August 15th/ 15 Aout

In France the 15th of August is a bank-holiday when most people here on the coast go to the beach and spend the day chilling out either by or on the sea....I said 'most people', I am no longer amongst these people.
The 15th of August I got up at the crack of dawn, ok at about 7:15am close enough. Collected together my boots, rucksack, cheese and pickle sarnie, water etc and headed off to the toll gate near Antibes where I waited for about 20minutes for a car with two strange men in.When it eventually arrived my belongings were quickly stowed away in the boot and they drove off with me down the motorway, destination ??
They drove up the mountains,  around bends, through tight squeezes until we finally reached , Bairols!
 I must admit that I'd never heard of it either and am still not too sure exactly where it is, but it's a medieval village somewhere in the Alpes Maritimes behind Nice.
We then set off for a 'short' walk in the mountains...the sun was shining, the birds were singing, not a cloud in sight and a mass of blackberries everywhere! What a day! We set off up and up and up...the hot sun became rather annoying by this point, but it was to get worse!
At each break in the trees there was a fantastic view of the alps spread before us, I also profited from the view to have a quick breather! And so we went on, my fellow hikers were Pascal and Stefan both dedicated hikers amongst other sports, with calf muscles that put mine to shame. We climbed up and up, through meadows then through the woods. At one point I turned the corner to be confronted with HUGE trees!! Pascal looked tiny besides them, the trunks went up and up for at least 6m before reaching foliage, made me feel quite insignificant really in comparison....
The walk continued and the scenery was AMAZING! The views were stupendous and the climate seemed to change with every corner turned from pine to oak to HUGE! We clambered over fallen rocks some of which were fairly recent, so a bit worrying. At one point Pascal was leading and he lost the trail...I must add that they took it in turns to stay with me...but Stef found the markers on the trees, pretty old and faded they were too! We then had to climb up over fallen trees, loose earth and pine needles, we'd been walking for almost 3 hours and I was running out of steam. This bit on the loose earth etc was a bit daunting as I was worried about slipping back down the mountain. But we eventually reached the top! And not a moment too soon as my steam had completely run out by this time.
We stopped in a prairie on top of the mountain, we were at about 2000m, and the view was amazing! We could see the clouds gathering over the alps and clear skies on the other side still. We had lunch and I hoped to refuel enough to keep me going for the rest of the afternoon. The walk so far had lasted 4 hours, and a rest was well deserved. We spent an enjoyable moment setting the world to rights over a glass of rosé or two, or in their case vodka and cranberry.
Then it was the moment to set off again, and to find the path! We set off in what seemed to be the right direction, but in fact it went nowhere apart from over the side of the mountain. Pascal and Stef went in opposite directions to try and find the marks for the trail, but nothing so we turned back and tried looking elsewhere. I found one path that headed down and Stef found one that headed up, of course his was the one we took...I followed taking ten paces and puffing, another ten and more puffing, Pascal started to get worried and he passed me my inhaler and so I continued 10 paces and puffing, 10 paces and puffing... until I eventually reached the top. I still had no energy despite my lunch, my mind and body were willing but the batteries hadn't yet recharged. I found some blackberries grabbed a handful and continued, that would have to do for fuel.
Now we started heading downwards, finally! After opening a few 'gates', which were string with a branch tied to them in the middle and hooked over a branch or a stone, we started down on a rocky path. There was the sound of bells in the distance, but whether they were cows, goats or sheep we had no idea. Pascal started flying downhill and Stef bounded after him ,whilst I carefully picked my way over the rocks and furrows, only to fall over in a dusty patch! Once again we lost the path, I found some wild strawberries and raspberries which we shared once we'd refound the path.
We eventually found the source of the bells...very athletic cows! Amazing cows they were too not your every day field cow, these could climb mountains as good as any goat and a whole lot better than me!
We continued discovering a hollowed out tree trunk used as a watering hole for the cows, lovely cold mountain water ! Ahhhhhh!! Crossed a stream which cascaded down the rocks,  I was sorely tempted to just lie down in the water and get cool, but I didn't give in to temptation. We passed through rocky plains, dry dusty forests, huge fern-filled glades across alpine meadows , when we realised that the sun was starting to set. So we stopped at a strategic point to watch the sunset and toasted it with a glass or two, a beautiful sight it was too. We carried onto a point the locals call a 'lac' which normally means lake but in this case it meant a small twisting path and from there it was plain sailing down the mountain...yeah sure..
In fact, as it was getting darker Pascal asked whether we wanted to carry on down this path or take one which went through the woods. Of course I said I'd follow and so we took the forest trail, which was fine at first as it was still light, but as the light dimmed it began to get harder to see. Luckily the path was still stony and these stones were almost white, so easyish to see. I began regretting not taking the other path as I could no longer see Pascal, and Stef was far away. I got to a bend and hesitated when a voice came out of the dark "that's it Joanna, this way", so I carried on hoping that the full moon would finally turn from red to white thereby lighting the way ahead.When it got worse...no more stony path but grass and plants! So I couldn't see a thing! Just as well Pascal was there with a small, very small, torch to point out the 'path'.
The undergrowth grew thicker but we fought our way through it, then I saw a glimmer of light to my right then another, and another...lights! Houses? Streets? No, better than that...fireflies!! I've not seen one for years so it was very moving. Ten minutes later we finally reached the road and found the car where we'd left it at 11am, it was now 10.30pm!!
My companions drove me back to my car and we said our farewells as each headed home to rest, to sleep until next time.
I must admit that my thigh muscles were hurting for at least three days afterwards, but it was well worth it and my mind was still buzzing for ages afterwards.