Holiday trail running

We had put off our planned break away because of the dire weather that the south of France has been experiencing over the past week or so. But yesterday it seemed to be clearing, so we took a cross country route down to the coast at Perpignan - it was great to see such a varied and in parts dramatic landscape (in particular around Quillan) that we had never visited before. We then headed along the coast avoiding the autoroute to Beziers and eventually down to the apartment that we had booked near the coast. Pissou this 'ain't! We are in quite a built up environment with the sound of traffic and whining mopeds in the background. Still, this is just a base from which we intend to explore the area in the course of the next 4 days.

Today, was our first exploration up towards the Montagnes Noires to St-Pons-de-Thaumière from where we headed out for a 16km run (475m of ascent) along, up and down undulating forest tracks, over Mediterranean heathland and through river-scoured valleys. It is quite a different landscape but quite beautiful and wild in its own way.

The running was excellent and much easier than what we are used to around Pissou. We spotted some beautiful flowers along the way which included a wild tulip....

... and beautiful irises which were too far from any houses to be cultivatedIt was a good run and nice to have a change of scenery. Some oysters from Bouzigues (just up the coast) and some small red mullet for dinner tonight.