A random walk

A nice day, so how about a walk in the sunshine?    I bought myself some weights to attach to my ankles to increase the energy burn while out walking.  I think they work; I'm a bit more tired than I would expect.

This amused me.  The road past our house leads to the river valley and the famous grottes de Saulges.   It has been closed at both ends so visitors have to park in the car park on the opposite bank, or in a small area just past our place.   The barriers are electronic, automatic and are controlled from the restaurant with the assistance of an intercom.  You press a button, Alain answers if he's in at work, and then he presses a button and the barrier rises.   Except neither barrier works, so to open the barrier Alain would have to drive his car to the barrier and let the sensor open the barrier (the leave side doesn't need button intervention).

So he hit on this simple solution.   A little red bandana tied around the infra-red light (on the short post on the left) means the machine thinks there's a car in the way so it doesn't lower the barrier.  Système D.

The stepping stones are underwater; we have had a bit of rain.  But  what surprises me is that there is a low dam a bit farther downstream that causes the water to back up and overflow onto the footpath.   Now why do they do that?   I did manage to get past without getting wet feet.

There's a small bar/restaurant farther downstream, and someone has been trying to sweep up the leaves outside.  Looks like a long job to me.   I climb up the road away from the river, and as I descend towards the end of my walk, I see this little sheep enclosure right beside the footpath, that I definitely haven't seen before.  Something new.

And so back home.   Here's a pic of the gîte I took earlier.