Rockin' through the wilderness

France has a quite varied landscape, and offers lots of options for outdoor activity, so I have been trying to take advantage of the weather while it's still nice.  The area where we live borders on la Forêt de Fontainebleau, a large national forest and former royal hunting park.  There are loads of walking and biking trails there.  The forest is also know for it's large boulders, making it a popular place for climbing and bouldering.  The texture and shape of some of the boulders is so strange...they look like they came from another planet. 

Ian and I did a short hike there in mid August.  We came upon a sign mentioning "la roche qui pleure (the rock which cries)" and attempted to follow the signs that lead there.  Unfortunately the trail wasn't very clearly marked, and we didn't find the rock.  Either that, or it had a good day and wasn't crying.  But we still had a great time exploring the forest and made our way up to a viewpoint where we took the mandatory self portrait.  The forest is a really beautiful place.  The forest floor is very sandy and carpeted with pine needles and heather.  There are no mosquitos or annoying flies to attack you and ruin your hike.

 

We did some more hiking on a day trip to Île Sainte-Marguerite during our vacation to Cannes at the end of August.  The island is a 15 minute ferry ride from Cannes, and is full of walking trails and surrounded by some of the most beautiful turquoise blue/emerald green water I have ever seen.  They don't call it the Côte d'Azur for nothing!

We hiked the perimeter of the island, doing our best to avoid the nude male sunbathers tucked into the rocky shore, and stopping to swim and jump into the BEAUTIFUL turquoise water from some small cliffs.  For me, this was the highlight of the trip.  Just look at the water! 

Though not turquoise, the waters of the slow moving Loing river have their own peaceful charm.  I went last week for a leisurely kayak trip with a group of six other lovely partner ladies.  We paddled 10 kilometers (6.2 miles - I am still not used to this whole metric system thing) from Grez-sur-Loing to Episy, taking in the beautiful French countryside scenery and chatting up a storm.  My friend Jenneke is lucky enough to live right on this river, and we passed by her house, a MAGICAL place that makes you feel like you're in another century.  

We had some trouble keeping the kayaks moving in a straight line, but we had fun all the same.  We all survived the few kayak slides without getting too wet.  I wish there had been more slides though, they were the best part of the route!