On repeat: Courant d'Huchet

Moments of bliss: finding a huge mushroom  - when you are in the car and driving...

Sitting down next to the Courant d'Huchet with a friend and share a coffee and some cookies... yes, I appreciated it so much the last time with the children that I brought a friend to go and explore it a bit further...

Dressed too warmly though. Needed nor the gloves, the coat or the sweater... is this November or what?

Parasol mushroom: 23 cm high; 20 cm diametre. This autumn has been heaven for mushroom lovers!

Marie

Courant d'Huchet meets the ocean

As you might know, Moliets is our favorite beach. A bit to the right of the main entrance, the protected Courant d'Huchet, an outflow from the Léon lake, meets the ocean... this gently running water is not controlled and each winter overflows on the beach, making it the biggest on the coast.

We went there for another strange 'summer' afternoon... summer but with the winter early setting of the sun...

Families, dogs and virtually not a single leaf moving. So calm.
I would have liked to say this was the end of our weekend, but we went to see the Tintin movie, which according to the children was a perfect end to our weekend...

Bike outing in the pine forest

Björn has been practising alot lately to be able to surprise his dad. Biking with no support wheels!! The actual pedalling was not so difficult, it was starting and stopping that needed to be worked on...

Today he was so confident we decided to go for a small outing in the nearby pine forest. The indian summer continues and we had a lovely weather for this family event... even if the trail was a bit sandy at times which proved difficult for our fresh pilot, otherwise everything was perfect... 

We sat down for a picnic by the trail, feeling alone in the world. We could hear the buzz from a fly or a bee from time to time, otherwise the forest was peace and silence. A good silence, calm and warm. I wished for a big blanket, to stretch out and gaze up on the tops of the pines and think of nothing...

(Trails like this are abundant in Landes, proper cycle lanes as well.)

After school beach time

I whisked the children from school and straight to the beach... isn't there something special about 'cheating' to get another swim at the beach in the after season? The beach is calmer, the sea is still warm and you're saying to yourself: is this the last swim of the year?

Surprisingly there were quite alot of people at the Moliets beach. German, Dutch... and of course, 33 degrees and sun can make anybody want to feel the sea breeze...

No pictures this time... the photos added are from another year, but the feeling is ther. Afterwards we had a mussels treat and then stayed on a while to watch the sun setting in the sea....

After the tourists have gone

The children are off to school again. The mornings are getting chillier and there is like an air of autumn hanging over us....  I decided to pay myself a treat. A couple of hours on the beach in Moliets, all alone, just taking time to walk slowly, think of nothing...

The air was lukewarm. The beach was alot calmer but still pretty busy. Lots of German and Dutch tourists,  some elderly people. The beach guards were still there but seemed more relaxed than usual.

I went into the water and swam around for a while, mostly letting myself float on the waves. Realised that it was the first time this summer I did that: swim instead of standing close to the shore keeping an eye on the children...

What is this....

... the protections to keep the sand in place

Trying to show immense blueness of the sky...

Yearly festival in my village Castets III

And there were also dancing on stilts, Spanish horses, fun fair and a demonstration of 'corrida' (with a cow and no blood)..... and lots of partying late at night... and then it was over for this time...

Yearly festival in my village Castets II

Then there were the cow games... a lot of emotion and adrenaline here too!!! Adults in the crowd are invited to join... they are mostly young fearless men.....

The instructions were clear: if you get  into trouble, lie down with your hands on your head and don't move until we tell you so!

Or run for the fence!

The game is to get the red 'cocarde' on top of the cows' head.....

... so they need to get close. Very close.

The same game but for the kids, with a very cute calf!