Day 8 of Travel in France dawned an overcast day with intermittent sunshine, but at least the temperature reached 20C by the middle of the day! We set off to walk around Chaumeil.
The walk, around the bowl of the valley, started just below the village, at the end of a small road. The map is Carte de Randonnée 2233 O, 1:25,000
The GR de Pays des Monédiéres led along stone-lined paths, some looking like the green lanes in England, and through forests on the hillsides. We crossed streams and little rivers and enjoyed occasional wide views. It was beautiful.
There was moss everywhere, and ferns.
The climate is clearly damp – streams, mist, rain.
Chastagnol is a Chateau with a few surrounding buildings, including a bread oven. An old mine is marked on the map but I couldn’t find any information on the internet.
The view towards Chaumeil.
These hills used to be covered in heather, but the decline of sheep farming has led to an increase of trees and the disappearance of the heathers. This patch at Malfont was beautiful, and startling after all the green.
And so back into the village, a changes of shoes and a drive to Treignac.
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Postcard views of Chaumeil
GR de Pays des Monedieres
Candy Blackham
The heathers were beautiful – can you imagine what the countryside looked like a century ago, when the heathers were more prolific?
runner500
A lovely walk and those heathers look lovely – is seems to have been a good year for them this year.