Au bord de l'eau

Staggeringly hot today. It's counter-intuitive if you're British to say, "Oh, it's sunny today -- I'll stay indoors." But that's what we mostly did. I made a very simple pasta dish with leftover chicken for lunch, to minimise cooking, and even that left me steaming.

However, at 6 pm, when it was a mere 39C, we changed for swimming, bunged a few bottles of non-alcoholic beer into a freezer bag, and headed for the river in Ribaute -- as we planned and failed to do yesterday. Since we were last there, floods have swept away a lot of trees and undergrowth, and following S and T's advice we stayed on the bank opposite the village, walked a hundred metres or so upstream from the waterfalls, and found a lovely placid and deep swimming spot with a flat grassy space to sit, shaded by trees, and easy steps into the water via flat rocks. It was glorious, and the water was perfect, so refreshing. We also bumped into a few people we know. I expect it's heaving at weekends, but at this time on a weekday it was not too crowded. Next time we'll definitely bring a proper picnic and stay longer.