I think that every year around this time I write that we’ve had the worst ever winter since we moved to France ten years ago. Again this year it has been mostly cloudy and we’ve received a lot of rain. Of course, this is good to ground water levels and […]
When planning where and how to spend our 20th wedding anniversary, we considered several options: various destinations in France and Europe but also something as extreme as the place where we got married, namely Bloomington, Indiana. Since we had just returned from the two-week year-end vacation of train traveling in […]
Our first day in Mende (Lozère) was cloudy and drizzly, and it was the only such day on our vacation; the rest were blessed with plenty of sunshine. We climbed to Le Croix de Saint-Privat located on the top of the mountain Mont-Mimat (1068m). On our way to the cross […]
We had a very sunny January, but thereafter the Spring has been dull with cloudy days and a lot of rain. Therefore, we have not done much hiking. We started a marathon training program instead, this time with a more modest goal in mind; we have been following a sub […]
This past July was the second driest month in France since they started to keep record in 1959. The driest was March 1961. The drought has not only affected crops and the nature in general — most vegetation has turned into vivid Fall colors already — but together with the […]
I don’t remember there having been so much rain, and so many days under a thick cloud cover (and inversion!) in December in any of the previous eight years as there has been this year. Earlier this week we had two straight days of heavy rain that caused flooding in […]
On this hike (13.4K in 3h 30mins, D+/D- 360m) we expected a different scenery since it was going to be at the lower altitude by the lake, far from the mountains. Actually this hike almost did not happen at all; as soon as we reached our car and started driving […]
Certainly no one could have missed the havoc the recent heavy rains have caused in Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, and Switzerland. This has probably been the worst Summer we have experienced in the French alps, and we have had our fair share of rain, too, but nothing clearly as bad as […]
Even if we are not really high in the mountains, the weather here in the valley can change dramatically in a very short time. However, it is quite rare to have strong thunderstorms in the morning — they usually start on the afternoon or when the evening falls — but […]