Abundance

S nobly lugged an air mattress and pump up to St Michel yesterday evening, as well as all the picnic ingredients. As a result we spent an amazingly comfortable night under the stars, toasty warm in his super high tech sleeping bags. So comfortable that we were startled to wake up to full daylight -- we'd slept in until 6:30 am, somewhat unusual when you are sleeping outdoors. Also a surprise after the clear skies the previous evening: there was 100% cloud cover.

We had a minimal breakfast, packed up, and headed back down. This was when I concluded I really don't like hill walking. Going up is bad enough, but put me on a scree slope, even a not very steep one, and my knees are like jelly after five minutes. It was hard work. But it's worth it occasionally, for the pleasure of sleeping à la belle étoile. It was so quiet and peaceful up there -- just us and the mosquitoes. What mosquitoes were doing up there I don't know -- they must have slim pickings normally, which maybe explains why they were so pleased to see us.

Back home we had a second breakfast and then did a day's work. S popped down to the garden and came back with these, which went into a fresh tomato sauce that we ate with grilled sausages and sauté potatoes. The tomatoes are doing so well this year -- it's very pleasing. We've had several kilos and there are more to come.