Pam & Alan's Europe 08-09: Recent Randonees in France

1. A Local Randonee

Alan and I agreed that we were beginning to get too sedentary and unfit and decided that we would take advantage of all the local Randonées and walks on offer around here, so the first day (after several days of rain!) off we went.

We did not have a map, but had taken a photo of the route off the local noticeboard in the village square. The only trouble was that I thought Alan had taken it on his phone camera, but he hadn’t and the photo I took on my camera, was still sitting on the computer – we had not printed it out, because we thought we had Alan’s! Oh well, there were arrow pointers at different places and the rest we just took pot luck and guessed! We had no real idea where we were going, but decided that a long walk was good wherever we ended up.

As it happened, we took very few wrong turnings, ended up at the lookout that was the pinnacle (pun intended) of the intended walk and only got semi-lost towards the end when we walked an extra 3 kilometres – Alan was not impressed with that bit, but we both agreed the rest of the walk was excellent. In all we probably walked about 12-15kms along a mixture of forest tracks and gullies, quiet local back roads and the edge of various farm paddocks. It was not a difficult walk, just a bit longer than intended.

The lookout was excellent, with 360 degree views all around the local countryside. We could see Sancerre, the hilltop wine town we love, 15kms away and we could see our village of Savigny en Sancerre below us, we could see the Nuclear power plant towers steaming away about 10kms from us and lots of lovely tilled farm paddocks in various shades of brown, green, yellow and red. Also managed to see some red poppies which I love – I thought it was a bit late in the year for them.

The forest tracks were nice, but a bit wet. We saw some interesting toadstools and some very big bright orange slugs and some falcons up fairly close, but no deer. Can’t have everything. The best item was the lovely wild apple trees we kept passing full of ripe apples – you guessed right - we sampled some and they were as good as they looked.

We are planning another walk next week. All the local villages here in the Centre region of France and in the neighbouring region of Bourgogne (Burgundy) advertise lots of weekend randonées. The tourist offices also often have brochures of available walks, so I intend to do one each week until we leave. The ones provided by the local associations sound great, but many of them start at horrible hours on Saturday or Sunday mornings like 7.30am or 8.00am. I would prefer to go with them as it would help my French to talk and listen to the locals but an 8.00am start means getting up at 6.30 so that we can shower, have breakfast and still drive to the relevant village – we need to allow around 30minutes for that. For all you early birds – I need my shower or I am not awake and Alan needs his breakfast or he won’t go! Most of you know that I am not an early morning person and we have both become very leisurely in the mornings, so I think we will be doing them on our own. There was one walk I had really wanted to do, but we cannot make it work. It was a night walk in the forest to listen to the braying of the large antlered deer that live in the forests. It was preceded by a meal at a local auberge (restaurant), but the cost of the meal and walk was prohibitive (and it was a package deal) and the village that was hosting it was at least an hours drive away, so it all became too difficult. Still there are some lovely walks that we can do on our own, so we will do them instead.

2. A French Randonnee Club Walk

After detailed reading of several local papers, I finally found an afternoon walk starting at a civilized 2.00pm in a village only half an hour from here. The local papers were printing photos of lots of local randonees, which was useful because it gave us an indication of the age and level of the local clubs, and also what they wore. In summary – mixed ages from young families including kids through to people in their 70’s, all dressed quite casually, but all with proper walking boots. This was easy, as we only have casual clothes!!! And I did have my proper walking boots with me, but decided to just wear ordinary running shoes with a good tread, which were quite adequate for the walk we did.

So off we went to rendez-vous at the advertised meeting place – outside the church in the village of Raveau next to the Bertranges Forest, one of the largest forests in France. We got there nice and early, but no-one else did. By 1.55pm we were getting a bit worried. There was a festival on in town and a circus was set up in the same meeting place. So there were lots of performers and lots of young people coming for the circus, but very few walkers!

Eventually we noticed a group of people congregating about 50 metres down the road that were wearing walking boots and wearing little backpacks. This looked promising. I went down to investigate, while Alan stayed at the official meeting point. Sure enough the people we saw were the randoneers, but while I was sorting this out, Alan was being accosted by a man at the meeting place. Unfortunately Alan could not reply in French and the man did not speak English! I dashed back to find this was the organiser of the randonee and he wanted to know where everyone was. When I explained in halting French that they were all down the road a bit, pointing to them, he asked me why they were there, when the advertised place was here! How did I know???? Why would I know???? Fortunately at that point they all spotted him and amongst normal French hugs, kisses and noisy greetings with everyone talking at once, they sorted it out and off we went.

The start was not promising – the leader, whose name I’ve forgotten, looked at his map and headed through town and out along the edge of the forest. We had only gone about half a km, when he called several of us back (we were in front of him) because he realised he had taken a wrong turn and we had to retrace our steps. This was a bit worrying, because he was the only one with a map and if he did not know the route, what hope did we have??

Still it turned out to be only a minor hiccup and after that, the walk was good – quite easy, but a long walk. He said we walked about 13 or 14kms and it felt like that by the end of the day. The walk was on a mixture of quiet country roads, and forest tracks. At times it was out in the open and quite warm in the autumn sunshine, but when we walked under the forest trees it was quite shady and much cooler. The walk went along the edge of the forest, past a pretty little billabong (not a French word!!!) area to a roundabout a little way inside the forest where several tracks lead off in different directions to places I’ve never heard of. The walk was very flat and apart from a few very wet and boggy patches, the track was very easy and we could always walk 2 or 3 abreast. The walking pace was very easy and comfortable, but steady, with only two breaks of about 20 minutes plus a few short stops to check the map for the whole 15kms.

The forest was pleasant, but after a while, without views or a break in the vegetation it became a bit boring. I would have preferred more variety in the terrain and outlook. (How fussy can I be??) The forest is very different to the Australian bush. The trees are very different – oaks, hazels, and chestnut trees plus some others like birches, but I am not sure. There is very little undergrowth, but lots of bracken, leaf mulch and rotting vegetation – but it is not smelly. The really nice thing about the forest was the green colour – the leaves of the trees were very green and formed quite a canopy overhead, so that the forest was filled with this dappled green light which was quite lovely. However when the sun goes behind the clouds or it is a very grey day, the forest becomes quite dark and cool. I definitely missed the gum trees and mountain ash.

For my folk music friends, I kept thinking of Enda Kenny’s song about missing the smell of rain and it made me realise how much I missed the sight and smell of the Australian trees!

The surprising thing was the quiet. There were no animals or birds and the forest was silent except for our group talking. Because of the soft leaf mulch or grassiness of the track, it was even quiet walking. The quietness was pleasant and peaceful and made it easy for talking, but I missed the sounds of the Australian bush! I asked some of the French people about birds and wildlife and they said there were birds, but it was the wrong time of day – the birds are usually heard in the early morning or evening and that we were making too much noise for the animals – mostly deer. This was not a surprise! This is normal even at home, where when a group is walking they make too much noise to see our native animals; but I am used to hearing parrots and other birds throughout the day, and we can usually manage to spot at least one kangaroo. Also our bush is much noisier to walk in with fallen branches, bark that peels off trees and more undergrowth. Still it is good to see different forests and scenery – otherwise why be here!

Towards the end of the walk when we emerged from the forest, we came across a centuries old wash house built over a stream on the edge of the village. It was really nice to see these old signs of a different century and lifestyle. The wash house is not used any more, but was in good condition.

The French people on the walk were friendly, but reserved. Very few of them could speak English. Also they all knew each other and like any club, tended to talk to the people they knew, rather than strangers who could not speak their language! Still a couple of the men spent a lot of time talking to me and one of them was very friendly and helpful. We had a great conversation in French with me giving him a geography lesson on Australia (he asked, as he said he did not know anything about Australia other than Kangaroos and the war graves in northern France from WW1!), talking about different parts of France, about the Australian bush and wildlife, and then about the world wars and what they did to France which led on to discussing politics today, Australian politics and the American election. (The French are very interested in US politics!) It was a really good discussion and he was very friendly. He and a few other walkers also stopped to show me various mushrooms en route and also hazel nuts and chestnuts where they had fallen off the trees, which was good as I learnt to recognise hazelnut and chestnut trees! Alan was quite happy to plod along beside or behind me and not worry about contributing to the conversation – he was busy concentrating on making the distance – 15kms is still a bit long for him, but he did it. (Did he have a choice? – no, we couldn’t really leave him in the middle of the forest!!!)

At the end of a club walk, it is a tradition in France to set up a little table and someone is responsible for bringing refreshments for everyone, so there is always a little social gathering at the end of the walk. In this case they provided home made fruit wine which Alan liked and I hated, but Also Breton apple cider and butter biscuits (mainly because the allocated person had just come back from a holiday in Brittany!!) Still we weren’t complaining because we loved the Breton cider and biccies. A very nice way to end the walk.

One final point. You will notice in the photos additional companions on the walk – something that would not be allowed in Australia – yes DOGS. The French love their dogs and many of them take the dogs on the randonees with them. We had 3 dogs on ours. Two were very well trained and were not a problem. The other dog was quite stupid – not vicious and not barking, but just did not know how to obey instructions and always took the muddiest and most difficult path, so ended up doing most of the walk on the leash! It seemed strange to me as Dogs would not normally be taken on a bushwalk in Australia and also would not be allowed in many of our forests and national parks – but then again this is France! - and dogs are allowed everywhere - trains, restaurants, etc.

The walk finished around 6.00pm and was an enjoyable afternoon. This particular randonee club were friendly, but their other walks are not at suitable times. They are just like a walking club at home and if I was to stay in France for a lot longer, would consider joining one.

We have done one more walk, but that was part of a day at Briare, which will be the subject of another blog still to come – look out for it as there are some special items to be shown. However till then, enjoy these photos and go walking – Spring is a lovely time to walk in the Australian countryside – and think of Alan & I enjoying the dappled green light of the French and Italian forests..

Our Savigny Walk:
The town noticeboard map, which first attracted our attention.
And the standard signposting en route

Typical hedges on all French roads - usually tall trees with creeper that has grown up, in and over them. Council keeps them trimmed but they make very effective hedges.