Just another day in Chamelet: llamas, rainbows, snow, and sunsets

After the tick experience, Colin wants to stick to more established paths for a while.  We've learned that the white lines on the map indicate paved roads, while the red lines are generally well-established dirt or stone walking paths with clear signage. They grey lines show grassy footpaths, while the dotted grey lines are the "paths" that may or may not be distinguishable from their field or forest surroundings.

Sticking to white and red lines only, today's randonnée will take us North up Rue Le Cocon, then West along the "other" Rue Le Cocon to the Le Cocon signpost, and onward towards the llama and his white horse companion that we had spied from afar on a previous hike (see "Off the Map!"). Then we turn South to La Chapelle (no relation to La Chapelle de la Salette), and drop down into Chamelet, then back up the road to Le Crèt and finally our gite.  About 6.5 km, round trip.

The sky is a strange combination of sunny and rainy, so we don our raincoats as we head out. Walking North up Le Cocon, we see Alban's handiwork, as the new fence for the sheep is taking shape.

As we walk along Le Cocon, it starts to rain. We almost turn back, but then remember that the rain here often stops as quickly as it starts. We travel on, and sure enough, the rain soon stops.  As we approach the house with the llama, the rain picks up again, and as we look back to where we were minutes ago on Le Cocon, we see that area bathed in sunlight, with a rainbow that seems to end right at our gite!

While we are thrilled to see the llama up close, the llama looks less than impressed with us.  The goats at the next farm seem much more cheerful and curious.  One is much smarter than us.  The goats are more concerned with the two massive dogs barking their heads off at us as we pass by. The deep booming barks echo through the valley.

As we approach La Chapelle, we look back towards where we just were at the llama house, it appears to be sunny there.  We are having the worst timing with the rain on this trip!  Fortunately, the rain lets up again as we wander into La Chapelle.

We walk right into the main cross-roads in La Chapelle, marked with a sign.  From there, the view is quite nice.  Across the River Azergues to the Northwest, near Chalosset, we see a beautiful little blue and white castle and wonder about it.  With its pointy blue spires and white stone walls, it seems very "Sleeping Beauty" to me.

Beside us on the road, we  encounter a very strange little window that appears to lead to an otherwise exitless cave filled with water.  Why is it there?  What is it used for??  Is it supposed to be filled with water???  Another mystery of France.

From the main cross-roads, we take the road leading down and to the left, which leads directly to the ruins of an old church (we assume it to be the titular "La Chapelle"). Despite it being completely empty, someone has kept it very clean and tidy, and has recently placed a plastic statue of the Virgin Mary in a small alcove near the door.

Colin asks me if I know anything about the church, but all I can do is pause way too long, before desperately yelling, "RICHARD!!!!"

Leaving La Chapelle, the walking trail drops off the road to the left, towards Chamelet (that "shadow" in the centre of the photo is the trail).  We soon can see Chamelet ahead of us, and for the first time notice its cemetery behind it.  As we pass a giant crucifix, we are puzzled by the tiny white balls all around us on the ground. Are they flower petals?  Insect larvae?  I bend down and pick one up.  It's hail.

We are surprised to enter Chamelet by emerging from behind a house, very close to the back of Les Halles.  Looking back at the house, we are certain that we would have never assumed that we could get to La Chapelle by heading up the rocky path beside the house.  It seems more like their driveway!

Between the house and Les Halles we have another surprise:  le Chemin de la Muzetière!  No wonder the rental car's GPS struggled so much finding our gite!  This road is no-where near the gite.

As we walk through Les Halles, it occurs to us:  the Chamelet Bar is supposed to be open tonight until 8:30pm.  We look at our watches:  8pm.  Since we have never before seen the bar open, we decide to go for it.  Despite the hours posted on the door that confirm the bar is currently open, we are still surprised that the door yields to our push.  Inside, a young barkeep with wild spiky hair and lip-rings gets us two (surprisingly good!) beers, and we settle in next to a sleepy cat.  The rest of the bar's clientelle is a surprising mix of young local punks drinking beer and middle-aged rural men sharing a carafe of red wine.  They all eye us a little suspiciously.

We order another beer, and I watch the cat's head bob, as he fights off sleep, until it finally settles on the window sill.  That's when a very cute little boy enters with his father.  While the father buys his cigarettes from the till, the little boy rushes over to the cat and nuzzles his face right into it, showering it with kisses.  He turns to us and states quite seriously, "He really likes kisses.  He's a lovely little cat."  The cat is very obliging, jumping off the sill and rolling over so the boy can pet his stomach.  The boy asks me if I know this cat.  I say I don't.  Then, because I have been drinking beer, I mix up my French pronouns and stupidly ask the boy if he knows his own name.  He looks at me confusedly, and answers.  I realize my error, and play it cool: "Oh, yeah, that's good.  Do you know HIS name?" gesturing to the cat.  Whew!  What a save!  lol.  I realize that while beer seems to improve my Chinese, it really destroys my French.  ;)

Leaving the bar, we head up the hill to Le Crèt, and are stunned by a magnificent sunset.  A bleating lamb gives a soundtrack.  I learn there are two different sheep bleats:  the plaintive cry usually given by the young lambs ("baaaaaaaa"), and the low-pitched grunting "blerght" offered by the older sheep.  As we imitate the sheep, we notice that the "blerght" really gets all of their attention.  Rounding the corner onto Le Cocon for the home stretch, there is snow on the ground.  How is it possible it was 35 degrees only days ago??   Because France.