Dolmen de Gaoutabry

Despite the mistral winds we are currently experiencing we set off this morning to hike to a local Dolmen. We had actually planned to visit a Menhir near Collobrieres but we changed tack this morning and will hopefully do this tomorrow.

This is a really easy hike, i.e. not too many hills and we were lucky to have Diane's suggested route though I reckon you would need an SUV (or maybe a 2cv if you are French) to get to where the suggested start point on the map is. Since a broken sump would seriously hinder our poor car we parked well down the dirt track beside a vineyard.

The route is easy to follow and signposted with this really cool dolmen icon on trees along the way. The Dolmen itself is amazing and its hard to believe how old it is - 2800 to 2500 years avant J.C! They don't build stuff like that these days!

We didn't stay too long at the top since it's been a cool enough day and the wind was fairly honking up there! Our return route took us around another mountain before rejoining the path back to the car. 1 and 1.2 hours all in, no stress, nice easy pace, great start to a day!There's always a Part Deux!
Our morning exertions had given us quite an appetite so we decided to head for Bormes Les Mimosa for a little lunch. Pete, Clare, Coaimhe and John had given us the heads up on this little gem of a town from their two visits. They are not wrong about this sleepy and stupidly photogenic hamlet high in the hills above Le Lavandou. What an amazing place! And it seems that the villagers are all about quality too as we had a really delicious, no fanfare, no fuss, no big bill lunch in Café du Progréss .

After lunch we set off on a short tour of the town which thankfully was completely deserted. I have a feeling I've visited somewhere like this before but I can't think where. Maybe I'm mistaken as its easily one of a kind. It's all winding narrow streets, tunnels leading to other streets, little alleyways plunging down to gardens. All this and a backdrop of Ile du Levant (which was certainly living up to its name today) and the Mediterranean in the distance, as I said - stupidly photogenic. Una has renamed me Kodak I took so many pictures. Maybe it was the light today, that really low bright and fresh winter light but I just could not help myself! I'll post all of the images to flicker now.