This is my favorite swimming hole. It is on theHerault River close to Saint Guilhem le Desert a very old Abbey village in the hills. The swimming hole results from a partial dam below it created just for the purpose of the swimming hole. It is very popular with locals. The water is crystal clear and a nice temperature right now. It is very rocky so water shoes really help a lot.
Looking upward from the village the cliffs are steep and you can find a few old castle remnants.
Saturday my new friend Deb, who lives in Bize, invited me and my friend Vol who lives in the USA but has a house in Salleles d'Aude over to Bize for a concert and buffet dinner at a small local winery. Her sister and another friend joined us for a party of 5. The event was in a little courtyard with some nice textile artwork on the walls. The wine was good, the food was not, the music was somber, but the company was great. We had a lot of laughs. During the concert bats were flying about distracting the singer a bit.
We escaped the music during intermission as, it appeared, just about everybody else did as well. We ended up sitting on top of the building where Nic lives in a nice courtyard with a beautiful view.
This is the somber singer. She sang mostly original stuff but even the songs she sang by others (that are usually upbeat) sounded more like dirges.
Here we are on Nic's patio where we were enjoying quite a light show put on by Mother Nature. It had been pretty warm and muggy all day and the clouds had been gathering for a while. We watch the flashes of lighting get brighter and closer. Of course just as we were getting ready to leave it hit full force. Vol and I got pretty drenched running to the car.
The village of Saint Guilhem le Desert is very beautiful though pretty jammed with tourists this
time of year. It is set in a ravine so it consists of narrow paths (no cars) and many of the houses/shops are very artsy fartsy.
time of year. It is set in a ravine so it consists of narrow paths (no cars) and many of the houses/shops are very artsy fartsy.
The very old Abbey is impressive with beautiful garden and vinyards. It was apparently at one time finely adorned with statuary but this was stripped away long ago and many of these pieces are now at the "Cloisters" in New York.
Looking upward from the village the cliffs are steep and you can find a few old castle remnants.
Saturday my new friend Deb, who lives in Bize, invited me and my friend Vol who lives in the USA but has a house in Salleles d'Aude over to Bize for a concert and buffet dinner at a small local winery. Her sister and another friend joined us for a party of 5. The event was in a little courtyard with some nice textile artwork on the walls. The wine was good, the food was not, the music was somber, but the company was great. We had a lot of laughs. During the concert bats were flying about distracting the singer a bit.
We escaped the music during intermission as, it appeared, just about everybody else did as well. We ended up sitting on top of the building where Nic lives in a nice courtyard with a beautiful view.
This is the somber singer. She sang mostly original stuff but even the songs she sang by others (that are usually upbeat) sounded more like dirges.
Here we are on Nic's patio where we were enjoying quite a light show put on by Mother Nature. It had been pretty warm and muggy all day and the clouds had been gathering for a while. We watch the flashes of lighting get brighter and closer. Of course just as we were getting ready to leave it hit full force. Vol and I got pretty drenched running to the car.
I drove Vol back to Sallelle and the storm was intensifying. By the time I dropped her off and headed toward my place (about 1 hour drive) the storm was full force and I was moving along with it. Lighting was on all sides, zigsagging towards the ground. The wind was pretty fierce and the rain heavy. I just stayed calm and followed the directions of Miss TomTom and arrived home without any problem just as the storm abeited.
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