Every morning Fleur and me go for a three kilometre walk through the woods on the hillside opposite. The chemin in the photo goes right through the woods from La Sautel to Neylis. The little lane has dry stone walls built above and below it to keep it secure on the woody incline. These walls are overgrown now with mosses, lichens and ferns and at the moment, purple and white violets and wood anemones snuggle down in their embrace. The lane has aged graciously and long may it last.
It was made long ago and carefully. There are walls in the woods on either side and a ancient cabin for the shepherds to stay in. Perhaps, once more the woods have encroached on fields cleared centuries ago. I do know that eighty years ago the woods grew right down to the road in the centre of the valley and that now they are being slowly cleared again. They have become overgrown with brambles and saplings. When I asked an old lady in the village why this was, she replied that it is because there are no longer any grand-parents who will keep watch over the sheep while they graze and clean the woods.
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