A month in France, neatly slotted in between two meetings of the Merioneth Naturalists/Grwp Natur Meirionnydd!
I didn't stop botanising, of course and it was good practice identifying unknown plants using Poland, The Atlas Flore d'Auvergne and Grey-Wilson/Blamey's Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. I was without internet access for much of the time [now, thankfully, sorted] so I couldn't get to the links Martin Rand provided for other French floras. But I did track down a
Phyteuma sp, a Rampion, [not in flower] with the aid of the white hydathodes at the tooth ends. There was a lot of
Geranium columbinum, Long-stalked Geranium, which I never find in Merioneth, and more than one species of
Setaria and some old friends,
Campanula rapunculoides and
Dorycnium hirsutum, both still flowering. I had some fun with Apiaceae, mostly past flowering, although
Daucus carota was almost the most common weed along the field banks. I identified
Falcaria vulgaris, Longleaf and Pepper Saxifrage,
Silaum silaus, but there were several which defeated me.
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| Soup addicts in the charming village of Charroux |
A highlight of our time there was the Fete de la Soupe in the heritage village of Charroux where up to 40 local residents and chefs made their speciality . We each bought our bowl and spoon for €7 and then wandered round the various stalls sampling the offerings - and very tasty they were!
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| Try our soup - it's different |
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| Le Buget at nightfall |
We had some nice walks and good food, but a lot
of the time we were working on the house and garden - the latter still looking much like a building site. but we can now walk dry shod from front and back doors.
