The Beast from the East

Snow on our palm, camellia and magnolia trees

Brits love giving things funny names. When a cold wave (or polar vortex) sent air straight from Siberia over just about all of Europe it was dubbed "The Beast from the East". Here is Pau we almost escaped it, but we heard about how cold all of Europe was - there was snow in all sorts of unusual places. But eventually it arrived, suitably weakened, in Pau and it gave us a few hours of snow and a couple of days around freezing. This gave us a chance to test out the wood stove, and it worked fine. The combination of palm trees and snow was too good to miss, so we also took some pics.  

PS The Brits dubbed a subsequent weather system bringing some snow as "The Pest from the West". It didn't make it to Pau...

Le Chemin Henri IV

The Chemin Henri IV is a 40 Km hike from Pau to Lourdes (or vice versa) that King Henry was supposed to take back in the day. It mostly follows a lowish ridge and doesn't involve any big climbs though it's not exactly flat. Anyway the big attraction for me is that it passes fairly near my house. Back in St Andre there were some really good hikes I could do from my front door and I'm keen to see what hikes I can do without taking the car in Pau.

So I had a little hike along it today. From my house I joined the hike in about 15 minutes; I hiked it for about 10 Km and had lunch before turning round and coming home. This first 10 Km is actually pretty flat; near Pau there were lots of other 'day-trippers' - hikers, mountain bikers and runners - but things got quiet pretty quickly. The snowy peaks of the Pyrénées were visible through the hazy sunshine all the time. There are lots of trails and mountain bikes that cross the Chemin Henri IV, so you can make your own hikes.

So, all in all, it's what I expected; I can hike a bunch of flattish trails from my house. But if I want to climb mountains, I need to take my car or get on my bike.

A few pics.

A Last Look Round

After almost 8 years in St Andre (well, 8 for me, 3+ for my wife), today is our last day here. We're moving to Pau, in south west France and there are quite a few changes in store for us. We'll have a big house with a garden rather than a 'maison de village' with a balcony. I'll be hiking and climbing in the Pyrénées rather than the southern Alpes. We're moving from a village of 900 people to a town of nearly 90,000. From a dry Mediterranean climate to a more maritime one. From living at 900 m altitude to a more reasonable 200 m. From being near Italy and the Med to being near Spain and the Atlantic. From a right voting region to a left voting region.

360 degrees from the balcony, with the church and Chalvet

Anyway, we're waiting for the movers (and we'd wait quite a while - never use L'Officiel du Déménagement as movers) and I'm taking a photo from my balcony and looking forward to our new life in the Sud-Ouest.