Following morning- Sunday morning- I climbed the hill behind the house. As far as I can make out, it's called Taillefer and it's over 600 metres. Part way up there's a grotto dedicated to Notre Dame du Duingt or- as she's variously called- Notre Dame du Lac. Which in English (lets spell it out) is The Lady of the Lake. I love the fringes of Roman Catholicism- where it shades off into Paganism- and even Animism.
A little higher up there's a statue of St Michael- spearing a rather fishy devil. He is so positioned against trees and sky as to be almost impossible to photograph.
I had no intention- on starting out- of going all the way to the top, but I'm ridiculously proud of myself for managing it. Standing on the snowy summit I felt like Hilary and/or Tensing.
Because it was there...
Climbing Taillefer
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