The
snow's been crap since New Year's, we gave up hope, and at the end of March, just
before the swimmingpools were opening for the summer, God got beneficent.
You
may not find this tangibly rewarding unless you're included here, so this is a
good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught
up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.
A
four-day Easter weekend of big snowstorms, and something's wrong with my car --
that's not important, forget about that -- suffice it that we've departed on foot
from Bassins village, whilst silently and privately celebrating the Easter holiness
each in our own way, and now we're plodding up the Chemin Magnin forestry road
into the Gorges de Moinsel with a light heart and an irrelevant conscience.
Having
passed over the steepest parts of the gorge, we are persisting up a forestry track
between steep-sided alternatives.
The
track leads us through cliffs riddled with caves and holes, called the "Tanné
à l'Ours", something fanciful about the Bears.
Dr
Pirri digs his mittens out but finds that he's got only one, can't decide which
hand to put it on, and stows it away again.
Most
of this snow is new this weekend, and the springtime creeks are still running
freely.
Like
this one.
Dr
Pirri seeking the continuation of the path
Dr
Pirri rejoining the continuation of the path
Limestone
features along the way, with trees growing out of them
The
sun is retiring, but we're still heading uphill. Dr Pirri is rushing us along
here, to get home before classes start tomorrow.
Dr
Pirri pausing to take an important telephone call
Dr
Pirri, after an important telephone call, rejoins our hike.
Passing
by the farm of La Dunanche, about 17:00 (5 p.m.) on 23 March 2008
We're
placing bets on how long it will take us to get back down to the village.
Dr
Pirri, having bet on a shorter time back to the village, hurries us along at a
brisk pace.
La
Dunanche, just after 5 p.m. in late March 2008
With
the Fuji zoom on.
And
again, as we get out of the nasty chilly wind and back into the forest, the Bois
au Ministre
Dr
Pirri, determined to win his bet, continues to hasten.
A
moment of consternation, as I can't remember what I did with the car keys. Luckily,
we don't have the car today.
Passing
by La Chaumette farm.
Now
we're back at my house, as the twilight deepens, and Joe goes home to Nyon to
prepare his classes for tomorrow.
The
twilight deepens.
You have done well.
Home, then. Home.
Those
lines from Virgil's Eclogues or Georgics reassure us at the end of nearly every
day.
We love those reassuring lines so much that we don't care if, in the
original, they were addressed to goats.
Dwight
Peck's personal Web site
Feedback
and suggestions are welcome if positive, resented if negative, 
.
All rights reserved, all wrongs avenged. Posted 23 March 2008.
