Saturday 21st May (Two Gorges, Fourty Miles and Too Much Beer)


Mr. Kite looked out of The Joint window over the sparkling Tarn onto a hillside where a Griffon Vulture was circling. Not every bedroom window looks out to see a vulture so Mr. Kite felt pleased.

Today The Incapacitants had planned a bird-watching trip. After a slow start and breakfast they were off. Into le Rozier to see Crag Martin, Swallows, Pied Wagtails and Starlings. Then a slow ascent up the Jonte Gorge watching at least fifty Griffon Vultures soaring and circling in front of the paying audience seated in the view point. Just up the road a solitary Black Vulture glided along the cliff edge. This bird was darker, almost black, larger with slightly different shaped wings.

Red-billed Choughs sat in holes in the cliffs and further along a group of noisy Alpine Chough, with their yellow shorter bills, flew around a cliff where a pair a Alpine Swifts zoomed around the sky. Now that was a good sight watching the large Swifts with white undersides gliding powerfully around the cliff face. In the warm sunshine it was a real pleasure to watch Chough and Swifts of the Alpine variety.

At les Douzes it was all uphill past les Bastides to la Parade where The Incapacitants watched Short-toed Eagles, Kestrels and Honey Buzzards. A few smaller birds were spotted Stonechat, Blue Tit and Great Tit. The trip continued on the plateau past Carnac turning left and heading towards la Malene.

Mr. Kite has had some thrilling descents on The Beast; Ventoux, Col de Tourmemelt and others. But the short descent along the zig-zag road into la Malene was pretty exciting for The Incapacitants. At the start the windy steep road was visible with walls, barriers, rocks, poles and signs. With brakes off the speed rapidly increased, brakes on for the corner, around it and more speed. Brakes on to keep the beast under control; of the alternative would be a trip over a wall into a gorge. Within a few minutes the descent had ended in la Malene in the Gorge du Tarn. Mr. Kite's 'birding companion' did not spot the Rock Bunting half way down; what a miss.

The Incapacitants then slowly cycled along the Gorges du Tarn towards le Rozier and the campsite. At the end of an exciting day Mr. Kite and His Lady and Mr. Kite's 'birding companion' sat on the banks of the Tarn enjoying tipple after tipple with a few more tipples of Kronenbourg. Cheers from the warm and Gorgeous Gorges.