This past Sunday, five good friends (two Americans, une Française, and two Canadians) drove a little over two hours to find some sun and do a little hiking. Le Prieuré de Marcevol was a recommended randonée (hike) in one of the local magazines, so we loaded up the car with backpacks filled with water and a gourmet picnic lunch...and the adventure began. Soon, rolling hills replaced the flat urban sprawl of Toulouse, the buildings replaced with forests and mountains. This is seriously one of the bonuses of living in France-- within two hours the landscape changes quite dramatically. We girls were getting back to nature!
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| Two Americans, Une Française, and Two Canadians getting out of the city. |
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| We've arrived! |
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| Let the hiking begin-- 1 hour and twenty minutes (mostly uphill) to Marcevol. |
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| The red stripe means were headed in the right direction! So far, so good! |
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| A walk in nature with a view. |
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| After trailing it, we made it to our destination: Le Prieuré de Marcevol. |
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| We took in the views and had a nice picnic lunch. |
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| Our neigh-bors! |
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| A door! Let's explore! |
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| The Prieuré de Marcevol dates back to the 17th century. |
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| One of the paintings on the walls that hasn't been completely destroyed. |
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| Throw in a beautiful village to explore. |
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And life is good!
Great hike, great lunch, great discoveries, and great friends. |
It took us forty five-minutes to hike down the trail (so much easier), even though it began to drizzle out. But what's a little water? In fact, it felt great. After the two hour drive back to Toulouse, we closed the day off with a last minute BBQ chez moi. Thankfully, the frog is always happy to entertain. And I, for one, went to bed that night feeling tired and content.
