We just came back from a two-week vacation of which we spent the first week hiking in the Mounts of Cantal in the mid-west of the Massif Central, having the base in Aurillac, and the second week driving home, stopping on our way at various places for scenic hikes, mainly in the Ardèche department. During the first week we hiked 65.6 kilometers with 2227 meters of climbing and the second week 45.5 kilometers with 1670 meters of climbing (we managed to squeeze in a couple of short runs, too).

October really is a good, if not the best, time for vacation in France; it is not too hot, but still quite warm with abundant sunshine and little rain. The Fall colors are gorgeous, and places are not crowded at all — quite the opposite: we barely saw anyone on our hikes which are popular during holiday peak seasons. The downside is that because it is off-season, some places are closed or services unavailable.

This time I’ll take a different approach to writing about our vacation than I have used in previous blog posts, since managing long posts in WordPress is quite tedious, especially when most of the content is going to be pictures — there is not that much to write about since nothing special happened during those days. So, instead of having one big post of these two weeks, or even either of the weeks, I am going to break it in pieces by days, locations, or themes — I have not decided yet! I also think it will keep me more motivated of posting. I also try to limit the number of pictures: for me they all look special and unique, since they are from different places, but I understand that to others they may seem a bit repetitive.