09. 09. 07. Marie-Pierre and Olivier came over from Bordeaux to spend the weekend with me. They arrived mid-afternoon bearing gifts of wine, fruit and home-made jam. After unloading we had a pastis to relax with and then dinner of Summer Pasta made with brie, basil and the local ripe tomatoes. After dinner we had a little promenade around town with a stop at the Negociants for a coffee. Saturday we had decided to go on a hike. After breakfast we drove to St Guilhelm le Desert, parked and wandered through the village. It is very much a tourist village in the medieval style. A bit too clean and neat for me but quite pleasant. At the end of the village we started our walk. It is quite a steep climb out of the village on what I think was a mule track which is also part of the Compostelle de St Jacques.
It passes through some old terraced olive groves and continues up to the Cap de la Croix. After that it climbs again through the garrigue to the Hermitage where we stopped for our picnic lunch. L’Hermitage was built in the 14th century for the monks who worked in the hospital at the abbey in St Guilhelm. It is a very shady, tranquil place to rest. After lunch we continued through some pines across a pass and then rejoined our original path back to St Guilhelm Here we replenished our water at the fountain and walked back to the car. We were all pretty hot so we decided to find a place to swim and found a stony beach just along the Herault. It was great – clear, cool water and a lot of fish. Finally we packed up, drove home and then had dinner at Le Venizia which is just nearby. Again had a walk and a coffee at the Negociants before turning in. Sunday had a kind of Franco/English Sunday breakfast with scrambled eggs, stuffed tomatoes, fruit salad with grapes, peaches, melon and figs, a baguette and again home-made jam. Delicious! After washing up had a quick tour of Lac du Salagou and the abandoned village of Celles before M-P and Olivier dropped me off and continued on their drive back to Bordeaux. It was a great weekend!