Souped-up Garden: Southwest France Walks / Return to Linars

Thursday, 25 June 2020

Southwest France Walks / Return to Linars

Hiking during the summer is a new endeavour for us. Since it gets so hot in southwest France, we had decided to limit our walking to the spring and autumn. Until now, that is. The Calm One suggested that since we had a collection of nearby short walks previously trod and therefore familiar, it would be a cinch to do one of them in the evening when it's cooler. So at around 8 p.m., we tootled off in our electric Zoe to the rural village of Linars where vineyards and cornfields abound. It's just a ten minute drive southwest from our small city of Angoulême.

Some posts holding the wires supporting vines were tagged with strips of white cloth. A non-verbal communication among cultivators?

Another marking system may be in the form of these blue plastic tubes.

Gnarled, old, and still vigorous. Plants are fabulous!

Though our department is known for its cognac which is made mostly from the ugni blanc variety along with several others, since the 1970s, its wines, red, white, and rose, are receiving increasing attention. There are lots more grape varieties now being cultivated. It's common even when wandering not that far from the city to spot vines discreetly tucked away in a bend of a path, flanking a forest, or squatting between hills.

The nearby countryside is dotted with cornfields.

Obviously wildflowers in the above and below photos are some kind of wild daisies. Lovely tiny blooms borne in clusters atop ferny foliage didn't fail to lifts our spirits.