Hauterives

Our plan was to go to Annot for the Easter weekend, but after checking the forecast every six hours or so and seeing rain (and snow!) in the forecast, we decided that it would be better to find someplace else. Unfortunately, many of the climbing areas in France had the same forecast: the dreaded "Sunny Rain": An icon of a Sun with little rain drops falling out of it on the Meteo France website. We assumed that it meant that the forecasters had no idea what was coming, but it turned out to be on the money. You would be walking along under a bright South of France Sunny Day, when suddenly raindrops would come out of nowhere! In any case, after waiting a bit too long to make reservations, we agreed upon the Hauterives gite in the Gorges du Tarn. It is a little bit of paradise along the Tarn river that we had spent a few nights at last year with Jon, Sue, Ian and Susan (and loved it). We drove via a new route to the Tarn, avoiding the ugly sprawl leading from Lyon to le Puy, and went instead via Privas and Aubenas. The roads are all quite good, and you pass some impressive cols and towns along the way. Aubenas, in particular looks like it would be a fun place to explore. From Aubenas, we drove more or less the usual way and arrived at the motorized skip that is used to send your things to the village above the river. I called Emmanuelle, who sent the skip over, and we loaded it up and sent it over. Soon after, Chloe ,Vanessa and the other kids showed up looking a little harried after being Garmin Nüvi-ified into going over small passes on departmental roads. After fully unloading, Vanessa and I took the cars to Malene to begin the forty minute walk back along the river to the village. By the time we got to the village,



the kids had already been in and out of the water, and had the by now familiar look of sunscreen battered in sand. It would be great to have some kind of outdoor shower there! Next came an easter egg hunt, in which the chocolate eggs were quickly discovered and dispatched in situ