Another trip up into the hills......

Elk out in their rocky pasture.

A nice Saturday here and since Kiara and Naomie are here for the weekend we decided to take them up onto the Vaucluse range and plateau. There is a deer and elk farm on one of the plateaus and we thought the girls would enjoy seeing them. I'm not sure the reason for this out of the way farm as I've never seen very many people in the area. Some large fields with some very large fences to keep the deer and elk from wandering off into parts unknown.

On the way up we saw some paragliders drifting along the bluff line and decided to make a detour to the area that they launch their gliders. Just when we arrived our neighbor who is a paraglider himself was landing after soaring high above the valley. He offered to walk me down to the launching area so I could get a birds eye view of where they start their flights.

During our walk to and from the launch site he shared alot of the history of the area with me. It seems these remote hills were grazed by thousands of sheep many years ago. There are many sheep farms still in the area but the ones that I've seen are mostly in the lower elevations. The sheep herders here would be up in these hills for extended periods of time so for protection from the elements they used whatever was available. Of course the most readily available resource was rocks....lots and lots of rocks. They would also carve out rectangular "pools" right out of the solid rock. These pools would eventually fill up with water which was used for drinking  and I guess to even take baths in. It's amazing they cut these pools out of solid rock with only the tools available during that time.

My paragliding neighbor also offered to give me a ride on his paraglider sometime in the near future. Evidently they can be adjusted and rigged to handle an extra person - I just don't know yet if that extra person will be me. I think the more I ponder the idea the more inclined I will be to give it a try. I have no doubt it would be exciting and frightening....all at the same time. Hmmmmm....I wonder if I could take my camera with me?

Sheep herders headquarters - remnants of a typical house they called home.

Pool carved out of solid rock 

Looking south - village of Rustrel below

Launching area for paragliders - a hazy view to  the west