Near St Martin de Londres stand this iconic pair of characters. The hulking bison's head is Pic St Loup, and standing opposite, looking a bit like a shark fin, is Hortus. You know what's coming next, don't you .... yes, a walk!! There are castle ruins on each peak, but our friends decided to take us up to the one on Hortus, which was a slightly shorter walk.

By now the weather god has flipped the switch, the rain's gone, and it is summer. Hot and sunny, and the air is fragrant and soft.

This is where we were headed - the castle is the squarish shape near the centre of the photo on the ridge.



A closer view from the other side..



After reaching the castle and exploring a bit, we headed up the ridge and had lunch somewhere near the end, spreading ourselves and our food over the track. A few hardy types needed to walk past us, but no-one told us off for blocking the track, they all apologised for interrupting our lunch, and wished us bon appetit. I am going to miss these people!

It was a lovely walk, and a lovely day, and I took about a thousand pictures. We even found a pond full of tadpoles, frog and toad eggs, a pair of mating toads, and some tiny frogs!

Here's Pic St Loup, across the valley, as seen from Hortus ...