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Thursday, 30th May. No longer at the edge of the Causse Méjean, but on it. When Jean-Pierre picked us up at our hotel, La Lozèrette, he pointed ominously to the heights in the distance, shrouded in mist and rain. Our walk today was as on Kieron’s map, (photo taken later in the day), and described here. We started at Hures, bottom right, and went anti-clockwise.

As we set off it was cold and drizzly wet, and there was quite a wind. Moving into the forest area provided a little shelter from the wind, but not the rain.

I continued to take photos – but didn’t always get the focus right…

Early spider orchid
I have no explanation for what this might be, but it looks man-made to me.
Sword-leaved helleborine
Yellow pheasant’s eye, adonis vernalis
A caselle, a kind of shelter constructed by locals (caussenards) from prehistoric times onwards. Because the style lasted so very long it is impossible to date any particular one. This is a little over waist-high.

When we came to a field or meadow, we would just divert and wander around to see what we could see.

Escher’s OR Common blue butterfly
Cornflowers

Standing water is very rare on the causses because (the considerable) precipitation flows down through the limestone. This circular pond is a lavogne (lavonha in Occitan), created by the caussenards and lined to provide a source of water for livestock.

We walked through the pretty hamlet of Le Buffre. (A holiday gite is available there.)

A pilgrim cross. Its base is 12th century, but the cross itself was probably remade in the 18th. It is the oldest calvary, or wayside cross, to be found in the Causses.

This is another of my favourite photos from the two weeks, the combination of bench, wall, flowers, former communal oven and local chimney.

Glanville fritillary

In due course the rain turned into showers, patches of blue sky appeared, and we found a spot to sit for lunch. This was the view as we looked back.

It was pleasantly warm as we moved off afterwards.

Dingy skipper
Glanville fritillary

But what was this?! I was a little ahead of the others and saw in front of me what I thought might, from its flight, be a hummingbird hawkmoth. But no, it’s something I had never heard of, and we don’t have in the UK. It’s an Owlfly. But it’s not a fly. It’s a family all of its own, with some 450 species. About 3 cm long, excluding antennae.

Common wall lizard
Scarce swallowtail butterfly
Northern wheatear, spring plumage

It had been quite a long walk, and, having slightly bypassed Drigas, we were pleased when we found ourselves back at the minibus. Jean-Pierre then gave us a surprise treat. By not taking the direct route back to our hotel, he drove us to a superb viewpoint over the Gorges du Tarn.

It was a long zigzag drive down to the bottom, and at one point we were blocked by these. (Photo taken through window.)

Back at my hotel, I took another photo from my balcony, in the late afternoon light.

Tomorrow would be a very different day, with no walking!