Back in Léran and a clean-up around the lake.

   I've written before about how a group of volunteers occasionally gets together to hack back an overgrown hiking trail or free up the tiny canal that once irrigated the chateau's vegetable garden. This time, the morning after we got back from Paris, we met up at 8:30 for coffee and croissants, and the distribution of black and yellow garbage bags.
   Maps were handed out and carloads of us set off to pick up any rubbish that had been left over the summer. Misty and golden, it was the most glorious of autumn mornings. Once we'd arrived at our designated area, we set off.

The water level is low at this time of year so you can see the stumps of the tress that were cut when this valley was deliberately flooded.

Finds included a tire, a wheel, two bras, one pair of knickers, a washing line (which suggested that the lingerie was less the product of lakeside orgies and more likely due to a gust or two), numerous bottle caps--Heineken mostly--wine bottles, beer bottles, and lots of paper towel and tissue half-buried in the woods. We didn't want to think about that too closely but were glad we'd all worn work gloves. But, given the hundreds and hundreds who come here each summer to camp or picnic, there was surprisingly little rubbish to get rid of.
   Back in Léran, we all met up at 12:30 for an apero, followed by a long lunch, the traditional conclusion to a clean-up operation--except that this time we shared a found bottle of wine, which we named "Chateau du Lac".