Flamingos and Garrigue

 
I can never come to terms with seeing flamingos by the roadside. They are such surreal creatures that being in commonplace locations seems wrong. But hey, so long as I don't drive off the road when I see sights like this, I'll put up with them.

A day's car hire was needed to get into the outback for some garrigue fun. This was only possible after a long lecture from the car hire rep who was clearly convinced that I would not be able to drive safely and return the vehicle in one piece. I didn't mention the flamingos.

The Natura 2000 website showed an interesting area called La Montagne de la Moure et Causse d'Aumelas near Sète, under both Habitats and Birds directives. In the event there were few birds - Black Kites and a couple of Short-toed Eagles - but there were plenty of butterflies and plants to keep me interested. Another feature that looked promising was the stream marked alongside the road, but given the lack of rain this was of course dry.

The usual rock / cistus / asphodel view

The stunning Provencal Orange Tip

These blues are apparently Baton Blues....

There were a few orchids.....

 Yellow Bee Orchid

Woodcock Orchid

Giant Orchid

But in fact the other plants (unknown to me and mostly still a mystery) were more interesting...

By Train to the Med

 Everybody's doing it so why not me? Train travel is so much more light-footed so given the choice, the time and a cost-effective solution it seemed sensible to try out a trip around France.

Walmer to St Pancras then back down the same line by Eurostar to Paris. Not an efficient start but not dissimilar to flying. Across Paris was simple, and with a few minutes to spare at Gare de Lyon where the booked seat awaited, on the top deck.

A gentle relaxed non-stop whizz down to the Med followed, through plenty of admitted-dull countryside improved by pleasant hills around Tournus and finally some garrigue south of Lyon, after which the extensive étangs from the Camargue filled the horizon. With flamingos.

And so the train pulled into Sète, the first stay, on time and just - um - 10 hours after setting off from Walmer.

Sète is a nice place, all canals and cafés and lots of boats. Not a rich place like the Riviera but down-to-earth and unassuming. Out of the town there are long beaches and behind these are the étangs. All very interesting and the swifts, swallows and martins reminded me that I had jumped a few weeks of spring.

Time was taken scuffling around the car parks and waste ground, of course, looking for the plants that thrive in such places. The favourite was a small park just the other side of the tracks, opposite La Pointe Courte (famous for a film of the same name) which had good flora including White Henbane and Italian Catchfly, as well as a singing Nightingale, Chiffchaff and a wheatear. And black redstarts were frequent on the buildings.

<To be continued>