequence , a bit like road improvements increasing traffic. ( “Oh what tangled web we weave …”).

Before the advent of the fire track , there were just the occasional narrow footpaths and one very steep roadway winding upwards to a remote Mas . According to village gossip it was built using helicopters and money derived from an ‘unsure’ northern European source; for someone who did not welcome visitors. Apparently he wants to keep his hillside wild , by “ excluding the goats”. I passed two cockneys using a rock drill installing 50mm steel fence posts 2 metres high . There must be very big goats around here, and someone with very deep pockets. Ah! who owns all that property in London ?

Back to earth now , returning to our fenced compound only capable of deterring four legged intruders . Two legged welcomed . Lou Reed’s  song reverberating  in by cranium  “ Hey, babe
Take a walk on the wild side” 

 

 Surrounded by wildernes?

 

Minds eye

 Summer is over , the pool is covered and the swallows and our family have left for their winter accommodation. Its been a busy period  , for two months the house population expanded from two to ten, both human and swallows .  Whilst the swallows created little work , except for occasional poo cleaning , the same could not be said for the humans who needed hotel services. Nevertheless  it has been an enjoyable and memorable summer . Time for our break .

The Costa Brava has a spectacular coast , and a delightfully green interior. So we booked into a small hotel in Llafranc relaxing in the end of season calm ; and with Spanish food and wine . The flat , blue sea   encouraged post sleeping  ( night and siesta ) refreshing activity . Coastal footpaths provided more strenuous endeavours coupled with expanding vista . A lasting visual memory of our short holiday .

However , periodically there were reminders of something , or in this case , someone missing . An empty glass, an abandoned table , a view point needing human presence . Covid had almost avoided  all of us then France , except for a fit teenager who shrugged it off like a passing cold . Devastatingly  it took a senior family member  based in the UK. A truly lovely man who had dedicated his life to helping others . So on our holiday , whenever there was something missing it was filled by memories of Jesse . He may no longer be with us in person , but is forever in our minds eye .