Walking up to the Bench

Bench Heaven!

This is my last post from la Bourboule, until I return next March.  Until then you will have to make do with the usual boring missives from Paris, London, and Oxford, with a few scarf posts thrown in.

In the afternoon I finally went up to polish the plaque on the bench.  It always gets a little tarnished.  Strangely enough, the first few wipe-offs are green, and then they get black - maybe the first ones are algae?

This time I had to evict several tourists who deemed the bench a suitable resting place - honestly, the nerve of some people.  I had to explain who the 'Chevaliers de la Banne d'Ordanche' are, and sent them all off to Glider Mountain.  I am afraid I told them it wasn't far .....

I was tempted to delete all these photos, since they suffer from the usual troubles - too much sunshine!  It makes things look washed out, and not half as beautiful as in real life.  What I need is a camera with a polarising filter inbuilt.  I had one for my old Nikon, but digital cameras don't seem to come with that most valuable of all filters.

The bottom of the stairs that lead to Bench Mountain

Hotel next to the entrance - notice the grand name?  la Bourboule was very international in its heydays

The light reflects bright sunshine - not a crappy camera!

Rocky ground, just like my shortcut yesterday

These signs are not trustworthy!  Les Thermes are right downtown, so why is la Bourboule 500 meters further?

Gorgeous views

There is a parking place at the feet of the Bench Hill

The last few steps

Notice the tourists?

This is after I polished the plaque.  My dentist would be so proud!

The fountain with a zoom

The two large windows in the black part - second row from the top - are my apartment

 

There is a children's holiday home on the way to Bench Mountain

I do love plants grown into walls, especially self seeded ones

 

 

This is the back entrance of the Great Thermes, where I sneak in every morning

City Hall

My hotel

The casino

City hall again

The river Dordogne in front of my hotel

Outrage!  All those amazing mismatched streetlights have been replaced with some bland, boring, MODERN ones.  I only noticed it this afternoon.  I'll never make a great detective.

Walk up la Banne d'Ordanche

Yesterday I went up Glider Mountain again.  I was still a bit weak from the last cold, so took it slowly.  From Murat le Quaire onward I took photos along the way, so you can join me on the hike if you like!

I always walk the car route, rather than the hikers' route, so it is about 8 km up to base camp, plus another 500 ms or so to the mountain top.  I did take the hikers' path on the way back, and ended up on a dirt track.  I am not doing that again!  Very uncomfortable walking, stones and pebbles on a steep downhill path - my feet still hurt!

Here is a google map link to my route:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/La+Bourboule,+France/La+Banne+d'Ordanche,+63150+Murat-le-Quaire,+France/@45.5991283,2.7174958,13z/am=t/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x47f7760fd959c35b:0x4093cafcbe5ca10!2m2!1d2.738992!2d45.587241!1m5!1m1!1s0x47f7743109955b81:0x5ce980cc13cace0a!2m2!1d2.772513!2d45.6112442!3e0

Here ends Murat le Quaire

The long and winding road ...

Near the Cabane restaurant and hotel - they have the only webcam anywhere near the mountain.

The Lorelei lake

Getting closer

Not la Banne, but some other, lesser, mountain

It is late Summer, and the vegetation is dried up

On one side at the bottom of Glider Mountain - secret hideaway of  La Dame d'Ordanche?

Base camp

Club cabin of the Glidermen, where I left a donation of toilet paper (they are always short)

It's further than you think, especially after the trek up from la Bourboule

The antenna - radio controlled gliders need signal strength

The first scale model gliders zoomed into view

Four Flyboys enjoying the sun

Lovely gliders, though they cheated - a motor jumped into action whenever the glider veered off course

Last few meters up to the summit

Amazing number of wooden steps

Once there the view is breathtaking!

My fellow summeteers - they rested up while I descended again.  It's a long way back down!  They all had cars at base camp.

On the road again

Lorelei Lake peeking through the trees during one of my ill advised short cuts

Back in Murat le Quaire

I found another short cut - not a good one!

Back in la Bourboule.  Notice the flower pots in front of this house just before a hairpin curve?  I wonder how many pots are lost each year due to faulty breaks!  Might be a nice little earner for the householder - I can see no other reason for this ill-advised siting of so many fragile pots.

All in all I marched about 14, at least 4 of them on very rough paths.  Strangely enough I counted only three very small blisters, but did manage to get a sunburn on each arm (a scarf prevented neck burns!).

Today is for farewells and distribution of thank you gifts to my cure-administrators and hotel staff, cleaning up my apartment, polishing the plaque on the bench, and preparing for the trip home.  Given my weighty suitcase I am not exactly looking forward to it.  Oh the curse of possessions!