Wall to wall sunshine and somewhat warmer temperatures accompanied us on our walk on Saturday. This time we set out from Meribel, heading up through the woods towards Altiport. The path took us across the Petit Lapin piste and through the golf course for a picnic lunch in the forest, accompanied by the sound of aircraft taking off and landing a short distance away. Refreshed we carried on upwards, under the lift towards Col de la Loze and then across towards the top of the Rhodos lift. From there it was back down into Meribel for a drink in one of the pubs before tidying and packing up to head home. A pleasant weekend in the mountains which confirmed that Meribel in the summer is much like Meribel in the winter - an English enclave (witness Marmite on sale in the Petit Casino and inefficient teenage English waitresses in the pub) which is twice as expensive as anywhere else. Lucky the accommodation was free.
We returned to Lyon on Saturday evening to find the warm weather reinstalled, and to witness the start of the French football season at Gerland. Plus ça change. OL struggled to a goalless draw against Monaco, which while not completely lacking in entertainment will have done little to attract back the thousands of season-ticket holders that have supposedly deserted the club this year…
Yesterday the sun shone, the thermometer climbed, and we restricted exercise to a short fruit shopping expedition to the market on the banks of the Saône in the morning. Delicious apple pie was the result, and la bienheureuse has today left me the enviable task of eating it all on my own as she jets off for a couple of days acting as bodyguard and babysitter to a colleague giving a presentation in the UK.