Author Topic: Hiking in France 2019  (Read 6048 times)

pdstsp

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3826
Re: Hiking in France 2019
« Reply #15 on: 16:59:23, 29/05/19 »
And the langoustines!!  It's beginning to sound a bit like a winner - I'm just back from the Coast to Coast so thinking of next year's trip already.

Bigfoot_Mike

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2407
Re: Hiking in France 2019
« Reply #16 on: 20:03:29, 29/05/19 »
And the langoustines!!  It's beginning to sound a bit like a winner - I'm just back from the Coast to Coast so thinking of next year's trip already.
If you want the best langoustines, then you need to head to the west coast of Scotland. Most of them are not eaten locally, but exported to France and Spain. We have obtained these live and direct from the fisherman and cooked them in water from the loch they grew up in.

gunwharfman

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10255
Re: Hiking in France 2019
« Reply #17 on: 14:56:54, 30/05/19 »
Ninthace, I like what you write, makes me feel hungry. I'm seriously thinking of the Brittany area, we have a friend who lives in St Brieuc, so it would make sense. The one thing I do like about France is their Sunday family lunches, I've been eating alone whilst whole families are together all around me. I've been lucky to have been invited to join in, twice, great occasions!

As it stands today, I'm down to Bordeaux as my airport base, seen flights for as low as £28 out, £34 return. If I do I can catch a train to Bergerac and start there, or I go to Clermont Ferrand and start there? I just need to make a decision, which for me is always the hardest part!

ninthace

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11821
Re: Hiking in France 2019
« Reply #18 on: 16:24:08, 30/05/19 »
Loads of good cheeses in Auvergne.  Forme d'Ambert is a mild blue and Bleu d'Auvergne is a more full on blue.  Then you have Cantal and Saint-Nectaire as well.  One of my specialties that my kids like me to I cook comes from that region - Aligot, a sort of stringy mashed potato made with cheese.  You can buy it in the markets there - they pull it out of a cauldron with a wooden spoon and cut it off with scissors.  Another dish is Truffade which is fried potato with Cantal.
Puy-en-Velay is the home of the Puy lentils - not one of my favourites but you should try them while you are there.
Of course, being hill country there is loads of charcuterie to be had too.  No good local wines to be had though, so pick a bottle up in Bordeaux if you go that way.  Happy trails!


Edit:  forgot to add - if you came across any liqueur made with gentian don't touch it - it's filth.
« Last Edit: 16:33:50, 30/05/19 by ninthace »
Solvitur Ambulando

gunwharfman

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10255
Re: Hiking in France 2019
« Reply #19 on: 19:24:01, 30/05/19 »
I know St Nectaire cheese and the Bleud'Auvergne. I experienced the Aligot on the GR65 a couple of years ago. I came across an old property on a dusty farm track crossroad which turned out to be a family run bar, restaurant, cafe and B & B. The owner let me camp for free on his lawn and I had the full meal with wine and beer there that evening. There were about thirty of us dining, all sitting along both sides of a long row of tables. The chef came out to us, stirring the Aligot in a large aluminium bowl. He passed the bowl around to each one of us, we all had a stir, everyone counting in unison from one to ten! I remember it made my stirring arm ache with the effort! Once done each of us then HAD to drink a glass of wine. Great fun.

I don't remember, even to this day, getting back to my tent but I do remember Grandad waking me up just after dawn with a tray, with a large bowl of black coffee, (like a white soup dish with no handles) a couple of croissants, a serviette and a little vase with one single blue chrysanthemum in it. First time and only time I've ever had breakfast delivered to me in my tent.

Jac

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3553
Re: Hiking in France 2019
« Reply #20 on: 07:29:15, 31/05/19 »
Blue chrysanthemum? Pigment of your imagination?
So many paths yet to walk, so little time left

gunwharfman

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10255
Re: Hiking in France 2019
« Reply #21 on: 10:09:18, 31/05/19 »
  ;D  I suffer from some colour blindness, I remember it as blue but it could have been pink, purple or something similar? In my memory it was blue and I remember it was also one of those small varieties. I remember the garden as well, full of so many flowers and of course whilst I was en route I had days and days of sunshine. The mornings were glorious but the days were so very hot. Nicely hot though, rarely humid.

jimbob

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2503
Re: Hiking in France 2019
« Reply #22 on: 10:35:25, 31/05/19 »
Blue chrysanthemum? Pigment of your imagination?
Don't understand this. Geraniums can and do have blue flowers. Or were you referring to the Agatha Christie book of that name?GWM may have colourful memories but in this instance his imagination is blameless.
Too little, too late, too bad......

ninthace

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11821
Re: Hiking in France 2019
« Reply #23 on: 13:05:53, 31/05/19 »
Don't understand this. Geraniums can and do have blue flowers. Or were you referring to the Agatha Christie book of that name?GWM may have colourful memories but in this instance his imagination is blameless.
I think you will find in botanical circles there is a world of difference between a chrysanthemum and a geranium  :)
Solvitur Ambulando

gunwharfman

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10255
Re: Hiking in France 2019
« Reply #24 on: 13:08:50, 31/05/19 »
I'm not a gardener, could the flower that I remember as a chrysanth, actually be another type? My flower was round, 'blue,' the flower head was about 1" in diameter, looked a bit like a small dandelion head only denser and it was one of those flowers that you could squeeze the head gently between your thumb and forefinger and it would just bounce back into shape again. It had tiny pale type leaves surrounding the flower head and the stem had been cut about an inch below the head to ensure best fit into the little vase. The flowers were growing all over the garden. I just remember it as a nice bit of early morning theatre.

Anyway, you have now inspired me to find out again where the house and garden was. I looked up my records, then looked at my IGN map and have just found it. Its in the Massif Central region, a few miles south of Malbouzon situated at a crossroads, (a dusty dirt farm tractor track) and the house is called 'Ferme de Gentianes.' The countryside surrounding it is farmland, woodland is further on. Its a fairly big house and to the rear of the garden there are some large farm buildings. When I left there, I walked out of their drive to the track, turned left to the crossroad about 30 yds away, then walked straight on to a small hamlet with a drinking fountain called Finieyrols and then a few miles of open countryside after that. My route was the GR65 (part of the French Camino route) from Le Puy en Velay to St Jean Pied du Port in the Pyrenees. I turned right onto the GR6 to Rocamador at Figeac. If the house still functions in the same way and if its still owned by the same family, I would certainly recommend the route to anyone and a stay at a very attractive stop over point.

I didn't get my breakfast as a free gift, it was part of my bill, I ordered the main evening meal and my breakfast when I first arrived the previous day.

ninthace

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11821
Re: Hiking in France 2019
« Reply #25 on: 13:13:58, 31/05/19 »
GWM
#19 "I do remember Grandad waking me up just after dawn with a tray, with a large bowl of black coffee, (like a white soup dish with no handles) a couple of croissants, a serviette and a little vase with one single blue chrysanthemum in it."
#22 "Don't understand this. Geraniums can and do have blue flowers. Or were you referring to the Agatha Christie book of that name?GWM may have colourful memories but in this instance his imagination is blameless."
Solvitur Ambulando

jimbob

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2503
Re: Hiking in France 2019
« Reply #26 on: 13:39:57, 31/05/19 »
I think you will find in botanical circles there is a world of difference between a chrysanthemum and a geranium  :)
Arrghhhhh Jimbob. R.T.B.Q.
Reminder to self,
Read The Bleeding Question.

Sorry my mind is decrepit.


Too little, too late, too bad......

Jac

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 3553
Re: Hiking in France 2019
« Reply #27 on: 13:57:02, 31/05/19 »
don't know why GWM didn't just blame it on the hangover ;D
So many paths yet to walk, so little time left

ninthace

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 11821
Re: Hiking in France 2019
« Reply #28 on: 14:10:05, 31/05/19 »
don't know why GWM didn't just blame it on the hangover ;D
....and eating industrial quantities of cheese before bedtime!
Solvitur Ambulando

gunwharfman

  • Veteran Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10255
Re: Hiking in France 2019
« Reply #29 on: 11:42:54, 27/06/19 »
Ninthace, thanks again for your GR441 suggestion. Have you hiked it? I'm also interested in the longer route nearby, the GR30 loop, have you any knowledge of this route?

I'm continuing to plan but my hiking this summer has been knocked a bit by family illness. I can't go anywhere as yet until the situation improves.

 

Terms of Use     Privacy Policy