We've been in France just over 2 weeks and my hiking shoes have had a fair workout. We are in a fairly remote area from everything apart from walking trails. We wake up in the morning to the below view of snow capped mountains, work for a few hours, then go exploring in the afternoon. We even have a delightful dog to provide amusement on the walks.
We are staying with a family of 5, with 3 daughters aged 9, 11 and 13. We are in a hamlet called Pinsou, which is a collection of 4 houses. 10 minutes away is the nearest village called Aleu (below). It has at least 10 houses but no shops or services.
20 minutes away is Castet D'Aleu, another group of houses, a restaurant and a post office. And 30 minutes away is our closest town of St Girons (below), complete with supermarkets.
Spring has sprung since we have been here. The trees have literally come to life in the last 2 weeks. The walking trails are also really well marked here, as opposed to Spain, where everything had about 3 names and pointed you in all sorts of directions. The snow is melting more and more each week, meaning we can head higher and higher into the mountains. Our hosts are also great sources of information about where to head.
Virtually every building in the area is constructed of stones with slate roofs. There are also barns in various states of dis-repair all over the hill sides. Some of them are lived in, some are for weekend accommodation and some are still barns.
Cheese. Cheese is also good. So good in fact. Each week our hosts head to the Saturday markets in St Girons where they stock up on at least 5 different varieties that we slowly consume over the week. This helps to balance out the walking.
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