Bird sanctuary

Wednesday, November 3, 2010 Day 126


We did our usual Wednesday morning apartment cleaning chores then went to the Peyrou. Elisabeth called on our way back and asked me if I wanted to go for a walk with her. We agreed I would go to her apartment at 3:00. Roger left for chess at 2:30, and I walked over to meet Elisabeth. She drove us up to a bird sanctuary and we spent a couple of hours walking through it and out the other side, upstream along the Lez the entire way. We exited at the canoe house, which is the lowest point on the Lez which we walk when we go with Peggy to walk Egan. The walk was truly beautiful. The late-afternoon sun played through the trees, illuminating the yellow and red foliage in a splendid manner. The river was up because of two days of rain, and there were plenty of cascades creating lovely white water. We saw a swan headed downstream in the river, and Elisabeth suggested that he was headed for Palavas, which is the town on the barrier island at the mouth of the Lez. It was an absolutely splendid walk, and I regret that I did not take my camera. In contrast, when we walk with Peggy along the Lez, the walk is almost entirely flat, just a wide path along the river. There is a low point where we are able to cross the Lez to the opposite side, then we go up into the fields of the agriculture experimental station and let Egan run and chase birds in the fields. This bird sanctuary, although only a kilometer or two downstream from that area, was entirely different. It consisted of a path across a very rocky area, not flat at all.