Le Vigan.

Le Vigan is in the southern part of Cevennes. It's a land made up of shale, granite. With deep valleys, winding rivers of clear cool water, that loop around and make perfect places to cool off. The valley is covered by a dense forest made up of sweet chestnut, green oak trees.

The aroma in the air here is stunning; you can smell mostly bay trees. This let of their scent when you brush past them.

The aromatic plants, herbs found upland make up ½ of the French flora.

Mulberry trees are ever where, which were used for feeding the silkworms in their magnagneries.

We are staying in a very small village called Aveze. This is not on the tourist s map.

Mulberry Cheese;

Never knowing what a mulberry fruit was. All week I have been walking on them, as they ripen and fell to the ground. The area of Ceaves is known for its production of silk. The local farmers would earn an extra income by rearing the silk worms in the attics of their homes. These are called a manery. They would have to keep the worm warm by placing hot coals on hearths that have been built in the corners of the room. Coco Chanel had family connections here, and she may have used the silk of Cevennes for inspiration for her designs.

The repair of the stone wall

'Hey…… I have stone hands' came the shout from the young Portuguese man. The stone slipped from his hand, held in gravity for a few seconds until the other person below touched it with his finger tips, then held it in his two hands.

'You mean butter fingers'

'Non….. I mean stone hands' he laughed .that was Teargo. The Portuguese with a permanent smile. He is the pragmatic sentinel. He even refused a mosquito killer because the mosquitoes would die. So he said; I would would rather be bite.. .' and laughed.

Well back to the stone wall, the original part of the wall had tumbled down, when the wild boar who roam the nearby forests of Aveze came down one August. Enticed from the aroma of the rotting apples in the orchard. Which were slowing fermenting and smell similar to cider...

After the boars had gone there was the pile of stones that had once formed the wall.

Under the shelter of 2 trees we endeavoured to sort the rubble pile out. Pulling up buckets filled with soil by ropes, and depositing on the top of the bank above the wall. That was my job. This was ok when it was one bucket but then the work got faster and it became two buckets .the small stones to the left and the larger ones to the right. Raking even smaller stones to make another pile. The question was now how do you put it all back together. The feeling was just similar to when you first open a brand new jigsaw puzzle of a thousand pieces. A sigh…

But the end was in sight later that day. Our wall building gang marched wearily to the dinner table, but not too exhausted for some conversation, and no guitar playing by Michel, I guess he was too bushed.

Our host had cooked us a wonderful supper, beef -borgonion provincial. This had a hint of orange.. Followed by, my favourite an apricot cobbler. The apricots have a delicious flavour when cooked. A taste of 'French sunshine'.

The storm

The valley is known for its fantastic storms. And last night was no exception. Flashes of lightening that lit the whole sky, turning the sky pink or lilac. The lightening flashed vertically like forks digging into the ground, and even horizontally aswell. Then there was a burst of thunder, which felt like it was shaking the ground.

In the morning it was humid and there was still a threat of thunder in the air.

Today's task was to complete the wall. We all joined in eager to see the finished creation. Boulders of a large size took three men to roll them into place. With Dave using a scaffolding pole to give it some leverage.

Some one very gingerly putting their hands under the rock to place a small stone to steady it, every one helped with filling in the back of the wall with soil and rubble. Another layer of stone. By now it s head height and fini!!!!

The next step is to hammer schist or small stones into the gaps to give it a tight fit. Vola! Stand back and admire.

Picking the wild plums;

What do you do whilst standing on a bank, waiting to be useful?

Well there are lots things to eat in the forest. One of our intrepid explores Michel went off to explore and came back with a hat full of wild plums. Looks like a large cherry. The little escapade caused a moment of inspiration in the kitchen, later that evening Louise the host was busy boiling away her pots of wild plums to make a plum jelly.