Les Cévennes
Today was a great day despite a 3hr climb at the start. (Really great, not North American great). It was sunny practically all day, we were walking in wild countryside with extraordinary views of the Cévennes. Our path wound through forests, around stony outcrops and along streams and torrents. As I walked, I thought about Robert Louis' descriptions in his book. The Cévennes were a bastion of Protestantism in the 18th century, and Robert Louis spends a lot of time talking about the historical conflicts and violent attacks that occurred between Catholics and Protestants in the region. As he walks through the villages 150 years after the end of those events, he notices that although Catholics and Protestants now co-exist peacefully, they are still passionate about their respective faiths. Jump another 150 years forward to present times, and religion has disappeared from conversations. Now people argue about football teams, the price of gas, and whether the few remaining wolves should be protected (I understand they will be ... as long as they don't convert to Catholicism).
As we arrive in Floriac, we are assaulted by the noise of some kind of Car Rally which is going on in the village. This is a local race, but all the cars seem to have been modified with the main objective of making them as loud and obnoxious as possible. How does this make sense ? The people in the cars probably go deaf within a few hours, and the bystanders can't have any kind of conversation. If I needed further convincing, this would most definitely confirm my strong belief in electric cars. The true path to enlightenment (and personal mobility) is through electric power, and all petrol heretics should be forcibly converted... Sorry, I seem to have got carried away by the spirit of the Cévennes.
