The Belvedere and Wolf Stone

OK, so perhaps I'm star-struck with my new camera, or perhaps I need a theme to motivate my blog posts. But I have a little book of riverside (or at least, river-related) walks, and there are 52 walks in it. This looks like a walk per week for a year. Now I'm definitely not into giving myself any artificial targets, timetables or goals, I've had too many of those in my working life.



But it looks like fun and so, with no promises whatsoever, I'm looking at doing a walk per week, barring illness, foul weather or foul mood. We'll see how it goes; the intention is that we'll get a look at the seasons in the Mayenne, and enjoy some walks too. Here's the first one.




















I went to this belvedere in springtime, but the weather was misty and I couldn't see a thing. Today being bright and beautiful I thought it would be an ideal opportunity to revisit it, and see what there is to see. Pictures can never do justice to the feeling of being there, of course, the sun warming you, the breeze chilling you, and the fading of the view into the distance seems right and proper when you are there, but just makes the photographs look like they've faded out. But the belvedere is as impressive as I remember, and the views from it, this time, spectacular.




















After the views from the tower, a short walk through mixed woodland to a rocky outcrop known as La Pierre au Loup, the Wolf Stone. According to the guide, views are promised from here also, but they are obscured by young trees that have grown up. The moss-covered rocks are impressive, about 6 metres high, and fun to climb up on and over.






































What has all this got to do with the Mayenne River, you ask. Well, I was coming to that. In the opposite direction from the Wolf Stone is a similar short walk that takes you to the source of the Mayenne. The wife was with me, and tired so we didn't go that way. Another time.