Last weekend, we hiked Mont Thou together.
We took the bus to the village of Saint-Fortunat. The bus ride itself is about 15-20 minutes. It only comes every 45 minutes, so the trip feels a lot longer/farther than it is. We’re so spoiled by quick public transit!
There was an entire troop of scouts waiting for the bus with us. Lumi got so much love from them! I wish I could show you how cute it is to see a giant group of kids saying “oh, elle est TROP belle” and petting her at the same time. But, I thought it would be creepy to take pictures of other people’s children. You’ll just have to imagine it for yourself.
The walk itself is generally pretty easy. There are some seriously steep bits (especially towards the top), but they’re fairly short in duration. We walked along fields (including one accidental foray onto private property) and down dirt roads.
We saw quite a few joggers and mountain bikers. In sharp contrast to life in a french city, just about everyone along the trail said “bonjour” as they passed us. It was pretty funny to come across a runner doing loops and have them call out a second cheery greeting.
You can drive all the way up to the top, so it was pretty crowded with families and people taking photos. Note to self: pack a picnic blanket next time. There was tons of open space, but most of us were clustered in one small area where we could sit on the walls. I’m not super precious about sitting on the ground, but it’s been raining a lot lately and it was super muddy.
We passed a series of “Cabornes” along the way. Cabornes are ancient huts made out of flat stones. They’re just big enough for one to three people to get into, so they feel like playhouses. They were traditionally used for winegrowers to shelter in, so there is generally one that goes with each field. Most of them have names displayed on little wooden signs.
Our favorite caborne name? Caborne du Pré au Loup. The caborne of the wolf meadow. (We call Lumi our little “loup-loup.”)
We spent some time chilling in one of the meadows, enjoying the mild spring weather and reminding ourselves what it feels like to be out in the sun. We would have stayed longer, but we wanted to get back to the village for some coffee (and maybe a little treat). Unfortunately, the one café was closed, so we spent a half hour enjoying the sun from the the lovely environs of… a parking lot/bus stop. At least there was some shade!
Today, Kristian has some plans of his own (I’ll try to get him to post about them), so Lilian and I are going to bike up to the big park (Tête d’Or) at the north end of Lyon. You’d best believe that we’ll be packing a picnic blanket!
