The moon, and then Mars

Not too far away from us is the Cirque de Moureze, an area of strangely shaped dolomite pillars and outcrops. The landscape was formed from ancient seabed which has gradually been eroded by rain, and has also been occupied since prehistoric times. We decided to cough up the 10 euro for the 3 of us and visit the Courtinals, a private park run by a nice Irish lady. Being here in some ways is like being in a computer game - we never know when we are going to meet an English speaking person and when we do, we learn a lot about where to go next! The advantage of the Courtinals is that in 15 minutes you are at the top of the hill (not a hard climb) where you get a panoramic view of the Cirque and of the delightful village of Moureze (second photo)





Moureze itself has been occupied by humans since around 7000BC according to the Courtinals website. There's a copper mine nearby that was used by the neolithic inhabitants of the area - we'll go there next time. The Romans were there, and the current village originated about 900 years ago, when the remains of the old Roman fortifications were torn down and the stones used to build the church, and other buildings. According to the guidebook, it was the first town liberated from the Germans by the Resistance group the Maquis.

We had lunch in Moureze, which was notable for two things - the size of the pizzas (enormous!!) and ... Emily ordered her own lunch - even responded to the offer of ketchup or mayonnaise!! As well as being enormous, and delicious, the pizzas had a very thin crust, like a thin cracker, just enough to hold the filling and that's it. No rolled crust on the edge either. We decided we had to figure out how to make them like that. Mine didn't even have tomato on it - just fresh cheese, gorgonzola (MMMMM...), onion and an oeuf right in the middle. The egg had a runny yoke - you break it and spread it all over the pizza - oh YES!!! Al's pizza had all kinds of other stuff on it as well as the egg. Emily ? Oh, she had frites and an ice cream!!

After Moureze we decided to press on to find the Lac du Salagou, which is a reservoir which supposedly 'teems with birdlife, crabs and fish'. Needless to say we didn't see any fauna, although with a name like Salagou we did expect to find Spongebob and Patrick ....

However to get there, you pass through the village of Salasc, which is a bit strange too, because as you drive in it looks like you are about to crash into someone's front garden. Al screeched to a halt, but at the last minute, the road veers off to the left and you are in the town square (with a thumping great bus in front of you - God only knows how he got past all those pot plants without flattening them). The really interesting thing about Salasc though is that before you enter, the landscape is kind of bare and lunar with all those dolomite rocks poking up - after you leave Salasc, it becomes Martian - the soil is deep red, there are no rocks, just gently rounded curves, and the vegetation is much more lush - there are trees!! The changeover is abrupt and dramatic.





Last point on the tour was Celles, a village that was abandoned in the 1970s when the reservoir was built. The water never reached the level of the tiny hamlet though, and it has mostly fallen into disrepair, although apparently it has been bought by a man who lives there, and runs cultural and sporting events.